Friday, October 24, 2008

OH, My Aching Knee!

Here's another adventure I had recently. About a month ago, I just had one child in my care on a Friday, so I decided it would be a good day for a zoo trip. I could take the little one on an outing and get in some much needed walking myself.

I got on a city bus...baby, stroller and bag of supplies and food in tow. All went well as we looked at the lions and tiger and bears... but... OH MY.. I started to have some pain in back of my left knee. By the time we walked around a little more and we got off the little zoo train ride the pain became excruciating and I was unable to walk! I sat on bench and called the zoo number and explained my awkward plight to them. They sent a sweet lady in a golf cart to pick us up and take us to the main gate. Twenty eight dollars later, I was home via taxicab. Still unable to walk I got everything I needed to take care of the child piled on the coach and waited for his mother to pick him up. That night, after talking with some friends we decided that if it wasn't better the next morning I would go to the emergency room. There was nervous talk of blood clots running rampant through the fiber optic phone wires!

On Saturday, after 3 hours in the emergency room, it was determined that I had a Bakers Cyst in the back of my knee. They are caused by a build up of fluid from arthritis. The one inch cyst which is harmless and was theoretically too small to be noticed was crying out to be acknowledged by sending agonizing pain up and down my leg. I was sent home with anti-inflammatories and told to ice it several times a day.
Fast forward one month later. The pain is still there although not agonizing. I'm not at "Valley of the Dolls" status but taking anti-inflamatories and ibuprofen many times a day is not my idea of fun.
I went to my orthopedist today and was told I have advanced arthritis in my left knee. I am now officially "bone on bone." My doctor gave me a cortico-steroid shot. It really didn't hurt that much, though. He assured me that this would stop this "flare." I'm not sure how true this really is as I hobble about tonight.. I then went to get my flu shot. I need protection from all the little ones in my care, who spew infectious bodily fluid from all the orifices in their tiny, little bodies! My motto for today is "Two shots are better than one!"

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Bogged By My Blog

Yikes!! I haven't blogged in too long! I say I'm a writer and a writer writes..right?? I've been doing everything but writing. I'm overwhelmed and overworked. I'm working seven days a week usually and some days are 13 hours long.



So much is going on and I'm going to attempt to catch up right now. A few weeks ago I went to the members preview of our new California Academy of Sciences http://calacademy.org




It is simply incredible! A four-story rain forest, an aquarium, a planetarium, and a natural history museum all under one living roof! I remember going to the old building over 50 years ago! There is a display of taxidermy African animals that used to terrify me! Now it just creeps me out a little!

Because I am usually so busy going out to places like this is a real treat for me and I need to make more room in my life for doing this to renew, refresh and relax.