Month: October 2017

10.30.17 Game of Thrones (I AM a spoiler if you haven’t seen it yet)

Luba told me that all of the therapists were dressing up as the Game of Thrones cast for Halloween.   I got excited because I just finished binging the show so it’s all fresh in my mind! She told me who she and everyone else was going to be and I got really excited to see them! When I got to ATI, Larry, Brad, Greg, Matt, and Emily were the only ones  still there  and the horse was gone but Larry sent me this picture:

Emily is a wolf, Matt is Khal Drogo, Mira is Arya Stark, Greg is “Littlefinger,” Luba is Cersei, Brad is Tormund Giantbane (the red-headed wildling), and Nicole is a dragon. Larry did not dress up because he only arrived there  at 4:30. I wanted him to be Ned Stark because I love Ned Stark even though he’s dead.  Before we got there, I showed my mom pictures of who everyone was going to be.

Once we got in, it was excellent! My mom took pictures of Brad, Greg, Emily, and Matt:   

She even took a picture of Larry, even though he wasn’t dressed up!:

It was so much fun to see them all! There is a contest between the ATI’s in Michigan and I hope that Plymouth wins!  Brad rubbed my knee,  did my ultrasound, I did my leg lifts, my heel slides, and then I got ice and stim.   It’s the normal routine but yet, my knee always ends up hurting again after I leave ATI. Brad talked about  me just having a few more appointments before I see Dr. Moore and then we will discuss if I will continue with physical therapy because I am not making many gains.  This stinks!!!  I guess we’ll see.

10.27.17 Casual Friday OR Shake OR Red Hot Chili Peppers

I had to change my ATI appointment from Thursday to Friday because I had Sean’s parent-teacher conferences on Thursday. So Friday at ATI, I had Greg. He was in  a T-shirt and jeans. I had never seen him and jeans before and he told me it was because  it was PT month, it was casual Friday. He had an ATI T-shirt on. I didn’t know that October  was physical therapy month! My knee hurt, as always, and Greg started with ultrasound.

After the ultrasound, he rubbed my knee a little bit and then grabbed my ankle and pulled to alleviate pressure in my knee. After he did this, he shook my leg a little bit.  That really felt good! I told him that I like the shake and he sang a little of the KC and the Sunshine Band song and danced a little bit while we both laughed!

After that, who grabbed a bolster and stretched my leg out simulating the leg lifts but I didn’t have to work. I really appreciated that because my knee hurt and I was tired.   He hooked me up with ice and stim.  My mom and I had a great conversation with Emily (the new physical therapist).   Well, it WAS  Great until I learned that she went to MSU. I told her that I thought I liked her but now…  we all left and she told me that she was dating a good guy who went to UofM. I told her that is WHY he was a good guy.

Greg came back out when the stim. was finished and taped my knee.   When he was finished, he looked at his tape job and told me that I look like I have the Red Hot Chili Peppers symbol on my knee. He held my ankle up so I could see it as I laid there flat. I agreed with him!

10.23.17 Maize OR Dwayne

Larry and Brad helped me onto the table and I did all my normal exercises with Brad. He rubbed my knee out, I did my leg lifts and  the heel slides with the big green rubber band .  I did not do my stands because my knee hurt too much.   In our conversation, I found out that Brad has a cat!   He got the cat just before his wedding and its name is, “Maize.”   He just told me that his wife would get rid of him before she got rid of the cat!

He told me that after Larry did the ultrasound, he would tape me.  Larry did my ultrasound and it felt really good! Afterward,  he hooked me up with ice and stim and that combination really helped my need to feel a lot better even if it was fleeting!  As Larry was hooking me up for the stim, another client finished and was leaving.   I didn’t know why she was at ATI but she told Larry that he didn’t look like he was a, “Larry.”   She said that he looked more like a, “Dwayne”  because he was so “muscle-y.”  Well, he IS! We all laughed and as Matt left that night, he made sure to say bye to “Dwayne.”

When my time was up, Brad taped my knee and I really liked that because it felt better even if just for a little while! I am still waiting for my next appointment with Dr. Moore and the Tenex to more clearly figure out my future at ATI and possibly transitioning back to Barwis.  Dr. Frush said not to go back to Barwis until my knee stopped hurting and  it’s so frustrating that  it STILL hurts!

The Triple Threat

Well guys, I am awaiting another procedure on my knee because it still hurts a whole lot!  The doctor says that he is going to scrape my tendon. That sounds  disgusting!  I can feel my stress level rising as I am trying to figure out my bill paying process  with no income. There have been 9,835 views on my blog and with that being said, most humbly, I’m asking for “a little help from my friends” (and family) so I can get by.   I’ve decided to make it a triple threat. I say triple threat but I think that sounds kind of mean. I thought of all things that come in a trifecta but I didn’t want to name it “the three branches of government,” ” The holy Trinity,” “Bell Biv DeVoe,”  or even the complete football team: offense, defense, special teams. I guess I’m going to stick with the triple threat. There are three ways to donate whatever amount you can.

1.  I have a PayPal account that accepts funds and the email is: jfr0945@gmail.com. (That’s a zero).

2.   I am starting another, Team Jen” Booster  (because I am still a sucker for a logo-ed shirt) that will be available until November 12, 2017.  Click here to be linked to the Booster page.

3.  I will re-share the gofundme account  on Facebook and Twitter that my friend, Tina, set up for me originally when I lost my job.

It is definitely a big shot to my pride to ask for help but… I need it. Any help you can offer in any way will help me so much! Thank you in advance!

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #7

I came across this tune again because of my run-in with fame on Good Morning Football  on Friday.   I had to watch both broadcasts because I wanted to  record  the broadcast when Kyle referenced me as he made the Third Eye Blind reference. I always heard the “London” song when they talked of football games in London and so I tweeted him and I am that “someone on Twitter” and he tweeted me back after he did it.

Washing my dishes was delayed as I watched the two broadcasts so I pulled up Third Eye Blind on the YouTube app and played it as I washed my dishes. It automatically played more Third Eye Blind songs and I heard this one.

“Deep Inside of You”  Third Eye Blind

I programmed it this song in my CD player to repeat as I fell asleep. For my first few nights at school, I played it really softly  during the day because I didn’t want to bother people on the other side of my wall.  😂😂😂   I’m not sure that I’ve heard this song since my days at WMU.

10.19.17 Cruel OR “Hit it!”

As soon as I woke up, I am mediately thought of David Bowie’s song in the movie Labyrinth,“Within You.”  I thought about which one of my knees was being more cruel. My right one, for hurting but my left one, for feeling completely normal! I’ve decided that it is pretty cruel  for me to know exactly what a healthy knee feels like!    I’m having a really hard time getting over the fact that it’s been over a year that my knee has not been okay.

I worked with Luba when I get to ATI.  She asked me what kind of sensation I felt it in my legs compared to sensations I have in my hands. She rubbed her finger on my right hand and I thought about it for a while. I took a deep breath and  told her 3. If feeling in my hands is it 10, then feeling in my legs is a 3.   I told her that my bathroom floor is cold still and that was a good thing because I am barefoot in my bathroom and my bathroom floor did not start getting cold until I started working out at Barwis so sensation is still there.

I thought about my knee hurting so badly, if my sensation is lessened in my legs, maybe it hurts a whole lot more, I just can’t feel it! Again, that’s pretty cruel!   Luba’s  verbal catalyst for me to raise my left leg was, “Hit it!”  That made me chuckle a bit to myself. I remember that I had a friend in high school who used to say, “Hit it” all of the time  referring to driving somewhere, like, “Hit the road.”

Luba did the ultrasound and Larry hooked me up with ice and stim.  The combination of those three things made my knee feel really good but just for that time. When I was almost home after physical therapy, my knee began to ache again.

 

London

So, here’s the deal: it has been my morning routine to watch Good Morning Football on the NFL network every single weekday morning. I do miss the show sometimes but I try not to make a habit out of that.   Something that I have thought about every time I see correspondents  in London for the football games that are taking place there is the Third Eye Blind song, “London.”

“London”   Third Eye Blind

I hadn’t heard that song in a really long time but that was a staple in the soundtrack of my Junior and Senior years in high school.  I tweeted Kyle this:

To which Peter replied this:

  

I felt completely famous because they actually read my tweets! But then this was the next segment, Kyle referenced me and I was so excited! I recorded my TV but the file is too big to share it here on my blog. I think I will share it directly on Facebook until I figure out how to put it in this post. Then Kyle sent me this tweet:

I really like the fact that they really interact with their fans! I knew there was a reason I loved the show!  I responded with 2 tweets  telling him that I saw it and I cannot stop cheesing!!!

 

10.16.17 Tweaked OR Scrape

Monday morning, my knee felt like it was “tweaked.”   Obviously, it did not feel good! I felt like something was pinched on the medial side of my knee. I just learned that “medial”  refers to the inside of my knee. I didn’t like how this felt and it greatly concerned me! Once I got to ATI, I told Brad and Larry that it felt tweaked or pinched.

Brad decided that we would not stand and instead really rubbed my knee out well. I told him about what Dr. Moore said. I told him the cortisone didn’t really make my  knee feel any better and my next appointment is November 10th which probably will schedule the Tenex.   I can’t believe that my knee is STILL  hurting!

I told him that Dr. Moore said he was going to scrape my tendon and that it kind of freaked me out!  Dr. Moore said that they would make an incision and put the needle in my knee to scrape the tendon. Gross! Brad asked me which one because there were three tendons on the medial side of my knee. He told me the three and it completely sounded like a different language.   I kind of shrugged my shoulders and had him repeat my three options. I told him that the first one sounded familiar.

I usually am so interested in finding out the technical terms for things but I think I am a little exasperated with how much of my knee is hurt,  STILL!   We did my leg left and  Brad had me push my leg out and in. After we did that, Larry came over and did the ultrasound for me.

I thought I was done after that but then Larry hooked me up with ice and stim.   I liked that my knee felt better for this short time! Brad told me that he will talk to Nicole to see how things will look for continuing physical therapy because we aren’t making gains so much.   Neurologically, that’s pretty much impossible.  I asked him if I would transition back to Barwis because they have a Neuro doc.there now.  He wasn’t sure of the answer and I  reminded him of that Dr. Frush told me not to go back there until my knee didn’t hurt. It still hurts!   What are my going to do?!

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #6

Arcade Fire was the musical guest on Ellen today. It was apparent that she really dug them and I was immediately reminded of Mr. Wright  from about 10 years ago at CCA! He introduced me to this song so many years ago when I still was teaching English. I really dug it then and then it was a part of the Where the Wild Things Are movie that came out when Sean was young.  I remember that we did not go to the movies to see it and I didn’t really care for it so much  when we saw it on TV but I loved this song! I pretty much forgot about it until I heard/saw Arcade Fire today.

“Wake Up”  Arcade Fire