High Heels for the first time!

Went to a wedding this weekend and I wore heels for the first time in at least a year and a half! Here's me in the church bathroom in 'em.

Here's another shot outside the church.

You can't really see it here, but there was an older woman standing by the curb who had a cane. Last year that would have been me. Hell, just over six months ago, that would have been me! Even though I'm paying for it now, I'm so happy to be the one in heels and not the one with the cane.

"How'm I doin'?"

Shame on me for not updating, but I've got a good reason; I've been busy doing other things rather than obsessing about my back!

So I'm seeing a physical therapist for the stabbing, tearing pain in the middle of my upper back. It was most likely brought on by me trying to overdo everything cause I just felt so good and ready to try to stretch and work out like I normally do, well, like I normally did almost a year and a half ago. Swimming, which is supposed to be so good, probably should have been done with a bit more restraint than I went for it, but say la vee.

The PT mostly just massages the region around where the pain originates. It's all 'crunchy' cause there are so many knots in the muscles. This isn't a relaxing massage, either, folks. She puts some real elbow grease into it and I'm usually sore just from the rubbing, but I know it's good sore cause it means that blood and oxygen are getting to the muscles that need it. Then I do some light, very light, exercises for that region, and what do you know? It's getting better. When I go back for my post-op visit in June it will be six months and that's when Theresa says they usually start the PT for the lower back, the area that was actually most affected by the surgery, even though what I'm experiencing with my upper back is a result of my whole skeletal structure being shifted around. This Friday will be five months to the day since the surgery, we'll see how I'm doing then.

All the barking dogs were not in the ring ...

This past week found me grimacing every time I leaned forward in my seat or randomly when I put weight on my left leg, and then later, also my right. Ugh. Not much pain, but pain, nevertheless, coupled with a weird pulling sensation that I've felt before over the last 15 years or so. Ugh x 2. My normal reaction to it would be to stretch stretch stretch my back and my legs, but that is still verboten, so I was left with just the grimacing, which didn't help, and rest, which did.

Another call to Theresa pretty much confirmed what I had feared: I'm overdoing it. She said it's not unusual for patients to have pain associated with the surgery for months or even up to a year afterward. Of course, Type A competitor that I am, I was trying to be the "star" patient and really astound everyone with everything that I was doing. So much for that. I can't even imagine going through everything that I went through to still have pain.

So I decided to cut back on my activities. No more going to the gym every day on top of the dog walks, and walking for shorter distances with Tony until this goes away. It's already gotten better.

All this didn't take effect until today, of course, because I had to go to the dog show yesterday. I've been going to Westminster for a few years now, and really missed going last year (I was in bad shape last year this time, remember?). I was wondering what being on my feet for a good portion of the day was going to feel like, now I know: tired, achy, painful, but oh, I was in heaven!

I did come home to rest for an hour or so at mid-morning (right after I saw the Borders in the ring!), and it did seem to help. What also helped was the taking of a Darvocet around 12:30 and forcing myself to sit down and stay sitting for a half an hour. It was hard! I really had to not allow myself to get up and walk around, looking for pictures to take. I finally headed home, reluctantly, about 4:15. I SO could've stayed there all night and gone again today. Did I mention it was heavenly?

I have to say that of all the aches and pains I have today, and they are many (shoulders and neck, probably from camera; entire back, legs, hips and butt), I think my feet were the biggest casualty. I hadn't realized how tender they were from doing only the most minimal of walking for an entire year.

So my new rest regime starts today. I'm putting my feet up, waiting for the dog walker to come and take Tony out, and cueing up the DVR of the dog show that was on USA last night. At least my dogs are getting a rest today!