lajendi

New Shoes

New shoes do make you run faster. It's not just a playground rumor. 

 

Yesterday I got new shoes and a few workout clothes. I won't call them running shoes and clothes just yet. New shoes are important support for running feet. I ran twice for a few minutes during my treadmill time today, I'm very cautiously working up to what I previously could do. It would be so awesome to run outside this summer. 

My knees are cooperating so far. Today they don't hurt at all - that is pretty amazing considering what I dealt with this time last year. I've been working on my core, crunches and the exercises from the physical therapist. I thought my core would be strengthened to run just by running. I talked to my physical therapist about this and she said that it isn't true. Even though running is one of the best workouts, it still does not strengthen all the muscles necessary for running, such as the abs and back. I think this could be the reason I got runner's knee. 

When your core isn't strong your form fails as you tire. For me that meant my toes turn in, I hunch over, and generally look like an ogre loping after it's prey. This is where the damage occurs. So now when I focusing on form I watch my toes and stop running when I get tired. 

My whole life I've been pigeon-toed. I wore a brace as a baby to try to correct it and special shoes as a little kid. It didn't work. Now I'm finding that it is due to genetics and weak muscles. Not all my muscles are weak, the ones specifically needed to keep my feet pointing forward need work. As I do the exercises recommended by the physical therapist it strengthens the muscles that turn my feet outward. As I focus on placing my feet with my toes pointing forward (which feels as if I'm running like a duck, that's how much my toes want to go inward) it reduces the chance of injuring myself again, or exacerbating the existing damage. 

The interesting thing about all of this is that in the past I never knew if I should try to correct my pigeon toes. As a kid when I was teased about it I tried to point my toes forward but as soon as I forgot they would go back. It seemed to only be an issue of appearance. I got used to it and ignored the taunts. As I started running it was interesting that my dysfunctional feet didn't cause trouble and neither did my bunions (that sounds like something old ladies have, for the record, I'm not old!). It was just a matter of time though. It took about 5 years of running before I started to have knee pain. 

While I'm working on these feet issues I don't think it will ever really be "cured". It has been my body's fall back position for so long, and I wonder if there is something in my bone or muscle structure that precipitates it. Regardless of cause, I can do things to improve, even if it doesn't ever go completely away. 

So watch out pavement - my new shoes and I will be confronting you very soon, at a much faster pace. 

Thanks for... the EDNF

Anyone who has been reading my blog for long knows about my health struggles. Some times are better than others. Right now I am doing very well, but it takes effort everyday to keep my joints healthy and pain-free. In my efforts to find a name for what haunts my body I found the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation. 

While I have not been officially diagnosed I feel that this syndrome is the explanation for my health issues. Finding a doctor who thoroughly understands this condition is difficult. I hope that as the EDNF is supported they can do more to educate the medical community, support research, and reach out to others who may be struggling without answers. I am grateful to have stumbled onto their website, it has helped me find answers and a measure of peace about my physical limitations. 

This morning I received an email containing a personal story about a young girl with Ehlers-Danlos. I hope it will provide another useful perspective on the condition. 

The clock showed less than three seconds, and the noise in the gym was deafening. Our side of the bleachers was chanting the team name as the ball was inbound to my 14-year-old stepdaughter. Six feet tall already and beautiful like her mother, she was the star center of the elite team. A pending invitation to play on an All America team lay on the kitchen table at home.

As she went up under the basket, made the shot and drew the foul, the crowd cheered. The game for the regional championship was tied and she stepped to the foul line with one second left on the clock and made her basket. The room erupted in cheers and she was swamped by her team mates rushing her off the bench as her name was echoing off the rafters.

Eighteen months later, it was absolutely silent in the hospital room. The enveloping quiet was broken only by the wracking sobs as she leaned on her mother’s chest and cried. I blinked back tears. Her third surgery found that the earlier surgery had been for naught and that her hip capsule had stretched back out. This confirmed the likelihood that she had a disease we had been told was called the Hypermobility form of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Her athletic career was over. She cried because all her dreams had derailed. She cried because the trajectory of her life had suddenly changed and her hopes, her aspirations and even her self image had been taken. She cried because she had been told there was no cure. Gone were the congratulatory crowds. We were, at that moment, three people very much alone in the world.

My wife was determined to learn, to understand, to cope through knowing. She mentioned to me a week later she had found a website for the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation. Through it she was rapidly getting educated. We became aware of a community of sufferers. We discovered that there are far worse forms such as vascular EDS. As parents, we were horrified by VEDS and secretly thankful that Maggie did not have this form of the disease. My wife found new friends with whom she corresponded and spoke. We networked to find expert medical practitioners in Maryland. At one point, our family doctor told my wife, “You seem to know more about this than I do. Tell me what I need to learn.” She gave him the Medical Resource Guides and articles from the EDNF website.

We realized we were not alone. We were part of an extensive population of patients and families of patients who were suffering from EDS. The support and the information supplied by EDNF were a vital part of our story of living with EDS.

Earlier this year, I joined the Board of EDNF determined to help the organization and give back some of what it had given to us. I have heard so many stories far more heart breaking than our own. The Foundation is also struggling right now through difficult economic times and only your support can save it. Many non-profits are failing and we need your support so we do not.

Please help sustain our community so it can continue to educate caregivers, patients and their families and carry on the call for further research funding. If you can only give $10, $15, $25 or if you are fortunate enough to be able to give more please do, any amount will help a great organization helping families like ours. Please click below to donate, and thank you for your support.

Eliot H. Chack
EDNF Board of Directors

P.S. Maggie is now a freshman at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. She cannot walk great distances without pain but she perseveres. We know that some day she may be wheelchair bound. She is studying psychology as it is a care giving profession that is not physically demanding. She has a great personal strength forged in adversity. She still gets a little weepy when she watches a basketball game, but we know how lucky she is to be doing this well.

Click here for more information about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Hinge Special Editions are published and copyright ©2009 by Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation. To respond or to submit your own story for future editions, please e-mail [email protected]. Remove this e-mail address from future e-mailings by clicking here. To add an e-mail address to our list for mailings, send us an e-mail with your name and e-mail address.

Thanks for... my body

Despite all the health issues that have plagued me the last few years I am grateful for my body. 

On Tuesday I had my last session of Physical Therapy for my knees. It is amazing how much better they feel. I seldom use ice and never take pain meds now. I've started walking for half of my workout, which has gone well. Yesterday I tried running, 3 intervals lasting 2 minutes. As a result my hips hurt, so that's a sign that I'm not ready to run yet. Despite that it is amazing the restorative power of the human body. 

My headaches have decreased significantly. There are several things I can attribute it to: a blessing I received in relation to my new calling; a herbal supplement called Migralief; a new, earlier to bed, sleep schedule; and almost daily using a heating pad on my neck/head/shoulders. 

The nurse called the other day with the results from the ultrasound on my gall bladder. Everything is normal. Again I'm faced with the bizarre feeling of being upset by good news. I still have digestive issues and pain, but I just can't stand more doctor appointments. For now the symptoms have moderated a bit, I'm not losing weight as rapidly as I was a few weeks ago. 

Today I was actually grateful when the neurologist's office called to say he'd be out of the office on the day my appointment is scheduled. I just don't know what to say to him after the last crazy appointment I had with him. I do want him to know I'm doing better though... maybe a note will do the job?

I have an appointment with a specialist in two weeks. It had settled in my mind that I should cancel the appointment. It is down in Philly so DH would have to take the whole day off work and I'd have to find a sitter for Baby. He is a dermatologist, but would be testing me for Ehlers-Danlos, which would explain my joint pain that isn't otherwise explainable. It was weird to me that when I called to schedule the appointment the secretary needed me to spell Ehlers-Danlos. This doctor is very into research and publishing so I worry that I'm just more fodder for his research. Not to mention, if I do need some kind of treatment from him I'll have to travel to Philly for it. 

I feel a bit of responsibility to my family to research this possible diagnosis though. It is genetic, and many members of the family have symptoms. Including my sister who keeps being denied medical coverage. It would answer so many questions and keep many of us from continuing on medical wild goose chases. I have great insurance right now, with my deductable fulfilled, so we don't even have a co-pay. I live in an area with access to above average health care too. While my sister lives in the middle of no-where (a beautiful no-where though). 

Honestly the reason I started thinking about cancelling the appointment is that I don't want to feel a fool again. I feel a fool whenever a test comes back negative, especially if I've convinced myself that I've found the answer. And right now my hopes hang on Ehler-Danlos. Other than that I feel, from reading the doctors notes, that it is just a waiting game until I get worse and something shows up in my bloodwork. It makes me feel like a sitting duck. 

But this post is supposed to be about how grateful I am for my body, and I AM! There is nothing like having problems to make you appreciate not having problems. There have been a few days without knee pain or a headache, those days are great. I look forward to more of those days. These bodies are amazing, and I look forward to the day I have the handy-dandy new and improved resurrected version. Boy, on that day I'll hug and kiss everyone I love and then go for a long run. 

brain dump

My problem is never, 'I don't have anything to post about today' but rather, 'which thing do I post about today?' (or when do I have time to write the post?). Somewhere in answering that question I have to consider my family's general attitude about their lives going on display. A post I read recently reminded me that this won't just last for today, but forever and always and I don't want to harm any of my children's chances of becoming the President of LEGO Inc. So I tend to steer away from writing about them. But I'll write about myself, and ruin my future any old day.

Everybody gets lonely. So next time you're sittin' on your pity potty (come on, we all do it) thinking, "Why doesn't God tell somebody to bring me a casserole or send someone to do my laundry like a story I heard once..." Remember that the person you wish would come help you is sitting at home lonely, wishing you would go over and help them. So put your slippers on, grab some hot cocoa and head on over there. But don't do their laundry, because that just perpetuates those crazy stories. And I don't want anybody lookin' at my dirty underwear but me.

This is the last year I'm paying for school pictures. It will cost nearly $150 for 3 kids this year. And they don't even look very good (the pictures, not my kids. My kids are goooood lookin'!). In this day and age of digital cameras, downloading images and online photo processing with mail service it is so easy to take cute fall pictures in your own backyard. So forget it Lifetouch. From working in a photo studio I have a pretty good idea the moola they make off of every cute little school kid. Next year I will not bow to the momentum of tradition and peer pressure. Next year my kids will have their picture taken for the yearbook, but for the pictures we hang on the wall and pass out to relatives it's the digital camera. But this year, cha-ching! (The following photos are not to prove my photography skills, I took them in the .5 seconds before they went to school on picture day, but to attest to my good lookin' kids)

 

  
  
 

 why is the camera focusing on the counter behind him and not his handsome face?  
  
  
  
  

cheesey face with binki 
 

Speaking of photos, I think it is finally time for our brood to suck it up and have another one taken - the dreaded family photo. It's been so long that Baby isn't in the last one, I wasn't even pregnant. We'll see if I can get that together for the Christmas card or not. Don't hold your breath though. Do I say this every year?

Our weather has been beautiful. Too bad I can't even go for a WALK! The doctor and physical therapists say not yet. Is this not ridiculous? I'm ready to just tell them, oops, I forgot my bus money, had to walk. Or something. It's gorgeous with the fall leaves and bright sun, crisp air and I'm not out there. Maybe I'll be really pathetic and steal one of those motorized carts from the grocery store. Not the same. And I'd probably laugh at myself so hard I'd fall of the cart and get run over by a pastry truck. On the bright side I'm almost off the horrid prescription so I'm feeling better, knees hurting, but other stuff better.

Mom, yes I got your email about Christmas names. I emailed you back but you didn't get it, I guess. (Should I have done a whole post on that?)

I started reading The Glass Castle last night. I'm halfway through it. It hits me in a personal way, but it's more tragic. It's like seeing a girl wearing a shirt just like yours and then watching her get hit by a bus. It messes with your head. Good cheery reading!

The kids have Monday and Tuesday off. Columbus, I like you for that reason. Did you know that Latinos (from the Americas) don't like it that we celebrate Columbus day? Ponder and discuss -

Feeling Better

After feeling like I was going to DIE this weekend we have found the problem and I am on the mend. First, just to keep you on the edge of your seat, let me make sure you understand what the problem was.

My hair has been falling out. Not a little, a lot. Like my husband was sweet and said he didn't notice but when I mentioned it to R. this morning she said, "Ya, I noticed something about your hair but I didn't want to say anything." There has been an ugly monster around the shower drain every time I step out. You tell me that's not scary, and not just from a vain point of view.

My muscles hurt, my joints hurt. My days were spent laying around with a heating pad and ice pack. So I gave in and took the muscle relaxers the doctor gave because the pain was so great. They took the cutting edge off the pain. 

Headaches that just weren't going away despite the meds that were supposed to be making it better. Then those PT exercises every day. That just seemed like cruel torture on top of everything else.

Food has lost it's savor. When you prefer Ramen noodles to real food - there's a problem. Even going out to dinner with DH left me shrugging. There was a nausea, dizziness, a sensitivity to odors. This is a problem when you're doing the grocery shopping and cooking for everyone else.

I'm confused, it's hard to keep a train of thought moving in my head. I repeat a word over and over again as I try to tell that little train, "I think I can , I think I can, I think I can!" just to finish a sentence. This morning just to fill out the kid's school picture form I DH had to help me.

Now, I know you're all winking at each other and nodding, oh, she's preggers. That's it. No. That isn't it. If I were on top of everything else I'd absolutely fall apart. My body just can't handle it. Steps have been taken. Let me assure you.

In fact I've learned that many of these problems I'm listing are symptoms of malnutrition, like what happens when you're pregnant and the baby gets all the good stuff. I'm losing weight, but not in a good way.

So to accompany all this I've been a little emotional. Not so surprising considering I felt like I'd disintegrate into a pile of goo at any moment. But it was more than that, it was depression brought on by medication.

Thankfully this past weekend was General Conference for our church. So that meant none of the usual demanding responsibilities for me. Which was such a mercy because I could not have done it, I was flat on my back. Another reason it was a mercy was because we were able to stay home and receive wisdom and counsel from our leaders.

Elder Richard G. Scott

 To some it may sound crazy, to others it confirms the faith we share, when I say that I received direct and indirect answers to my prayers and pleadings to God for help.

The problems I listed above were caused by a medication for headaches that the Neurologist prescribed. When I visited with the Neurologist a few days ago he asked if I had side effects but I couldn't answer.  Which is the sign of one of the side effects - mental sluggishness. Instead he got agitated that I didn't answer his question. I don't know why he didn't identify the other side effects, it just makes me really sad that someone I went to for help let me down. It occured to me Sunday morning that this drug could be the problem. I reduced the dosage, felt better and then looked up the side effects on the internet. This specific drug has to be tapered up and down, so I'm slowly tapering off it. Already I feel the symptoms easing. But it will take months for my body to return to normal.

At the same time I can be happy that this isn't something lasting or permanent and that God answered my prayers so quickly. I am also so grateful because yesterday at PT they assessed my progress and my knees are stronger and have less pain than a month ago. The other health issues I've had have been so overwhelming that I haven't fully appreciated the healing in my knees. But it is getting better.

Real healing takes work, like physical therapy. Medications can be helpful. But be wise about it. Taking a medication is not a quick fix. There is a trade off, a side effect - long or short term. Please be sure you know about the medications you are taking. Each body is individual, one med that works wonders for one person will nearly kill another. So I won't tell you what med it was that didn't work for me.

Never turn over the responsibility for your body to someone else completely. I didn't think that was what I was doing. But maybe I was so tired and so much in pain that I wasn't being as careful with this gift of my body as I should have been.

Pain

My husband had physical therapy many years ago after knee surgery. He always told me that the pain of physical therapy was worse than the surgery itself. When my grandma and husband compared notes on physical therapy following surgery she heard his theory and laughed and nodded her grey head in agreement. Now it's my turn, although to a much lesser degree, as I'm not recovering from surgery.

I've been going to physical therapy (from here on out I'll refer to it as PT) for more than two weeks now. That also means that twice a day I've been doing exercises at home that the physical therapist instructed. I also ice my knees three times a day. So far I'm still not even walking for exercise, let alone running (yes I'm impatient), and have added Sciatica to my list of complaints. Know what they do for Sciatica? Give you more pain meds and send you to PT.

In the meantime my headaches are intense and daily despite the increased meds for those. I was supposed to call my neurologist to update him about how the meds were going anyway so I called yesterday. When I told the nurse that the meds weren't going well she said they had a cancellation so I went in. The results of the appointment were complete confusion .

The Neurologist doubted everything the Orthopedist recommended, including joint hypermobility and PT. Despite the Neurologist being more alternative and natural he sent me home with five trial medications and two new herbal supplements, in addition to the four I am already taking. Yes, that is ELEVEN all together. Granted it is a combination of cremes, patches, vitamins, and prescriptions but holy moley it is nearly impossible to keep it all straight when you have a headache! Of course he recommends acupuncture, theracane, hot rocks massage,....

 

 It turns me off when a professional disregards another professional's opinion without giving them the benefit of the doubt. My health is too important for the doctors' egos to be battling it out here.

I have to stand strong, because it is my body. I have to make my own decisions while they stand there with their egos and their certificates on the wall and their expensive educations. I have to say a silent prayer and have faith that what I decide is the right thing for myself and my family. I can't tell the doctors that my husband gave me a blessing so they should work together. And that my patriarchal blessing gave me a piece of counsel that is particulary fitting for the situation, so let's lay off the drugs. Or that General Conference is coming up and I'd really like them to watch so we can all be on the same page. Yeah, that's just not going to happen. I've got to be strong in my own convictions, if they all understand them or not.

Physically I just feel a mess. I don't understand how things could be getting worse despite my adherance to the protocols the doctors have set up, including medications. The worsening daily pain brings me to tears often. I am very close to my heating pads and ice bag. I chide myself for being melodramatic or gothic, but it is hard not to consider the long hard road after dealing with this for so long.

DH gave me a blessing a few days ago, it was encouraging, but it wasn't. As is usual for the blessings I've had related to this illness I was told that this is my trial and that I have things to learn. It is good to know that God has a plan. It is hard to think about pain tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow as a good thing. So I think about just tomorrow.

I think that good things will happen tomorrow to distract me from the pain. Like yesterday when Baby said so clearly to my friend, "Goodbye Nancy!" A new name to her repertoire, just like that. The fact that Nancy came over to talk because she needed comfort and I could give it - that felt so good.

That J. is getting 100% on his spelling tests without breaking a sweat. That's good.

To hear R.'s church leader say that she's seen her grow and change in such good ways since the summer. That's good.

For A. to make a hard choice between band or choir because I just can't manage both, when she's already agreed to give up girl scouts, but she doesn't pout, cry or make me feel guilty at all. That's good.

When DH is on call for work and his phone goes off all night waking me up, which also means he's waking up all night, and I bite his head off. He apologizes with half-closed sleepy eyes, and I apologize back. That's good.

So life is good, despite the pain.

Phoenix Rising

I'm too excited about this to believe in the modern-day superstition that to speak of a good thing before it happens is to doom it's birth. And it's not like these thoughts are new, they've been circling my brain for a while. There is some of evidence of their reality too, it's not just fantasy, wishful thinking, or lucky number 7.

The past few years have been painfully difficult with living far from family, a painful body (especially knees), and overwhelming church service.

Living far from family isn't going to change, but I realized as I went to the elementary school open house that our children will be attending the same schools for the third year in a row. That has only happened once, for our oldest child, a long time ago. This kind of stability is invaluable for our children, it brings comfort and prosperity to their world in a way nothing else can. I'm grateful for it and have a feeling, against everything the media tells me, that this good in our lives will continue.

Yesterday I went to my first physical therapy appointment for my knees. It was encouraging, although not a miracle cure. The physical therapist said he felt we could get the pain in my knees down to a 1 or a 2 (now 5 or a 6) without medication. He even said he'd get me back to running. I told him I just didn't think it was wise to go down that road with my physical realities of loose ligaments and arthritic knees. He thought I was giving up. I told him it was nothing of the sort, just realism. I'm very much for getting better, but walking and cycling for exercise instead. The thought of things getting better after two years of hurting makes me absolutely ebullient!

Then there is the secret that we're not supposed to talk about, and this just drives me nuts. Because it is huge. It could be the biggest change in my life, it will make all the difference. We're really not even supposed to know. There could be changes at church soon that could relieve a lot of pressure. I'm giddy, confused, nervous, all turned around. Change does that kind of thing to a person. What would normal do to me after abnormal for so long?

I make it sound so rosy. But the key to these three things is that they all take work. I have never been afraid of work. It makes me feel good to really work. Work does take time, that can be the catch sometimes. Really it's the toil and strain of emotional and spiritual work that have filled the last three years that is - stick a fork in it - DONE. Give me leg lifts and 5 am wake ups in exchange for happy stable children and adult friendships any time.

 

All these things together make me feel like a phoenix, who has been in the fire for three long years. Maybe the cleansing of the fire is over and I'm about to take flight.

busy writing

It is good when my body fails me to have other talents and options for work and productivity. This is a huge blessing of our modern society. One of my essays is now on display at Mormon Woman, and many more are in the works.

I am grateful for how well my mental faculties work. Even if at the same time I lament the things I cannot do because of my physical limitations. I miss really heart pumping, muscle burning workouts. I miss being outgoing and friendly, pain overwhelms me a lot and it takes effort now to do things socially when it never did before. It worries me that people might think this change in me is something about them. But at the same time I don't talk about being sick. I don't like being sick. It is hard to describe, it changes all the time, the vocabulary isn't sufficient, and negative stereotypes abound. So I just avoid the whole mess by not talking about it most of the time. Many thanks to the few people who do listen when I talk about it. Listening to people talk about health issues is one of the great discomforts of life- enough to make your buttcheeks find a mobility of their own to get you out of there when the discussion starts. Thank you to DH, Ashley, Michelle, and Kathy who just listen with out comparing, one-upping, judging, or labeling. I'm confused, lost, and in pain; your support makes my life easier.

I'm confused as to what to do next medically. I have physical therapy, which will help my knees, but I have other issues which need to be addressed before our deductable starts up again in January. Which doctors do I ask about which issues? Sometimes it comes down to very personal questions. How much relief from pain should I expect to get? Should I expect to live with nausea from meds? How confident am I about my issues being related to joint hypermobility? Am I willing to stand up for myself? And how much do I really understand to make competent decisions when my head hurts all the time?

Joint Hypermobility AKA double-jointed

I’m becoming an expert in hypermobility. More specifically joint hypermobility syndrome and the controversy over it’s seriousness. I’m here to tell you that I’m in pain everyday and it’s serious (not deadly serious though, lighten up!). Let me share a little with all of you, especially with those I am related to (maternally), because it is genetic.

First of all, what is hypermobility?

-Can you bend your thumb forward to touch the inner part of your forarm (or nearly?)?

-Can you bend your pinky finger back (the other way) to touch the top part of your wrist?

-Can you put your hands flat on the floor without bending your knees?

-When you put your legs straight do your knees bend backward slightly instead of being straight?

-When you straighten your arms do they bend inward slightly at the elbows?

If you have a few of these it can mean you have worked very hard to be a good gymnast/ ballet dancer, or that you have inherited, through genetics, a lack of collagen leading to loose connective tissues. This can make you more susceptible to injury because your joints lack a strong support structure. Some of the areas that are more likely to be injured are the areas that are more sensitive in every person: Achilles tendon (ankle), patellofemoral joint (kneecap), rotator cuff (shoulder), carpal tunnel (wrists/hands), lateral and medial epicondyles (elbow), and spine. Physically demanding activities will be even more demanding for people with hypermobility. Weird coincidence that I have problems with two of these areas...

Hypermobility brings an increased risk of early osteoarthritis (arthritis from overuse and age). Which makes complete sense. If you start off with less cushion for your joints, collagen, then it follows that yours would run out more quickly. So take it easy, and drink a lot of water, because that water goes to cushioning your joints too.

It has been found that as high as 27% of people diagnosed with Fibromyalgia actually have hypermobility syndrome. (There have been many studies done about the associations between the two, it is a complicated relationship) I won’t claim to know more than researchers  about cause and efffect, but I will say from my own experience that it was a huge fight to keep the label of ‘fibromyalgia’ off my chart when they couldn’t find an answer for my pain.

Only one Rheumatology textbook currently in print contains anything about hypermobility syndrome. So are family practice doctors also missing critical information about the real pain that hypermobility causes? Not all people with hypermobility have pain, for some they can go their whole lives with no pain, others are in pain every day. There is still so much unknown about this disorder and why there is such a great difference in pain levels.

So even though it was cool in grade school to freak out people with your special skills, now it is a liability. Those special tricks could just earn you an extra day or two of arthritis down the road, or even pain tomorrow. The good thing is that it does not effect life expectancy or result in any life-threatening complications. If you hurt, ice it, take a pain reliever (aleve, tylenol, ibuprofen) use icy-hot and see about getting a physical therapist who knows something about this syndrome.

Now that I know more I think about how to buckle baby into her carseat without locking my knees and leaning over, putting stress on my kness. I wonder about wearing my wrist braces during the day. When I'm writing at the computer I get up and walk around more often. But honestly, I cried today because I really hoped that the Orthopedist would have a quick fix and I could get back to running. But instead it was just the news flash that I'm human and my body is wearing out. Silly cry baby, I know. 

　

*Warning- If you look for information on this condition on the internet prepare to find contradicting information. Many of the medical websites that I have trusted for medical information in the past (webMD, mayoclinic, clevelandclinic) only have information about joint hypermobility as it relates to children. They do not address joint hypermobility and the pain it causes for aging adults. In  recent scholarly writings there is admission that those previously held beliefs are false. Joint hypermobilty does carry into adulthood and does result in pain. This I really liked.

　

The Orthopedist says...

I'll get right to the chase, the Readers Digest version, because today was the first day of school for the kids and I'm beat (if they went to school, why am I tired?).

Let's start with the loose joints. He pushed my knee cap way over with an amused look on his face, "This doesn't hurt?"

"Nope"

"Usually that hurts."

How am I supposed to know? This is the only body I've been hangin' out in. No one told me. Then as I laid on the table he lifted my leg by the toes,

"See how your leg kind of bends backward at your knee? It isn't supposed to do that so severely."

"Oh."

"Let's take some pictures."

In a flash he was gone and they were taking me to the x-ray room. They gave me some cool paper shorts to wear. I lie, they weren't cool. This fool was carrying her pants and  purse while wearing those paper shorts around the office. Thankfully I wore sandals, not running shoes with striped socks. Or heels, now THAT would have been ridiculous!

I wish my iphone camera was operational because they left me in the room with my x-rays forever. I could have shown them to you. After giving them a good once over, a good twice over, a good thrice over, I pronounced everything hunky dorey and thought I would be sent packing. The doctor disagreed with me, something about his medical training that gave him a more informed opinion, I guess.

(not my knee)

He said my knee cap (patella) is rubbing against my leg bone (femur), causing pain and even some bone spurs on the under side of the knee cap (patella). The technical term for this is Patellofemoral Syndrome. From what I have read it is the most common injury for runners and should be remedied with physical therapy. I think it is uncommon for someone to have it in both knees at the same time, which is why I threw everyone off initially.

My knee caps also ride high. I bet that's fun for them.

I have a ton of questions which the good doctor avoided, referring me to the physical therapist. That party will start next week. Order up the balloons and cake, I like buttercream frosting.