What is Fibro Feelings?

I write this with a sigh of relief. Last week at this time things were crazy busy for me time-wise and mentally. I was a little nervous about my hip appointment with my orthopedist, trying to finish my Christmas shopping, hoping to bake things for a holiday party, getting ready for said party and more. I really like the orthopedist I saw, although not his nurse, so much. The doctor was very thorough and spent quite a bit of time with me. He did a bunch of hip x-rays, examined me and agreed that I needed to get an MRI with contrast. Since the anesthesia in my cortisone shot temporarily relieved the pain, that is an indicator that the problem is within the hip joint, not elsewhere. A few days later I got the contrast MRIs and I dreaded it.

Unlike other contrast MRIs that use an IV to give you the contrast fluid, these hips ones are done with a huge (5 inch) needle that is very painful. It feels much like getting a cortisone injection there and the local anesthesia barely helps the pain during the process. I think it was more nerve-wracking for me to get that type of shot this time than the first time because I knew how badly it hurt last time. This time I got a roll of gauze to squeeze during it, but I also had silent tears streaming down my face. The first time it hurt like heck and made me tear up, but not cry. Oh well, I’m sure part of it is that I was feeling stressed anyway. I don’t go back to the orthopedist until January and we’ll create a plan then. There was some discussion about possibly doing an arthroscopy.

These last few days have been much less stressful, I only need to get one more gift and three partial gifts. This is six gifts less than last week. I had a great time at some friends’ holiday tacky sweater/cozy pajamas party, although I could only stay for a little bit. I also finished reading listening to Bossypants by Tina Fey. It was great to listen to while I had to drive all over the place last week. It kept me laughing and I learned a few things. I liked it so much that I even bought the book for a friend for Christmas.

Are all your holiday gifts purchased/made?

The calm AFTER my storm*

*Image Credit: from www.flickr.com by rsaxvc