As you know, my Mom and I traveled to Philly April 5-9 to visit my older sister, Kristen, my brother-in-law, Jake, and my niece Cecilia.  The pictures I am posting pretty much sum up the trip.  We spent most of the time at Kristen and Jake’s house just hanging out, which is just what the doctor ordered. 

On Wednesday and Thursday Kristen and Jake had to work so my Mom and I got to be Cece’s “daycare.”  So tiring, but so FUN.  On Friday, Kristen took the day off and Allie drove from Maryland for the day.  So what do you think the five of us girls did?  Lunch and shopping of course!  Saturday, it was already time to go back to Michigan. The trip went so fast.

I was going to do “Seven for Sunday” but it just bugged me too much that it would throw off my consistent “Five For Fridays” posts…Maybe that’s my Montessori mind needing to have order and repetition, or maybe it’s just plain ol’ OCD.  Anyways, here’s my 5+2 for the week… 

1.  Medical Stuff:

• My blood work came back all normal.  Like I always remind myself, I still have my GOOD HEALTH! 
• 1 Day of PT. 
• 2 Days of strengthening exercises in Philly.  My glutes better be firing by now. 
• Back to reality this week.  Hardcore therapy and kale smoothies, here I come!

Well, I do have to say that persistence does pay off.  I may have overreacted a lot bit, but not knowing to me is the WORST.  If I know I have something, then I can start to deal with it, but I do not do well with the waiting game.

I did not get a call yesterday and stressed, and cried, and prayed, and slept fitfully throughout the night.  I felt like I was back to the summer and the fall, waiting, and waiting for answers.  Thankfully, this morning I was called with the answer I was looking for.

1.  Medical Stuff:

• Saw Dr. Rosen which was extremely needed.
• Saw Larry.  He did some gentle neck manipulations, put my lower ribs back in place, and acted as another therapist as we continued to talk about goals.  He gave me Apollo 13 homework due at my next appointment.   Basically I have to relate my disorders and struggles to the movie and present it on a poster board.  He must know I’m a teacher!  Now I must find a copy of the movie.
• 2 days of PT.  Started a small amount of treadmill work.  I realized very quickly that sideways walking on a treadmill is VERY different than forward walking.
• 2 days of home rehab.
• Last day for the PT student who has become a good friend. 
• Called Dr. Grubb’s office (for POTS) to check on my waiting list status.  They said they may be contacting me next week for an appointment with the NP next month.  Stay tuned…

1.  Medical Stuff

• Prolotherapy round two was on Monday.
• 1 day of PT
• 1 day of Home Rehab
• POTS has been giving me fits since Wednesday.  My heart rate hasn’t been this up and down for a while.  Had a minor meltdown about it after feeling dizzy and feeling a lot of body heaviness and weakness.  My therapists pointed out that the trauma from the shots could have made my autonomic nervous system go haywire.  Also, it could be due to my cycle and/or not doing therapy for a full week (could 7 days cause enough deconditioning to give me worse POTS symptoms?)  Maybe it’s a combo of all 3? I definitely recorded this in my daily log.