What a weird week. (There's been a lot of those lately.) It's one of those off weeks where it seems a lot of my activities have taken place out of the house, so it feels like nothing of value got accomplished, but that's not entirely true, it's just that not as many home projects got taken care of. Some weeks are like that, though, right? Plenty of good things happened this week, too, so I'm happy to share those.
So let's get started!
MONDAY
This was the day.
THE day.
The day I tackled my daughter's room.
She's four, the first girl on my mom's side of the family since I was born, and her father's only biological child, so she's a wee bit spoiled when it comes to toys and her room shows it. She's also a hoarder who refuses to let anything go (including things she brings in from the great outdoors, like sticks, and old stickers that have lost their stick, and old shopping lists that she uses for pretend but has like 23748972943 of them, sooooooo...), and she hasn't quite mastered the delicate art of putting toys away when she's done with them, or listening to me, and boy, was her room showing it.
Like, you couldn't see the carpet. At all.
It was bad.
(No before picture in this case. It was that embarrassingly bad.)
It didn't use to look like that, but I got tired of spending 30-40 minutes three times a week cleaning it up, only to have it completely trashed again three hours later. Why should I waste my time like that? And so I stopped, and so the mess grew and grew and grew. But Christmas is coming and more toys will be on the way, and thus a room overhaul was necessary.
We started at 8:30 in the morning. Slowly, methodically, I went through every item in her room (not the closet, we'll get to weeding that out on another day), putting things away, asking her if she wanted to keep them, tossing out garbage and laundry (like the underwear in the toy box, sigh), vacuuming up the dust and dirt left behind, rearranging ALL THE THINGS.
We took a 30 minute break for lunch, made three trips to the trash can, tossed out four sticks, I almost fell down the stairs once, and three items fell and hit me in the head, but by 2:30 pm, the room was DONE (and my back hurt).
Phew!
The best part is that I finally convinced her to give away a huge amount of stuff that she didn't play with, that was damaged (squashed play food boxes, toy food that we'd gotten from someone else that had dog bite marks- we don't have a dog, etc), that was just junk taking up space in her room. That white toy box in the lower left-hand corner had been full to overflowing, and now it's half empty. I'm pretty proud of that!
We finished just in time to throw some lentils in the Instant Pot and leave to pick my son up from his a capella group rehearsal. When we got back, I doctored up some frozen roasted tomato sauce with onion, garlic, and green pepper, and then I stirred the lentils in. I boiled some noodles, ran the dishwasher, scrubbed out the sink, swept and tidied the living room, then left to pick up my husband. Just before we left, though, I checked my phone and found that Nature Cat's official Instagram shared my costume!
Currently up to 95 likes :D
This...felt pretty surreal, and totally awesome. Like I said, it's not my best work, but being a homemaker, I get so little outside recognition (or any recognition, really) for anything I do, at all, ever, so this felt really, really good. :)
After a spaghetti dinner, I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, put away the dinner leftovers, and tried out my PT exercises (if you recall, we'd tried some new stuff the previous Thursday at physical therapy that sent me into a full-on flare). Some of them didn't feel good, so I backed off of those and did the ones I could. My husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.
After a spaghetti dinner, I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, put away the dinner leftovers, and tried out my PT exercises (if you recall, we'd tried some new stuff the previous Thursday at physical therapy that sent me into a full-on flare). Some of them didn't feel good, so I backed off of those and did the ones I could. My husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.
TUESDAY
I bathed my daughter, loaded the dishwasher, and, since I had physical therapy in a bit, I brought in the 50 lb bag of flour that had been in my trunk since I'd bought it the week before- if I'm going to make things worse, might as well do it right before getting treatment, right? I dropped my daughter off at school, then met my husband in the parking lot of my PT place- he'd also had a doctor's appointment that day and needed the car I was driving (which has the car seat) to pick our daughter up from school. It was a slow, quiet day in PT on account of my flare, and after I went home and changed, we took my daughter out for her lunch of choice (on account of being so good about cleaning her room out the day before), which meant McDonald's- ick. I read a Kindle book while she played in the Playplace and drank a diet Coke- not much for me to eat there, so I ate lunch when we got home and then read and dozed on the couch with the cat.
I bathed my daughter, loaded the dishwasher, and, since I had physical therapy in a bit, I brought in the 50 lb bag of flour that had been in my trunk since I'd bought it the week before- if I'm going to make things worse, might as well do it right before getting treatment, right? I dropped my daughter off at school, then met my husband in the parking lot of my PT place- he'd also had a doctor's appointment that day and needed the car I was driving (which has the car seat) to pick our daughter up from school. It was a slow, quiet day in PT on account of my flare, and after I went home and changed, we took my daughter out for her lunch of choice (on account of being so good about cleaning her room out the day before), which meant McDonald's- ick. I read a Kindle book while she played in the Playplace and drank a diet Coke- not much for me to eat there, so I ate lunch when we got home and then read and dozed on the couch with the cat.
Sometimes he likes to sleep under the matching blanket. :)
After I got up, I ran to the library to return books. My husband and daughter were out at the park, and I was an anxious mess. The next day was my first appointment with a pain doctor and I was utterly terrified that he'd blow me off or assume I was a drug seeker, something along those lines. I ended up eating ice cream for dinner- so healthy, I know, but my anxiety was absolutely through the roof, to the point of being in tears. It really wasn't a great night.
Before bed, my husband and I watched three episodes of Supernatural.
Before bed, my husband and I watched three episodes of Supernatural.
WEDNESDAY
And here I was on Wednesday, an anxious mess about my appointment. I did my basement chores of scooping the litterbox and refilling our Air Washer, brought in the garbage can, took the recycling out to the can outside, loaded up and ran the dishwasher, then dropped my daughter off at school. And after that, it was off to Aldi and then racing home to put the groceries away since my daughter's school time was shortened. I picked her up and we drove to a second grocery store, where I bought two cauliflowers and three eggplants (which were on sale for ninety-nine cents total!). I didn't even try to eat a normal lunch; I ended up drinking a banana-strawberry-kiwi-mango-almond milk smoothie (made from fruits I chopped and froze myself, of course), and then it was off to the pain doctor.
And here I was on Wednesday, an anxious mess about my appointment. I did my basement chores of scooping the litterbox and refilling our Air Washer, brought in the garbage can, took the recycling out to the can outside, loaded up and ran the dishwasher, then dropped my daughter off at school. And after that, it was off to Aldi and then racing home to put the groceries away since my daughter's school time was shortened. I picked her up and we drove to a second grocery store, where I bought two cauliflowers and three eggplants (which were on sale for ninety-nine cents total!). I didn't even try to eat a normal lunch; I ended up drinking a banana-strawberry-kiwi-mango-almond milk smoothie (made from fruits I chopped and froze myself, of course), and then it was off to the pain doctor.
I sat with the assistant and answered questions for a bit, and then the doctor came in. SUPER nice guy. He made me feel comfortable immediately and was extremely friendly. We went over everything I'd told the assistant, he asked about my history and symptoms, and then he did the physical examination. He made a few noises that reassured me, like, "Oh wow," and "Yup, there it is," and having heard noises like that from my physical therapist, I knew that was a good sign for me.
When it comes to chronic pain, I think a lot of us get the outside message that "It's not that bad, you must be exaggerating, are you sure you're not just making it up?" from various people and sometimes even medical people, so there's always this fear when you establish a new relationship with a medical professional, that they're just going to dismiss your complaints (it's happened to me more than once). But after he completed the exam, the doctor said (and I'm paraphrasing), "So your other office wanted me to look into giving you a cortisone injection, but I don't think that would help, because I don't think your pain is coming from your lumbar area."
He paused and looked at me. "I think it's sacroiliac joint dysfunction."
When it comes to chronic pain, I think a lot of us get the outside message that "It's not that bad, you must be exaggerating, are you sure you're not just making it up?" from various people and sometimes even medical people, so there's always this fear when you establish a new relationship with a medical professional, that they're just going to dismiss your complaints (it's happened to me more than once). But after he completed the exam, the doctor said (and I'm paraphrasing), "So your other office wanted me to look into giving you a cortisone injection, but I don't think that would help, because I don't think your pain is coming from your lumbar area."
He paused and looked at me. "I think it's sacroiliac joint dysfunction."
The purple bits are the sacroiliac or SI joints.
And as soon as he said that, all the words of three different physical therapists came flooding back into my brain, and I sat back and went, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. That makes COMPLETE sense."
If you're interested in learning more about the condition, this website has a great rundown of it. Basically, my sacrum is tilted weirdly, my right hip is hypermobile (moves WAY more than it should) and my left hip is hypomobile (barely moves at all)- the different between the two, as he bent me into a pretzel position, was absolutely crazy. He also thinks I have some arthritis in the area, so that definitely doesn't help. Coming home and reading all about this, my mind was just blown- this is definitely the correct diagnosis. It's me all over it; I have almost every single symptom, right down to the tight hamstrings and quads and urinary frequency mentioned on the Wikipedia article (my bladder has been a running family joke for years).
There's a real, physical cause for my pain, you guys, something concrete. I had the diagnosis of degenerative disc disease, but my MRI reading made it sound like the findings on there were no big deal, and I was so, so scared that the pain doctor would be like, "Yeah, I don't know, sorry." But it's real. What I'm feeling is real and has a cause, and the relief I feel just knowing that is immense.
Treatment wise, it's physical therapy (which I've been doing since August) and injections right into the SI joint. On November 8th, I'll go in, they'll knock me out, and they'll use x-ray to guide the needle into the affected areas and flood me with anti-inflammatories. It's not a permanent solution, but it'll hopefully offer me some pain relief, so I'm nervously looking forward to it. :)
After coming home from the doctor, I did two yoga videos (he agreed with my doing yoga): a yin yoga video, and one meant to strengthen your core. I got a lot of 'help' during these from my daughter and the cats, all of whom were on my mat with me at one point! (I use a thick foam mat that Aldi sold a while back; I can't recommend this style enough. We have hardwood floors and I can't handle the traditional-style yoga mat, it's nowhere near padded enough for me.) For dinner, I tossed Monday's leftover spaghetti into a casserole dish, topped it with cheese, and baked it in the oven, and served it with store-bought garlic bread and a frozen veggie mix from Aldi.
My daughter had a cough that night, so we didn't watch anything as we wanted to keep a close ear on her, so I read my Kindle book before bed.
There's a real, physical cause for my pain, you guys, something concrete. I had the diagnosis of degenerative disc disease, but my MRI reading made it sound like the findings on there were no big deal, and I was so, so scared that the pain doctor would be like, "Yeah, I don't know, sorry." But it's real. What I'm feeling is real and has a cause, and the relief I feel just knowing that is immense.
Treatment wise, it's physical therapy (which I've been doing since August) and injections right into the SI joint. On November 8th, I'll go in, they'll knock me out, and they'll use x-ray to guide the needle into the affected areas and flood me with anti-inflammatories. It's not a permanent solution, but it'll hopefully offer me some pain relief, so I'm nervously looking forward to it. :)
After coming home from the doctor, I did two yoga videos (he agreed with my doing yoga): a yin yoga video, and one meant to strengthen your core. I got a lot of 'help' during these from my daughter and the cats, all of whom were on my mat with me at one point! (I use a thick foam mat that Aldi sold a while back; I can't recommend this style enough. We have hardwood floors and I can't handle the traditional-style yoga mat, it's nowhere near padded enough for me.) For dinner, I tossed Monday's leftover spaghetti into a casserole dish, topped it with cheese, and baked it in the oven, and served it with store-bought garlic bread and a frozen veggie mix from Aldi.
My daughter had a cough that night, so we didn't watch anything as we wanted to keep a close ear on her, so I read my Kindle book before bed.
THURSDAY
I cleaned the kitchen, took my daughter to school, then ran back to the house to meet my mom. She and I chatted about my new diagnosis; she couldn't believe how spot-on it was and how many of the symptoms I had. To be honest, I'm still in shock! And then it was off to PT, where my physical therapist also agreed with the diagnosis. We'll have a few more sessions and then I'll be discharged with a list of stuff to do at home, as we've done just about everything we can. I'll miss seeing everyone at the office, but it'll be nice to have my days back to myself!
That afternoon, I did two yoga videos: one for strength and flexibility (I had to modify some of the poses and will probably wait a bit to try this one again) and one that was a bit more chill. Afterwards, I read my Kindle book for a bit, then dozed off on the couch. I picked my husband up, dropped him and my daughter off at home, and drove to our local community college, where I watched a screening of the documentary Keep Talking, about the struggle to save the critically endangered Kodiak Alutiiq language. It was beautiful and hopeful and tragic and fascinating all at the same time, and if you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it. At home, I showered, read my Kindle book, and went to bed.
I cleaned the kitchen, took my daughter to school, then ran back to the house to meet my mom. She and I chatted about my new diagnosis; she couldn't believe how spot-on it was and how many of the symptoms I had. To be honest, I'm still in shock! And then it was off to PT, where my physical therapist also agreed with the diagnosis. We'll have a few more sessions and then I'll be discharged with a list of stuff to do at home, as we've done just about everything we can. I'll miss seeing everyone at the office, but it'll be nice to have my days back to myself!
That afternoon, I did two yoga videos: one for strength and flexibility (I had to modify some of the poses and will probably wait a bit to try this one again) and one that was a bit more chill. Afterwards, I read my Kindle book for a bit, then dozed off on the couch. I picked my husband up, dropped him and my daughter off at home, and drove to our local community college, where I watched a screening of the documentary Keep Talking, about the struggle to save the critically endangered Kodiak Alutiiq language. It was beautiful and hopeful and tragic and fascinating all at the same time, and if you get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it. At home, I showered, read my Kindle book, and went to bed.
FRIDAY
My daughter still had the cough, so she slept in late, but once she was up, we were off to Kohl's. My mom had given me her Kohl's cash, which she wasn't going to have time to use, so I dug through the racks and, with only a little bit of overage (I used a gift card), found two dresses:
My daughter still had the cough, so she slept in late, but once she was up, we were off to Kohl's. My mom had given me her Kohl's cash, which she wasn't going to have time to use, so I dug through the racks and, with only a little bit of overage (I used a gift card), found two dresses:
Cute, huh?
The blue one is a t-shirt dress; I ended up wearing it on Saturday with leggings, boots, and a cardigan sweater. :)
After Kohl's, we went to another grocery store, which weirdly had nothing from my list, but I found dried apricots in the markdown section, got my daughter some cottage cheese, and bought a loaf of French bread to go with dinner, since I wouldn't have time to make my own.
During naptime, I made a batch of black bean soup in the Instant Pot, then did a yoga video and finished my Kindle book. I emptied the dishwasher, then tried running it with just vinegar in it (no dishes) to see if that would clean it up, since it's already filthy again, but that didn't do anything at all. SO GROSS. I did half my PT exercises, then picked my husband, dropped my son and his friend off at the high school football game, did the rest of my PT exercises, then farted around on the computer until it was time to pick my son and his friend up again. And then bedtime. :)
During naptime, I made a batch of black bean soup in the Instant Pot, then did a yoga video and finished my Kindle book. I emptied the dishwasher, then tried running it with just vinegar in it (no dishes) to see if that would clean it up, since it's already filthy again, but that didn't do anything at all. SO GROSS. I did half my PT exercises, then picked my husband, dropped my son and his friend off at the high school football game, did the rest of my PT exercises, then farted around on the computer until it was time to pick my son and his friend up again. And then bedtime. :)
SATURDAY
I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher, and then it was off to my daughter's gymnastics class, where I was extremely shaken by the news of the mass shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh. I have friends in that area, Jewish friends, and I spent a few frantic minutes scrolling through their social media feeds, trying to see if that was their congregation. It was not, but I am very aware that there are others who did the same thing and came away with a very different outcome. My heart is absolutely broken for those people and for the Jewish community as a whole.
At home, I unloaded the dishwasher, and then my son and I ran to the Dollar Store to get a few things for a makeshift Halloween costume for a party that night. We came home, and I made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough, then put it in the fridge to chill and cleaned up the kitchen. When it was time, I baked the cookies, I watched the second half of the first Shrek movie with my husband and daughter, and they left to go to a Halloween party with my sister-in-law (my daughter won the costume contest for her age group!). I stayed behind to drop my son and his friend off at their own Halloween party, and then I came home and did my PT exercises. Husband and I watched the movie Deadpool 2 before going to bed (not my regular type of movie, but he likes superhero flicks, so I try to be accommodating!).
I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher, and then it was off to my daughter's gymnastics class, where I was extremely shaken by the news of the mass shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh. I have friends in that area, Jewish friends, and I spent a few frantic minutes scrolling through their social media feeds, trying to see if that was their congregation. It was not, but I am very aware that there are others who did the same thing and came away with a very different outcome. My heart is absolutely broken for those people and for the Jewish community as a whole.
At home, I unloaded the dishwasher, and then my son and I ran to the Dollar Store to get a few things for a makeshift Halloween costume for a party that night. We came home, and I made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough, then put it in the fridge to chill and cleaned up the kitchen. When it was time, I baked the cookies, I watched the second half of the first Shrek movie with my husband and daughter, and they left to go to a Halloween party with my sister-in-law (my daughter won the costume contest for her age group!). I stayed behind to drop my son and his friend off at their own Halloween party, and then I came home and did my PT exercises. Husband and I watched the movie Deadpool 2 before going to bed (not my regular type of movie, but he likes superhero flicks, so I try to be accommodating!).
SUNDAY
I woke up in a lot of pain this day and really struggled both physically and emotionally throughout the day. :(
After starting a load of laundry, I did my basement chores of scooping the litterbox and changing the water in the Air Washer, then I took out the garbage and recycling and cleaned the whole kitchen. OW.
I tidied a few random things around the kitchen and living room, taking things to the laundry room, the dishwasher, the recycling, the trash, and my daughter's room and dress-up corner. After that, I sat down to ice my back for a bit and then switched the laundry. The whole family took a trip to the store Five Below, where I got a set of ankle weights to help with my PT exercises. And when we got home, my daughter went down for a nap and so did I. Sometimes chronic pain just gets the better of me.
In the afternoon, we took my daughter to a local pumpkin patch, where we met up with my husband's family and my daughter and nephew went on some rides. It wasn't terribly comfortable for me, but the kids had fun. I took my son for driving practice when we got home, even though all I wanted to do was relax! I ran the dishwasher and skipped my exercises because I was just too worn out, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before going to bed.
And that was my week! My pain doctor wants me to be on my anti-inflammatory meds for a bit, so hopefully this will help keep my pain levels in check for a while and allow me to have a better week. I've got- ugh- dentist (*cue scary music*) and physical therapy today, so it's already shaping up to be a busy one around here.
How did your week go?
How did your week go?
Confession: I get way more pleasure than I should out of comments on my blog along the lines of, "I'm so impressed with _____ that you did!" because I, too, am a homemaker and I sure as shootin' don't get anything like that from my kids (though my husband is really pretty good about compliments). :-) So I get it. And that costume is really awesome. My costuming skills begin and end with duct tape and cardboard. Sorry, kids.
ReplyDeleteI hope your new diagnosis results in some concrete results for yo. Have a good week.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with duct tape and cardboard costumes! My son was a Rubik's cube one year, and a Lego another year, both made out of cardboard boxes, some paint, and a little Mom ingenuity. Those are the best kinds of costumes! :)
DeleteI hope every thing can get better for you pain wise now that they figured out what is wrong. The costume is really cute. Your daughter's room looks good. Kids have lots of stuff.
ReplyDeleteThank you! :) I'm at least hoping for some temporary relief. It's a lifelong thing and all they can really do is manage it, but a break would be nice! :) And yeah, my daughter has an overwhelming amount of stuff (my husband doesn't think so, but I think he'd agree if he were the one cleaning it!). I'm much more of a minimalist and am happier with less stuff cluttering up my area, so it's definitely a challenge to find new ways to keep organizing all her toys!
DeleteGreat news about the diagnosis. Hopefully things will take a turn for the better.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I hope so too!!! Even if it stays the same, at least I KNOW exactly where the pain is coming from. That alone makes a huge difference in my mental well-being! :)
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