Greetings:
Lamb reminds me I "drop[ped] off the face of the earth," came back, slipped in I have a new shoulder and left again.
I had my left shoulder replaced on August 23. Of course, in my usual fashion, I couldn’t “just” have the surgery. When the doc was reaming out my arm bone for the implant, my humerus broke.
That meant when I started PT two weeks later, we moved muuuuch slower--only four exercises, two with support under my arm and two without. That went on until late October. I was finally able to get both hands on the keyboard sometime in November.
When I saw my rheumy in December, the first thing he said was you look like you feel well. I told him I could pinpoint the last time I felt this well to our 25th wedding anniversary five years ago. He first congratulated my husband (wonder why ;-) and then said we were both to be complimented.
I told him one other reason why I was feeling so well (and so much less depressed) was because I hadn't been injecting Methotrexate since mid-August. I explained that while the medication helped, I never truly got rid of the g-i side effects, to the point that I was afraid to go too far because I never knew when I would go racing for the bathroom or have to return home to change clothes.
He was also happy to hear I had begun doing yoga again (with some allowances for lefty arm).
Upshot: NO MORE METHOTREXATE!!!!! I'm on an every 10-day cycle of injecting Humira for the cold weather period because I have PsA in my hips, ankles and feet and “degenerative disk disease” in my neck (between c5 and C6 is practically bone on bone). (Sheesh). Writes worse than it is….some days.
When I go back in APRIL (first time I've had a four-month out appointment) "unless [I] get in trouble before then," we'll talk about my warmer weather protocol.
I’m still in PT and will be for quite a while but things are much better. I went back to work the first Monday in January. Then on February 4, I pulled the trigger on stepping down as a supervising attorney. Being off for four months after surgery left time to think about what I want to do, what will make me happy and where I can do my clients the most benefit.
The thought of being a senior attorney, of working on one of my new projects—the veteran client—excites me in a way I haven't been in quite a while. I also have to focus on this complicated lefty arm situation. I feel a great sense of peace, in part because I have a clear direction where I am a senior attorney/mentor, not a supervisor.
In short, I’m happy I had the surgery. I feel better than I have in five years. I can do the funky chicken again and I'm working on being able to wash my hair and pull it back, not to mention dress without help.
Of course, there is a complication. In December, the ENT diagnosed me with vertigo. This past Monday, he said my "benign" positional vertigo is recalcitrant. In other words, it did not respond to multiple Epley maneuvers. Monday, I have an appointment at Cardinal Hill--rehab place about 20 miles from me--to begin vestibular rehabilitation. I'm looking forward to getting my head back on straight again.
Anyway, that's why I dropped of the face of the earth.