May 09, 2005
*sigh*
well as i mentioned a couple of weeks ago, i had a follow up my physician to see how the spine is doing, and apparently the damn thing still isn't healing up.
so, i had a CT scan of my spine so he could get a better look at why.
i just got off the phone with him and apparently there are a bunch of micro-fractures in the vertabrae that he didn't notice before.
also, in speaking with a surgeon, apparently all the soft tissue surrounding the injury was likely torn apart with the force of the fall. which makes sense.
so i have to go back for a series of facet injections to confirm this and then they will brace me up. for 24 hours a day. for the next three months.
and the very first oh so sympathetic comment of consolation from my boss, "well, there goes your sex life!"
*sigh*
well, frankly that isn't really much of a loss.
Posted by heidijanet at 05:11 PM | Comments (1)
April 14, 2005
ahem. please pay attention.
i had my six-week follow up to see how my spine is healing up from my poor annie oakley impersonation on a polo pony in palm springs a few weeks back.
my first appointment with dr. fish went well, but i found him awfully arrogant, cocky and frankly not a very good listener. which sometimes happens with specialists, particularly young ones with a gaggle of residents following him around one of the best orthopedic facilities in the country. but i like my physicians to pay attention.
i made a few subversive attempts to see if i could get him to focus at my last appointment, which went entirely unheeded.
this morning however, after my examination by his resident and complaining of the increasing pain in my back and reluctance to take the pain meds, he asked if i was more active than usual. i shrugged that i didn't think so--but didn't want to take more meds because they made me tired and slow-witted--albeit more agreeable. (i didn't mention that this has been a welcome change for everyone else except me)
so as he was prescribing yet more meds, apparently not listening again, he recommended that i take it easy and avoid any excessive activity.
i paused, raised an eyebrow with a wicked grin and asked, "well, dr. fish, can you please define excessive?"
he stopped. looked up. stuttered something about my erm, being young, and...well...that could be...
i think i embarassed him. but maybe now he'll start paying closer attention.
Posted by heidijanet at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2005
that thing you're going though
ok, i've gotten so many sweet notes and get well wishes from people i love.
but i have to say this is best get well message. EVER.
thank you ariel, for causing me to re-injure myself by collapsing in a heap of laughter.
Posted by heidijanet at 06:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
source of all the commotion
so there it is, the infamous wedge compression fracture of the anterior superior of my L-3 vertebrae. seems to be pretty insignificant considering all the attention it's getting (and frankly the trouble it's giving me).
wedge compression fracture of the anterior superior of my L-3
Originally uploaded by in retrospect.
i made it to the orthopedist this morning, to make sure i get the right treatment, a hall pass to return to work and heal up properly.
my physician, Dr. Fish, confirmed i was real lucky, it's on the inside of the spine and it's a stable fracture so in six weeks or so i'll be all healed up and good as new.
having covered the important stuff, i staged a small protest to the radiologist notes that my pelvis was "unremarkable". i feel that was extraordinarily poor phrasing on their part. so filling out the new patient form i retaliated by checking "eats too little/too much" and "unhappy" under the "mental state" category.
subsequently, he wrote me prescriptions for more painkillers than one person of my size and disposition should really have access to.
so i'm sure my message got across loud and clear.
Posted by heidijanet at 02:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 21, 2005
that makes it seven.
i like to think of myself as an adventerous girl who's always game for a little excitement. while in mexico i jumped at the opportunity to get in the ring in flip-flops and a cape for a "faux-bullfight" (which turned out not to be faux at all), bungee jumped in cowboy boots for $20 and a t-shirt, i've raced (small) sailboats in rough water practically drowning us all, torn down mogul runs with the U.S. Ski team that should have ripped me in two, and i've white water rafted with ill-equipped companions and nothing but luck and life vests on my side.
and this last weekend, i've demonstrated yet again that some force in the universe is keeping me in one piece for some unknown future reason.
it all started with a road trip to palm springs with a couple of my favorite women to spend a few days in the sun, by the pool at the house of a friend from san francisco. he has a lovely place in indio with a pool, hot tub and generous helpings of good people and hospitality. he was participating in a polo tournament on sunday, so we were real excited about that.
unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there, so we spent our first evening drinking unnamed concotions of vodka, redbull, juice, tonic, subjecting us to totally inappropriate behavior by complete strangers involving hot tubs and high-velocity bananas. as the weather broke the next day, bill offered to take us for a nice leisurely ride on a few of his polo ponies. which sounded like an excellent idea. at the time.
i have a little experience growing up riding trail horses, as does my friend daniela. so we take off and fairly quickly realize the horses are pretty sensitive and are not all that excited about plodding along in the mud with a bunch of amateurs on their backs. after a few trots and inefficient turns, my horse made it stompingly clear that she didn't have whole hell of a lot of respect for me.
as we head back to the stables the horses started getting a little jumpy and excitable at the sound of a nearby polo ball being whacked, and the idea of getting back to the stable--and rid of us.
but things seemed to be going along just fine, when my horse suddenly bolted. before i realized what was happening it became clear that i'm clinging to a horse in a flat-out run headed toward thick brush and a rebar fence. i pulled in hard on the reins and screamed WHOA! nothing. i tried it again. still nothing. she just didn't care how hard i pulled. not one bit. as a matter of fact, i think it made her go a little faster. sort of a horsey fuck you i expect.
so barely clinging to the back of this horse, desperately trying to get her to stop, but also somewhat terrified that she WILL stop and send me flying into god knows what, we reached the bushes, she planted and made a hard right around a corner into the maze of stables filled with fences and rebar and golf carts and people and all kinds of other frightening and apparently deadly obstacles. by now it has become clear that i cannot stop this horse, and no one can help me. i begin to think that i may well not make it through this. it's strange to have time to think about this. weighing your options for a few seconds seems like a real long time. at this point i'm not thinking about how to escape injury, but how to injure myself the least--in other words try not to kill myself.
clinging to the neck of the horse, with one foot in the stirrup and my heart pounding through my ribs, i leap off the horse as i'm passing a relatively clear spot as the horse is headed in a relatively straight line.
the hard landing on my ample ass audibly crunched the hell out of my back and sent me rolling into a neaby fence cracking my head in two places. however i can't quite figure out the physics on that one.
lying quietly in the mud, i look up to see the hoofs pass by my face, i hear people running to over to me making all kinds of noise. while lying very still on my back, i realize that i'm only moderately injured, my arms and legs move just fine. my head and neck are banged, but not injured. i grin widely and think, okay...well that's seven.
i'm starting to keep a running tally. those moments where i could have and in some cases should have simply not survived. at least the ones i know of.
at any rate, afer seven hours in the ER, which my fantastic friends turned into an event with wine, cheese, crackers and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition it turns out i have a compression fracture of my L3 vertebrae.
please forgive my rambling valium and lorcet-induced story, these painkillers aren't all that conducive to clarity of thought. or judgement.
which clearly doesn't factor strongly into my nature as it is.
Posted by heidijanet at 09:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 19, 2003
orthotic
so after a month of wrangling with my primary care physician (never get an HMO, it's a HUGE pain in the ass) i finally got my orthotics. now i've never been trainer wearing girl. i've always stuck to the strappy heel or boots. i love boots. platform boots, cowboy boots, biker boots -- but never been into the whole trainer with invisible socks look.
but i have to tell you -- 2 shoes that finally make my feet feel straight. i now have a whole world of trainer fasion to discover.
on another note -- ever wonder why asparagus makes your pee stink? or how about why toilet bowl water always swirls clockwise? i was fascinated...
Posted by heidijanet at 07:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 21, 2003
back on 2 [wobbly] feet!
GREAT NEWS! i went my doctor's appt yesterday but i went in with little hope of any major progress -- almost 8 months of incredibly slow moving progress (pun intended) creates a bit of hoplessness in that regard -- and finally, music to my ears, the BONE IS HEALED!!
i can now wear 2 normal shoes, count 'em two! no more confusing my single flip flop wearing with undergarments (hey, give me a sec to put on my thong). no more hand controls in my car (i can now irresponsibly coffee drink and cell phone talk with thre rest of the population if i please) and best of all i can now go shoe shopping with excitement (no more "oh poor me" looking at the useless half of an adorable pair of shoes and kerplunking away).
i still limp, and it hurts and i have a cane. but no more thump clunk of the ugly boot. i might even regain my girlish gait a little. maybe even dance. the possibilities are endless.
Posted by heidijanet at 06:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 27, 2003
hobblin' along
more news on the progress of my right foot.
i headed into my doctor's office today for my appointment. went in for the xrays -- for some reason i wore a skirt that made this visit a little more exciting than the rest. as i was waiting for the doctor i pulled out my xrays and looked at the fracture squinting my eyes searching for a sign of revascularization, and of course not being a doctor that was not apparent. however i did notice a very scary looking fracture site that i hadn't noticed in such detail before -- and started to panic a little.
well the dr came in, pulled out the xrays, let out a low whistle and said wow! in a good way. with a smile and everything! (my dr is deadpan, so a smile is a big deal).
he was very happy with the progress, and pointed to the scary looking fracture site that looked like the grand canyon. he explained that the fogginess in the gap meanns that bone is officially "crossing the gap".
he grabbed my foot and turned it this way and that and it just didn't hurt. it was great. it was a big acceleration in my healing -- and i do attribute it to my acupuncture. i was a real cynic before, but am now more open to the "other" methods of healing oneself.
only bad news is that my crooked foot (it curls in slightly) will be crooked forever. it was just a bad break all around. so no more super-cute, strappy heels for me.
but otherwise it was an all around fantastic day! next....the flask cane!
Posted by heidijanet at 06:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 11, 2003
Court; Part Deux
i get the call from the DA. apparently the preliminary hearing has been rescheduled until april 3rd because the defense attorney somehow is acquainted with one of the witnesses.
you'd think he'd have figured this out at the last hearing. so, apologies for the build up and subsequent letdown folks. tune in next month for more drama.
Posted by heidijanet at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)
court part 1
i was called into court this morning to stand as a witness against mr. scott alan schoenkopz who caused my little accident last halloween. the last preliminary hearing was rescheduled, but supposedly today was the day.
well, i get into the courtroom and sit in the front row behind the district atty's desk. there are about 6 DAs milling about chat chat chatting, flipping for files and what looked to be coin tossing for the different cases. i got the distinct impression that they had not looked at any of the cases before this morning....
there are baliffs and multiple defense attorneys and baliffs and witnesses milling about and a very bored judge flipping through paperwork trying to figure out which case was which i suppose. i can barely hear a thing. and everyone keeps talking over the judge and everybody.
i did watch one case get dismissed without so much as a defense attorney present. this was no joke. the DA stood up to state that this was his case, the defense was not present so some random atty stood in and it was dismissed. right there. no argument. nuthin.
one interesting thing was that the detective on my case and the officer that questioned me at the scene and in the ER leaned forward and said to me, "you don't remember me, but I'm the one who questioned you at the scene and in the ER". I turned and replied, "oh, trust me i remember you. you questioned me as they were setting my ankle. great timing by the way--it's the best way to get the truth." maybe he felt bad because he let me read the full report on the accident.
the bus with the defendants that were in custody had not arrived, because as i found out later there was a sheriff's strike. no sheriffs, nobody gets from the jailhouse to the court house.
so the DA says I can go back to work and he'll call me when he needs me. on my out, i meet up with another witness in the case, who was also in the accident, well not really, she actually crashed into the debris from my car. i asked her what happened. why the hell did he hit me? well apparently he was barreling down lincoln very fast, almost drifted into her lane and crashed into her, she swerved, he overcorrected and went right over the line and head on into my car. that's it. just drunk, driving fast, swerving all over the place and right into me.
anyway, so now i'm back at work, waiting for the call to go back to the courthouse....stay tuned for more courtroom drama.
Posted by heidijanet at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2003
acupuncture
i had my first acupunture visit today. at my last dr appt, he let me know that the bone in my ankle is not revascularizing. so i'm going to try aggressive acupunture for the next month, i don't know if it will help, but thousands of years and 2 billion people must be on to something.
so i interview with the "dr" and i give him all endless details about my injury, about the bone, where it is, the incidence of complications, avascular necrosis, weight bearing status, how it affects revascularization...i went on and on.
he talks a little bit about his past successes and then asks to see my foot. he wraps both hands around my ankle and just as i start to blab on about scar tissue and soft tissue damage, he stops me, "i'm just checking the temperature..." ahh, sure, of course. he leans back and lets me know that circulation is good, but could be improved with some encouragement. let's go for three times a week for a month and see what happens.
so then i ask about how tired i am all the time, how i feel like shit and start a really complicated description of the potential reasons why and he says, "stick out your tongue."
i stick out my tongue.
apparently there's a problem with my digestive system, that is preventing me from absorbing nutrients and resulting in problems with fatigue etc.
all of this from the appearance of my tongue. and the temperature of my ankle.
i'm impressed.
Posted by heidijanet at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2003
crooked foot
another month, another appt. a very exciting appointment. this was my 4 month mark. FOUR MONTHS! on crutches, hopping on one foot, driving with hand controls. that's a long time.
i had the recurring fantasy over the last 4 months. a fantasy that included the magic words, "ok, you can now put weight on your foot". and i believed that this would be a truly happy moment.
so i gingerly put my foot down, and slowly, slidy and creak creaky all of my 125 odd pounds on one foot. then i as i took a few more steps, and started crutch-walking down the hall my ankle hurt, my knee hurt and suddenly non-weightbearing seems like a better solution.
i need to get my fantasy / reality relationship i litte more in line.
Posted by heidijanet at 04:02 PM | Comments (2)
January 30, 2003
give me the boot
another dr's appt. my 12th week, the first possible day for getting the dreaded cast off my leg. days and days of hopeful / don't get my hopes up moments. in the dr's office, cast newly sawed off, rubbing my skinny leg and my twisted, atrophied foot.
finally the dr comes in and takes a look at the xrays. i blurt out that all i want is a boot. my heart's deepest desire. he folds his arms, and tells me that it hasn't healed to his liking for weight bearing. then the dreaded words:
"We'll need to cast you up again for a month."
blink. blink. blinkblink. i look at the xrays. then at the dr. i clasp my hands together and beg "please give me the boot, i promise not to put weight on it!".
he turns. thinks about it for a minute. and tells me you can have the boot as long as you don't walk on it. and pats me on the shoulder like a child. oh happy day!
never, ever underestimate the power of a grown woman begging.
Posted by heidijanet at 07:27 PM | Comments (1)
January 13, 2003
not so smart
i'm not as smart as i was before the accident. maybe i was hit in the head. maybe it was the vicodin. or bad tv.
whatever it was i find myself not remembering the simplest things. like a word for something. and i don't really listen to people when they talk. or i just keep on chattering on long after the conversation is over.
not good.
Posted by heidijanet at 10:08 PM | Comments (1)
January 02, 2003
clean feet
i look forward to my doctor visits the same way a 10 year old waits for xmas morning.
because i get to spend 2 hours with my naked foot. today i smuggled in aloe washcloths, foot scrubber and my Arnica ointment. so after i had my cast sawed off i sat waiting for my xrays rubbing and scrubbing my gross little foot.
it was heaven.
Posted by heidijanet at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)