Visit with PM

[Kathi49]

I had a visit with my PM the other day and he is going to go ahead and do an RF on the L3,L4,L5 and S1 on the left side only the last week of August. It was a good visit and he explained alot more. I just never know if it is my L4/L5 acting up or the facets. But I can say the one and only ESI I had done didn't do squat. ALTHOUGH the previous two sets of facets injections really helped; they just wore off. Anyway, he got into all this technical stuff but basically my deal is with the facets...as usual. :rolleyes::) And he was talking alot about axial pain. I did tell him my knees are killing me and so too are my quadriceps. But he agreed with my Ortho doc; saying that I should try the shots first.

Other than that...it has been CHAOS around my house LOL! The kitchen is going in and looks great so far. I am now in wait mode for the countertops. The pool goes in next week. So, it has been nothing but contractors and installers and electricians coming and going. But the funny thing is...any aches and pains have been in the background except for my knees and a some pain in my left leg. So, there must be something to having some major distractions. :) I can also say I have been putting ice on my knees every night; remove that and basically fall asleep within a few minutes of turning on the TV. Oops, forgot to add. Hubby has been out of town for the majority of all of this. :eek:

[slipnslide]

Kathi,

I hope the RF and the shots (for the knees) work well for you:). I have not had much success with the ESI's either. It sounds as if everything is moving along smoothly with the home improvements and it's working out to be a good distraction. I bet you're getting excited as you see the transformation right before your eyes:D. Pretty soon that pool will be done too, then you can invite us all over for some aqua therapy!:D;)

Kim

[Mark N]

Kathi, I hope your RF and the injections for your knees work. I know from my experience that distraction works or at least as often as my wife goes along with distracting me:D. I hope the construction goes as planned and your pain efforts work to reduce your pain.

[Nana4&cntn]

Kathi, I hope the RF works for you, I have thought about it. I will wait and see how it goes for you:D. I also hope the knee shots help! OUCH I had water on the knee when I was a teen and had it drained with those long a** needles!

I am so jealous of your new kitchen! I have been planning mine for years, just need to come up with the money to do it! Are you going to have an open house and pool party for all of us?;)

Distraction is great for pain reduction, sometimes I wonder if I went back to work part time if I would feel better, who knows.

[Kathi49]

Thanks Kim, Mark and Kathy.

Yes, you are all invited for a pool party and cookout...considering I won't have a kitchen for awhile yet. ;):)

I wouldn't say it has been terribly difficult or even super stressful. It is just with all the comings and goings you have to be on call all day long. To me it sort of felt like planning a wedding and trying to pull everything together in a timely manner. So, it was phone calls galore back and forth and I barely managed to get that PM visit in there. :) And it has been fun in a sense. Because of course I stand or sit there and ask 10 million questions which are usually stupid ones LOL! But I am learning alot too.

Kathy, I should say this kitchen was NOT my idea although I love it. :) It was my husband's; he has been wanting to do this for a long time. And the pool was his idea too. We only went to Watson's to look at counter stools because they had a tent sale. But then he asked me if I wanted to look at pools. Well, as they say, the rest is history. :) I thought it was very thoughtful of him...he knows how much I loved the aqua therapy...just hated the drive because it killed my backside.

I think the real stress will come into play when they install the pool because I need the water delivered immediately and the electrician needs to be there pronto. Thank goodness that is all arranged and if there is not any rain, it should get done. But once more hubby will be in DC this coming week and the following week in St. Louis. :eek: Sooo....if I need someone to help me out for whatever the reason, I have my stepfather and mom on call LOL!

Anyway, the kitchen looks great so far...just waiting as this other company builds the countertops. Monday they will come out for one last, PRECISE measurement and I am glad of that too. I had a friend that had her countertops really messed up because of carelessness or rather lack of a PRECISE measurement(s). The installer told me they do this because one little hair or being a smidge off and he may have to adjust the cabinets. Oh, and not all cabinets are in place yet...just the ones they were certain of. He is just allowing room for adjustments and AFTER the countertops go in. Then he will come back and finish it all up. So, yep, a lengthy process.

Okay, I have written a novel. But that is how this last week has been. Oh, and I did ask our handyman contractor yesterday (he was doing some minor outside work) about building a deck around the pool next year. And he said...no problem. It isn't going to happen this year because I will probably only get one MAYBE two months of use out of it. I would have had it installed alot earlier but due to the rains they were running behind.

Oh, and one last thing. I was laughing at my husband. We had to have a tree service come out and take out one huge branch, then the sand for the pool was delivered. So, my husband says, "This is getting to be a Star Wars deal...we have tree people, sand people and 3 little Ewok Shih Tzus running around!" And bless those little puppers they have been so good and I think are totally fascinated with all of this. They haven't barked or carried on. I just take them outside with me periodically and wear them out if it is not too hot so they sleep great come evening. And that's another thing...keeping an eye on them and making sure they are all okay as all this goes on.

Oops, and about this RF. I hope it works as well as the last one. If it does and gives me the relief it did before, THEN I will make an appointment with the Ortho doc about my knees again a little later. I don't think my PM uses steroids when he does the RF but I need to ask him that. Because if the Ortho doc wants to do a shot in one knee or both I want to time it so there is a couple of months in between or more. Anyway, it is just something I want to ask about.

[Mark N]

It is good you and your husband still have a sense of humor with all the construction that has been going on. Good luck with the RF.

[Kathi49]

Thanks Mark,

Yep, sometimes we (husband and I) just have to laugh things off or it can make us crazy. But again, it is a good stress but stress still the same. And thank you for the well wishes about the RF. :) That won't be until the end of August though.