Recap of 2009- Pains, Pains and More Pains

Soooo... a quick recap of the last year and maybe then people will understand why I've been in such a bad mood this year...

*December 22 - Heel Spur Surgery (after a year of horrible pain I FINALLY got surgery.)*January 3 - Found out I had parathyroid problems (extreme fatigue, wretching, diarrhea, bone pain, etc.)... at Covenant hospital for a week (MANY tests). Transferred to Iowa City for a week (MANY tests). Had two ambulance rides to the hospital this month! Rode to Iowa City twice in an ambulance. All this while recovering from recent foot surgery... on crutches... yeah... awesome.
*January 22 - Parathyroidectomy (aka: surgery on my neck) still in Iowa City... Had the most painful I.V. meds that felt like my veins were on fire... HORRIBLE PAIN!
*January/February - Healing from both surgeries and using a walker because of short term osteoporosis which is actually really painful!
*March/April - Still healing after two surgeries and being sick for 3 years without knowing what was wrong.
*April 10 - Found out I'm pregnant and NO we weren't trying for anyone who really wants to know.
*April - Now: Pregnancy issues... Emotional issues (deal with on a daily basis - Mental Illness and with crazy hormones my regular meds aren't cuttin' the mustard. Anemic = very tired.
*August - Now: Hurt my back (see Chiropractor, Physical Therapist, massage therapist) worse than my regular back pain from the last 10 years. Some days can't walk. Hurts to breathe. No meds take the pain away. Think it's sciatica.
*September - Strep and other nasty seasonal craptasticness... gestational diabetes scare.
*October - After an Endocrine appointment, found out my parathyroid hormone is back up again. Which means I may have to have another surgery... this time with a newborn... what timing!
*October - During an OB appointment... found out I have H1N1. Wouldn't be so bad, but I'm pregnant... not good... and I have two children with chronic asthma... not good.
*October 31st - Horrible vomiting episode in the morning. My face was swollen, glands were HUGE, throat felt like it was closing and extremely painful, felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head. Went to the E.R. found out I had pharyngitis which is an inflammation of the pharynx and extremely contagious. Had I.V. meds and was there for several hours.
*November 1st - Horrible headache and bloody eyeballs resulting from nasty vomiting episode. The eye doctor said what most likely happened was from retching so forcefully causing a spike in my blood pressure thus causing my blood vessels to rupture in my eyes. Sooooo nasty. It took over a month to fully heal.
*November - Pregnancy pains... extreme ligament pain, feeling like the baby will fall out at any moment. Lots of insomnia and back pain.
*December 2nd - Pulled over by cops on my way home from a friend's house resulting in two tickets adding up to $227.00. Just in time for Christmas... BOO! Then... several hours later... having contractions TWO WEEKS EARLY, heading to the hospital, being dialated to an 8 resulting in all natural child birth... OUCH!!! I'm wondering if it was related to stress.
*December 3rd - Recovering from child birth... LOTS of horrible cramping in my abdomen. Woke up with a sore throat, congestion and fever of 100. Great.
*December - Still recovering. I have forgotten how painful recovery from child birth is. I'm happy that this is the last time I will feel this way, but I'm sad that this is my last baby...

BACK ATTACK!

I'd hurt my back over 10 years ago and so I'm used to dealing with chronic back pain on a daily basis, however, I occasionally go through some 'episodes' of horrific pain that usually lasts a day or two at most. Well, this time, I've been dealing with it for over 3 weeks now.

I went out to eat with my mom and her teacher friends at Barn Happy, a cute eating place in an old hog barn that serves soups and sandwiches, and then we did some window shopping for about an hour on the Main Street parkade in Cedar Falls. That night I just KNEW I would be in terrible pain the next day... and I was right. I couldn't even walk! My mom took Oliver and Eden for me for a few days and Janine, my MIL, took Jaren for me while Ed was at work. I couldn't fix them lunch, play with them, turn on a video... heck, I could hardly get myself to the restroom. I called my chiropractor, but forgot that he was on vacation, but luckily he'd be back the next day!

So, the next day wasn't any better. Luckily I still had a walker from my surgery that I've been borrowing so Eden rolled that to me and I used that for a bit. I saw my chiropractor and he said that it was probably 'sciatica... the nasty of nasties', since I was in horrible pain. I have the majority of pain in my lower right side and tingling in my toes on my right foot. Since then, my entire back has been sore and painful because it all connects and overcompensates for the area that is really stressing out! I haven't been able to medicate myself since I'm preggo and so all I've been doing is icing the crap out of it. I've seen my chiro several more times and cried in his office simply because I just don't know what to do. Nothing seems to be working and he then said that it may be a herniated disc, but we couldn't tell because I can't have any MRI's or CT scans at the moment. I pretty much just have to live with it until I have this baby. ARGH!!!

So... it's been over three weeks now, a few days of not being able to move (I mean... it hurt to BREATHE for Pete's sake!!!) and the rest just in horrible pain, severely limiting my activities. I called my OB and said that I just can't take this pain and inability to take care of myself and my three kids, so she prescribed me some hydrocodone and set up an appointment to see a Physical Therapist. The first time I took the meds... it was heaven sent! The second time didn't even touch the pain......... what am I gonna do with myself!?! It's only going to get worse the bigger I get!

August 3rd was my first PT appointment and my PT showed me some stretches that I can do and that Ed can help me with. I'm hoping that this as well as my chiropractor visits will help me cope with this pain as much as possible. I'm PRAYING it does!!! My PT said that my ligaments are relaxing and that my hips are totally out of line because the ligaments aren't doing their job and holding the bones in place. It's common amongst pregnant women, but she said mine is worse because of my history of back pain and that I have had this for so long that my body just kind of gets used to its new position. I guess I'm just a crooked woman... I pray that this all helps. As I'm typing this... I'm in horrible pain all across my lower back. I only want to take my meds when I absolutely need them. I'm thinking I need them right about now. YIKES!