I went with my VP roommies to Macey's so they could get steak dinners at the BYU tailgate party. While they were getting food, I went over to the party part where they were throwing t-shirts. I never get those things so I didn't make an effort. But almost everyone was gone and there were lots to be thrown, so standing at the back, I thought, "What the heck, if one comes my way I'll grab it." I was surprised when the very last one came flying right above my head. Getting excited, I reached up to grab it as the guy next to me jumped up, threw his whole body into my arm, snagged the t-shirt, and ran away thrilled. It hurt but I just told my roommates and we went home to wrap it.
After really struggling to turn the wheel to get to school the next morning and then not being able to write on the whiteboard, it got more and more painful throughout the day. I gave in, and when my regular doctor wouldn't see me for an "injury," I went to the urgent care only to find out that my wrist was sprained and the ligaments in my arm and hand were frayed. I got a soft cast and found myself not able to write or type. That strain and restrictiveness in my forearm in general caused my shoulder to have problems which was fun. I went back a couple of weeks later, only for them to tell me that I did too much in trying to lift things in that hand a couple of times and it had gotten worse. So the cast had to stay on two more weeks, but now it's gone which means I was going back to physical therapy (for it and the back) again! Timely because...
During that time I went to see the back specialist who I've been waiting to get into since I herniated the disk during the summer. I didn't think we'd have much to talk about other than it continuing to heal (and it was a thousand times better then--only a dull pain) and the knee problems I've began to have/arthritis. He diagnosed that as osteo-arthritis and not too severe yet (and hopefully ever if I can help it) so that's good. In addition, all he had to do was have me bend over and he could see what the doctors at BYU and the urgent care couldn't ??? that I obviously have scoliosis. We took x-rays and yep, it's pretty obvious that my spine has quite the curve. It's developed over the last five years or so (same time frame as the stomach and arthritis problems--BYU wore out my body even more than I thought :)). There's nothing they can do to prevent it from curving more, I just hope for the best and know that I'll have chronic back issues. The cushions between my disks are also deteriorating and the alignment of my pelvis to my knees (that Q angle us females have with hips :)) is abnormally large/shaped causing my knees to be messed up, along with the arthritis in them. There are often days when I feel like running down the stairs from my apartment, and others where even a step or two is extremely painful.
I just had to laugh at this new news, because what health problems don't I have? There's actually a lot that other people deal with all the time, so I don't want to complain, but seriously, none of them phase me anymore because it's so ridiculously random. Except not really because my grandma had stomach, arthritis, scoliosis, and disk cushion problems since she was a child. Everyone tells me I'm too young but compared to her this is late. For this I am grateful! :)
The best thing all day from that visit is that this doctor is super optimistic because he believes if I only ever walk and swim, that I'm not going to get enough exercise and like "most Utah Valley Mormon females" I'll just have babies and get old and fat. ??? :) He bluntly told me to "trim" up my "nice figure" because women have Q angles like these for a reason--to bear children, but also for men to look at. Direct quotes. Ha ha, I know I make him sound like a nut but he's just funny. He gave me an awesome article he wrote for patients like me concerning high body fat and overcoming the large American diet by training your brain to fight the natural man.
He says not exercising to avoid aggravating arthritis is silly and that not only is he going to get me strong again through diet and exercise (this scares me--I walk every day and didn't know the diet could get more crazy) but that I'm going to be stronger than anyone I know because I'll have to be if i don't want to be a marshmallow by the time my actual age meets my physical age (63). Whew.
So here goes...count me in for hiking Yellowstone with Bailee next summer and exploring Capital Reef and Canyonlands with Booggie. Apparently, I'm going to be some athletic genius by then, haha!
