What a Relief

I don't have much to update on in regards to my recovery. The pain comes and goes in lightning bolt form. For the most part it's not a problem. I have only been taking 2 Tylenol a day which seems to do the trick. I am hoping the lightning bolt/burning pain is because the bone in my knee is healing and the nerves are firing again. The only other alternative I can think of is CRPS and I really hope that's not it. As if dealing with it on the left isn't bad enough. Fingers crossed it's weather and healing related.

In terms of my CRPS on my left leg, I started to decrease the amount Of Neurontin I take a day. I am currently taking 600mg 3x a day. When I am down to 300mg, I will begin taking Lyrica....while continuing to decrease Neurontin. We discovered that my short term memory issues are likely a result of Neurontin. It is a listed side effect. So far I have not experienced CRPS nerve pain on the left leg. I hope it stays that way during this transition period.

The headaches that I have been experiencing since August are still present. They have not gone away nor gotten any better. I just don't have the energy to make it a priority right now. I have an appointment for craniocervical manipulations in 2 weeks with a specialist who sees Chiari 0 patients. I am hoping for some relief because it's really my only option for awhile. Good news is surgery didn't make my headaches any worse. I have really bad headache days and "good" days (although you'd never know the difference). The "good" days are by no means good, but they are more tolerable than the really bad days.

As I have mentioned previously, I am only taking 4 classes this semester. I will take 1-2 over the summer. Unfortunately 5 classes is just not realistic with my recovery and physical capabilities. I am exhausted and on top of recovering from ankle and knee surgery I am trying to prevent dislocations--namely with my right shoulder. I do have good news about my schedule. I found out today that I have been approved to take an online course this semester. I am so relieved. This will be a huge help. One less campus class will take a lot of stress off my body during recovery. I start back on Wednesday. One of my classes is called Psychosocial Aspects of Illness and Disabilty. I am pretty sure I could teach the class. I am also taking an English class with the same professor I had last semester. He's awesome. I will take Conversational Spanish and my online class is Cognitive Psychology. I am excited for my classes, although I can honestly say I wish I didn't have to deal with everything together. It was so much easier recovering from surgery when school wasn't a factor. Because I am only taking 4 classes, Dean's List is not a possibility, however I will treat my classes and semester as if it were.

On a completely unrelated note that I feel like sharing: my Bruins sweatshirt that I have been wanting for so long finally arrived and I LOVE IT! I also ordered "The History of the Boston Bruins" DVD and it was amazing. It even made my dad teary eyed (which I am guessing is why he jumped up a few times to leave the room...only to come back minutes later). The B's lost tonight (yes, it happens..although not very often) but the Patriots won against Tim Tebow and the Broncos!