Legs

On Monday I was on my way to PT and thinking about how important our legs are! ….I know…duh!! But after having a left sore leg for almost 8 months now the thought came to me even more. Like a table with one bad leg…it can be kind of wobbly…which is what I seem to be experiencing these days. Two bad legs and I am thinking time for a wheelchair…LOL…not really…I am determined to fight through this but some days it can really be a challenge. It seems like I will never be able to walk without a walker in this lifetime. My SIL asked me how my mental health was and I said “it is in the toilet!!” I know “buck up buttercup”…my new favorite thought as there are others that have it way worse than I do!!

So at PT, Tom the PT, looked at my “good” leg…the one I fell on while getting off the leg press. He was not too happy on the way it was so sore and of course because I am over 55. (Thanks for the reminder, Tom) Apparently there is some calculator they use to determine if a “hurt” should be checked on more and I scored 3 out of 5…not a score you want. So he suggested that we may want to get that leg looked at — not ER level but maybe urgent care. Tria Urgent Care is right across the street so we went over there and the wait time was 90 minutes +. They have an option “Save my Spot” so we decided to grab some lunch/early retiree dinner and then do the saving my spot.

Came back after and I was #6 in line, which still took about 30 minutes but it was better than 90 minutes. Got in to a room and the CMA said the doctor would probably want an x-ray, but decided to have the doc look at it first to see what she wanted. Doc came in and it took maybe 22 seconds to decide I needed an x-ray.

x-Ray technicians are an interesting breed. They just want to get the picture!! So I tried to explain that not only was my “good” leg now a new “bad” leg but I also still had the current “bad” leg that made it that I had to be cautious getting up on the x-ray table/cold granite slab. But not sure he quite understood….just get up there so I can take the picture. Now I don’t blame the tech they just want to get their job done but a little patience with this patient would have been nice. I thought well maybe there are super busy and he just needs to get this done. Even laying on my side for another view was a little painful but he kind of just yanked my “bad” leg over….maybe yanked is over doing it, but it sure seemed so. 🙂 As far as being super busy…there was no one in the waiting room when I got there…just me…and when I went in to the room I saw the Tech Room with the techs sitting looking at their phones. So did not seem to be over loaded. Now take this all with a grain of salt because not only now my “bad” leg has pain tweaks, but now my “good” leg is constantly in pain. Finally finished the x-ray and the tech took me back to the room. I had to laugh because I am moving as fast as I can in my walker and the tech is walking like he is in a NASCAR race and has to cross the finish line before me. Good thing I remembered the room number so I was not left wandering the halls of Tria Urgent Care at Maple Grove.

So the doctor came in (GREAT doctor, by the way….) and said you have a fracture of your fibula. Geezzz…can I never get a break. If you look at the fibula the good thing is that it is non-weight bearing so that was a good thing. It is fractured at the very top near the knee area…exactly where she and Tom pushed on and asked “does that hurt?” as I am almost slapping them upside the head from the pain. Just need to go back to a brace to help protect it and no jarring type of PT on that leg. I can still do the PT on the now “old bad” leg as long as I only work that one for now. The “new bad” leg needs a little rest on PT stuff. I go back in 3 weeks and have it checked again…another x-ray I assume to make sure it is healing or at least not worse than what it was. (Hopefully inpatient x-ray tech has the day off!!)

After walking as much as I did on Monday, I did take it a little easy on Tuesday, trying to keep the “new bad” leg elevated, taking ibuprofen and using the CBD cream. (Did ask the doctor if the CBD cream was ok and she said…hey whatever helps with the pain!)

Monday I go back to Park Nicollet for labs and a PET scan. (I am so excited to try to jump up on another scan table!!) And Wednesday I go back to see Dr. Chen to get the results. Anyone that has gone through this journey knows those days in between scanning and results can seem to take forever. I know it doesn’t help to try to think through what the results may be, but it is hard to turn the brain off! And waiting for Chen to walk into the room is nerve wrecking. Although with My Chart these days, I can see the results of the PET scan pretty quickly so can make my own diagnosis without any need of seeing the doctor! LOL The doctors sometimes wish labs could hold back the results of posting to My Chart so they get a chance to explain the results to the patient rather than the patient self-diagnosing. The wonders of technology.

Well we will head back to Blaine tomorrow so it is closer to drive to St. Louis Park on Monday since my scan is at 7:30 am. We will go to Jackie and Jermar’s on Friday to have a little “graduation” celebration for Jaxen and Jaylen. Jaxen “graduated” from per-K and will start kindergarten in a week. Jaylen “graduated” from daycare and will go in to the St. Louis Park Pre-K program. Those boys are growing up soooo fast!!

Well, as I started this blog remember to take precious care of your legs!! Somebody should have told me that about a month ago. LOL I am trying to have patience for healing but I tend to push myself, so hopefully the leg press incident has taught me a lesson to calm down, do my exercises and take one step at a time.

Take care and be patient with your self and others!