July 23, 2014

  Last night was miserable, not because of any pain in the knee, but because of the nagging discomfort from hip down outside of leg to foot.  I took my quota of aspirin and Tylenol, used ice pack, but somewhere in the early morning hours contemplated taking some Percocet.  I think it may  help me sleep, but the next day my stomach is upset which has happened 2 out of the last 3 times, so I lay there weighing the positive against the negative, and eventually fell asleep without having to make any decision.
   This morning the sciatic pain or the iliatibial band discomfort was still there, and I'm getting tired of it.  It strikes me that what totally occupies my  every waking moment is of zero interest to anyone else in the world.  But wait.  The therapist from The Eddy is to come this morning.  She has to care.  That's her job.  So I tell her that when the tension is affecting the side of my leg that I don't think I should do any of the routine exercises, even though I have already reached a satisfactory level.  I tell her what Michael the P.A. at Ortho NY said yesterday about the ilial band or whatever.  She knew immediately what he meant, and isolated the exact spot where the pain originated.  She left me with some exercises for that condition.  When I asked what could be a possible cause, if that is indeed the correct diagnosis, she said it's usually from a strain or overuse.  So I'm hopeful that this was only a minor bump on the road to recovery.  As a matter of fact, when she isolated the "trigger spot" and worked on it a little, it felt better.  And that feeling I had that something needed to "crack" or move out of the way seems to have dissipated.  Maybe chiropractors are effective after all.
      At discharge from the hospital, you are instructed to contact the surgeon's office for follow up care.   Two weeks later, when you visit the doctor's office (P.A.) you are given a script, and the back sheet has a list of providers for Rehab, at least 20 different offices, and it's up to you where you choose to go,  there or elsewhere.    Some come highly recommended, but I'm leaning toward the familiar.  Sometimes I wish I were as important as the POTUS: it would be a relief to delegate.