Earthquakes + Pain Meds = Interesting!

At 9.22pm tonight there was an Earthquake centered approx 90km south of Te Anau. I was catching up on some emails and felt a little 'dizzy' and thought my laptop screen was moving.... (it didn't help that I had taken some strong pain killers with dinner as my hip had been bad today!!) I looked over at our kitten (who had been fast asleep) and she was looking at me and around the room like "What the??"

I figured she hadn't been into my meds so it must be an earthquake :). This is the first earthquake since we have had this house and it's pretty solid I must say. There were only a couple of creaking sounds, nothing falling off etc. It was quite a rolling long quake and the main one was at 9.22pm hitting 7.8 with an aftershock at 9.41pm with 6.1.

For those that are interested you can go to - www.geonet.org.nz and click on the RECENT QUAKES tab for more info, I had a look and there are smaller quakes happening all the time over NZ which is hardly surprising as there is a large fault line all the way through the country!

We don't have a lot of 'big' quakes here & that is a good thing - the last significant one was quite a few years ago and I remember standing in the kitchen at my parents place and the whole house swayed from side to side and I couldn't believe there wasn't huge cracks in the walls afterwards!

Hawaii had a Tsunami warning in place for a period - this is now lifted and there has only been one report of a small wave surge hitting an area near Haast on the West Coast.

Date For Surgery & Cold Weather

Finally received an email back today from the specialist's receptionist with a selection of dates to choose from for my next surgery.

I chose Thursday 27th August - little over 5 weeks away! So at least we have time to get things organised. It's in Christchurch again, back at Southern Cross Hospital.

I am looking forward to my screw removal surgery because things can't go the way the have been - it's just getting too sore however I am quite nervous as there is no way to know what is going to happen after the surgery. Crutches will be my friends again for a while and I can only hope the operation doesn't flare things up even more.

Winter is also taking it's toll - the cold is really not my friend and the past two nights the temp has got down to around -5oC!! The ground is still frosty white and it's lunch time.. brrrr.

Tens Machine + Antiflamme + Trigger Points = Happier Muscles

I had such a terrible nights sleep last night I decided do try a few things to help tonight. First i got out my Tens/EMS machine which is physio issue - not the cheap pocket ones you can get on Trademe!

I had used it on my partner a few times but kept forgetting to use it on me! The area I was having a lot of problems as well as my hip was my back, mainly my upperback at the moment from braline above. My muscles are so tight from the strain of what's happening in the hip area that my neck, across my shoulders and down my upper arms is a minefield of red hot poker knots. I started with the EMS mode which stimulates healing and relaxes the muscles in preparation for the Tens mode.

Placed a couple patches at an angle on each shoulder (will post up some photos tomorrow if I get a chance) and relaxed while it did it's work. After the time was up it felt good - like I had done a workout and loosened the muscles up. I followed that up with some trigger point work across the upper back area (man there were some mean points I found) and ended with lashings of Antiflamme and E-Balm.

It has definately helped so hopefully one part of me will be a bit more relaxed tonight for a better sleep! I think I will work more on my back tomorrow to try to settle that down a bit more :)

Sleep well everyone xox

Operation #3 - Waiting for a date

This week I received my surgery approval to remove the screws left in from the open surgery I had on June 14th last year (2008). Thankfully it only took a couple of weeks from seeing my specialist to getting the approval from ACC however my specialist is now on holiday and I am still waiting after many emails for a surgery date. It is looking like late late August/Early Sept at this stage.

Little frustrating as over the past couple of weeks I have had a major flare - not even sure if I can call it a flare more like everything has got worse and not settled. This week alone my hip has started hurting much more in the groin (labrum issues again??) and there have been a lot more pains deep in the bone. As well as increased muscle pain - currently my calves and hands are the only muscles which are not in severe pain.

Sleeping has been frustrating more than usual as my 'good' side is now so irritated I am unable to sleep on it and if i try it goes completely numb and hurts like crazy so I am left to sleep on my back with pillows under knees etc. Very hard to get comfy so lack of sleep isn't helping!!

I was also given new painkillers to try as my body had gotten used to previous ones and the effect was minimal. These new ones are very strong and it feels like there are a lot of nasty chemicals in their makeup.

Hmm I think that's enough moaning for now :) Post more later! Hope everyone is surviving winter - there have been some heavy frosts here!!

X-Ray Timeline

Here are some of the x-rays taken throughout my injury;

1/ Left hip pre any surgery

2/ Cross table view pre surgery

3/ Left Hip 6 Weeks Post Op From Open Surgery To Treat - FAI/Labral Tears/Bursitis

The only thing which is really evident on the x-rays is the shaving of the Femoral Head on the left side as you look at the x-ray. Most of the bone which was cut away was around the back of the head and can be seen better in the cross table view.

You can also see the two screws which are holding the Greater Trocanter in place after it was cut off (you can see where they cut in the x-ray as a thin white line) whilst preserving the blood supply to the hip to allow the surgeon to dislocate the hip.

4/ Cross Table View Same Date As Above

5/ Left Hip 1 Year & 1 Week Post Op From Open Surgery (as above)

6/ Cross Table View Same Date As Above

Dusting Off The Cobwebs..

Yes my blog has been neglected - my last post was in October last year! Though it doesn't feel to me that long. Well as I bring this back to life I am waiting for my third hip operation in a year & a half.

Amazingly in a few months it will be fours years since my accident that started me on this rather painfull road. Though because of my injury I have been fortunate to meet a lot of wonderful people and new doors have opened along the way.

Just a quick post - more catchup posts to follow later today :)

I Hurt All Over..

Ugh the past couple of days have been very tiring. Firstly my stomach decided to flareup with all the pain pills I have been taking so I have felt very knackered and exhausted with that. My good old hip has been quite sore - more sore than normal and I don't know why.

Plus I twisted my ankle on my good leg and that's been aching like hell up to my knee.....with my stomach not well it's making my whole body ache too. I was ment to go see my sister's puppies again today but had no energy. Was also planning on settup up a mini studio and take some portrait photos of the kitties but don't even have the energy for that :(

I am so over pain, so over my hip. My next checkup is next week in CHCH but nothing has really changed since 6 weeks ago if anything I have a little more pain. Physio is frustrating as the cupping is not getting easier and doesn't seem to be making huge headway. I am also feeling funny pains which I think are coming from my screws - god I really don't want to get them out!! If they irritate me it's another op and they cut through the previous scar and take them out. After that it's 4-6 weeks on crutches so the holes where the screws were can heal otherwise there is risk of fracture if you don't.

It's just started raining here and is pretty blustery outside. Maybe it will be a nice weekend??

I am also starting to get my photography business up and running, starting the company registration etc so that's exciting.  Ordering one of my new lenses next week - Canon 50mm f1.4 (nifty fifty) and a speedlite flash, yay! My biggest lens I am saving for is the "L" Series 70-200mm f2.8 IS by Canon, it is pro series and is an insanely awesome piece of glass and with IS (built in image stabilization) it's perfect. Comes with a perfect $3,000 price tag though!!! The other lens after the 50mm that I will be getting is the Canon 85mm f1.8 USM which is around $600 so that's not too bad!

Currently watching LA Ink with Kat Von D - so much better now she has her own shop and away from the Miami Ink boys. Her shop is totally awesome, pink with ornate mirrors and this massive carved reception desk.

Sunday Lovely Sunday

Well it bucketed down yesterday afternoon and during the night. Woke up this morning to a brisk spring day, lots of sun with just a little cold easterly blowing. Looked up at the hills (Hunter Hills) and there was a fresh dumping of snow! Made me feel like it was winter again lol. Aparently Lake Tekapo also had snow on the ground and just checked out the webcam up there and yes it's a little white!

It is supposed to be 21oC tomorrow and I think around 16oC today so we might go for a day trip somewhere tomorrow, somewhere scenic so I can take some photos!!

The Pool - we managed to drag ourselves to the pool yesterday and happened to time it with a ground of around 10 boys who look between 8-10. Century is a decent sized indoor pool but when you have that many screeming boys in one place it felt VERY VERY small.  We got in and I went through my exercises (much prefer our spa it's soo much warmer) I think the pool was around 20oC so I got cold quickly and it's not like I was swimming lengths to keep warm!

We got out after around 20mins and as we passed the strange looking lifeguard she commented we wernt in for long - I explained that I was recovering from hip surgery and only here to do physio exercises, she sort of mumbles after that. Plus the air was very heavy with the chlorine smell and I felt quite sick. The only other pool option is Maori Park but that doesn't open till November - it's heated but open air.

I think I will try to do most of the exercises in the spa!!! We do have a pool but it's empty as needed a clean badly and not heated so there is no way I would get into the water - unless thrown in..

So today I am awfully stiff and catchy - about to do my swiss ball exercises to loosen things up, I hope :)

Fingers crossed everyone is having a great long weekend!

Bad Weather Has Arrived

Well it wouldn't be Labour Weekend without rainy cold weather! Hit here about an hour ago but Craig managed to get the lawns mowed and the Spa refilled! 

Recently downloaded Greys Anatomy season 5 episode 1-5, it's going to be a good season I think! we have also gotten up to date with Weeds - I think it first aired on TV 1 in NZ but we were never really interested, but watched the first season and got hooked. Just watching the end of season 4 then that's it till season 5 starts next year in the US.

Off now to the Pool to do my exercises not that I can muster the energy to go out in the cold weather!

Physio

My Physio appointment last Monday was different - as I told her about the "new pain" she came to the conclusion that it was a type of joint pain. She tested again the angle I could bring my leg up to my chest and since I managed 105oC last time i was hopefull........ I got 70oC.

Grrrr so her explanation was she thinks thick scar tissue has developed in the muscles in the groin and deep around the hip capsule it'self which is in turn stiffening everything up - even though I am doing my stretches and exercises. So she decided to put my leg in to various traction positions to try to loosed the scar tissue etc.

For those who have not had this done it basicly involves a seat belt and a towel and the physio wraps the belt around her then also around my leg which was bent up when lying on my back. Once all was clipped into place she the proceeded to lift the leg with pressure and stretch the joint area as well as moving the leg in all different positions. Yes it hurt but it did loosen the joint a little and when I left I could get 90oC. Still not 105oC but at least an improvement on when I went in! Oh and one of the traction positions was to wrap the towel round my foot then attached the belt to my wrapped foot and the physio pulls the leg. - Basicly the position your leg is in if you have the keyhole hip surgery. It felt WEIRD, it was quite a good feeling for a bit but as she stretched I felt lots of fibres/ligaments/muscles go pop & creak then it started to hurt. So I kindly asked her to stop.

I didn't get any manipulations or cupping this time, didn't miss it at all!! :)