Tibial Plateau Stress Fractures

That's my latest diagnosis, and it's a mouthful.

Seriously? Seriously. This is crazy. I was just minding my own business, trying to get back into running, and this is what it gets me. A recovery time of 8-10 weeks, and you know what they do for stress fractures? Nothing. You have to rest. A lot of rest. And elevation of your affected leg, or legs in my case. Did I mention rest? And just how does one who has a 4 year old and an 18 month old do that?

I have a friend that's a PT and she saw me at birthday party on Saturday and she had made me feel a little better when she said it was highly unlikely that I had bilateral stress fractures, since that's pretty rare in the "normal" population. Apparently I'm not normal. The ortho doctor this morning assured me "Oh, it's actually more common than you'd think, especially in army recruits."

Um, don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly wearing cammo, my friend.

And someone explain this to me - I'm not an Olympic athlete by any means, but I'm also not 100+ lbs overweight, so how is it those jokers on Biggest Loser don't come up lame like this more often???

So now I'm trying to figure out just how I'm going to get all my mommy/wife duties handled over the next three months. We are looking into getting someone to clean the house on a regular basis for us (thanks Mom!). But just the simple things like cooking dinner, laundry, and grocery shopping are all of a sudden a big pain in the ass....or knees as the case may be.

If anything, let this be a lesson to anyone who's taken steroids for prolonged periods and/or is a Crohn's patient. When I was originally diagnosed with Crohn's in May 2002, my doctor immediately put me on steroids. Like 30 mg or so a day, for months. Works like a charm while you are on them, but dear Lord it can wreak havoc on your body. Stay away from long term steroids! Because of these steroids, I managed to develop osteopenia at the ripe old age of 33 (I think that's when I was diagnosed). That means my bone density is lower than what it should be, but not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis. After I told the orthopedist this, he was 99.9% convinced this is why this happened.

So yeah, good times right now. I know I could have something much worse going on, but it's still a pain in the butt!!

Well, that's one way to cure my OCD....

So you know how I was all gung ho about running the half marathon in Savannah in November? So much so that I already went out, got fitted for new running shoes and started my training?

Yeah, not so fast....

I was running around campus last Monday. It's quite convenient since the circle around our campus is exactly 1.1 miles. So I was trying to do one measly little mile and about halfway through, my knees started to feel like someone was stabbing the inside of my leg right at my knee. Interesting feeling, no doubt. So I stopped, hobbled back to my office and told myself I'd take a day or so off.

Four days later, yesterday, I could hardly walk without having pain. Both knees were hurting, the left one more than the right one, but still both hurting. I decided it might be a good idea for me to get it checked out, and it just so happens that the best ortho docs in Savannah have an after hours urgent care clinic. I begged Jerry to pick up the girls and take Carrie to gymnastics, and I drove myself to the clinic. The nurse came in, took history, and within about 5 minutes I was getting all kinds of x-rays done. The PA came in a little after that, started pushing around on the inside of my knee, and I started coming off the table. Turns out he thinks it could be one of two things:
1) Prepatellar bursitis - inflammation of the bursa near where my hamstrings connect to the knee (I think, I don't have an MD people). Apparently this can be remedied through rest and aspiration of the affected bursa.
2) Stress fracture(s) - more likely on the left side since I almost involuntarily kicked the hell out of the PA when he was poking around. What the hell do they do if it's a stress fracture? I've tried to stay away from looking this up on the Internet cause I'm sure someone will tell me I'll have to get my leg amputated or something. I know rest is involved, but how in the hell do you keep your knee rested for a long period of time???? And please don't tell me a cast.

So I walked (hobbled) out of there with a new set of crutches, a prescription for pain meds, and a promise that I'll have an MRI scheduled for next week for both of my knees. I hope to get this figured out soon, cause I can't really sit too well without them becoming stiff and painful. And while the PA gave me a script for hydrocodone, something tells me I probably shouldn't take it while at work.

Seriously? How old am I?

I think I have some sort of sickness....

And I think it's called "OCD." Or maybe "Type A personality." I don't know the correct diagnosis, and don't really care. All I know is I function much better with a tangible goal. When I think about it, my whole freaking life has been chasing after some goal. When I was in high school, I wanted to graduate with a 4.0. (when I was in college I think I had flashes of wanting to do the same thing, but that first D in calculus I quickly got me over that and I was happy with the whole "D for Done" in that arena). When I was in college I wanted to get into a good grad school, and I got into a few and settled on GT. I then wanted to get my PhD....then thought better of it because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life struggling to get grants approved. After grad school I was focused on planning our wedding. That took a year....Got married in December and then in January decided I needed a new goal which happened to be running a marathon. That was over in June, so by August I was enrolled in my MBA program. That was over in December 2005....by July 2006 I was pregnant with Carrie. Had Carrie April 2007....then ran a half marathon that November. In 2008 we decided to uproot ourselves and move to SC and I started a new job and later that fall I was studying for the PHR exam. Passed that in December 2008, which just happened to be the same month I got pregnant with Anna. Very convenient for Jerry since he was leaving in January for Portugal for 8 months :) So I had that to focus on throughout 2009. 2010 brought the bright idea of me now studying for my SPHR exam, which I thankfully passed the very last day of January, which was also the very last day of the testing window.

And now? Now I've decided that it would be a good time to pick up running again and I'm contemplating doing the Savannah Rock n Roll Half Marathon in November.

WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?

Does anyone else out there do this? Jerry always teases me and says I am physically incapable of just being in the moment and going with the flow. I really wish sometimes I could do that. But every time I do it my mind goes into overdrive of "well, while I'm sitting here watching this show on TV I could be reading my magazine and filing these papers that need to be filed and perhaps also do a little scrapbooking."

I think I am just better at managing my time when I know I have some sort of goal hanging out there. If I know I have to get X number of miles running in this week, then I know I have to schedule the rest of my time around that because if I don't get the running in I'll look like a total fool (or hurt myself) come November.

I haven't actually signed up for the half marathon yet....taking my new running shoes for a test drive for a few weeks first to make sure I don't hurt myself. At any rate, if anyone would like to join me in November, just let me know....that would give me even more incentive to make sure I meet my goal :)

Blech.

That's how a few of us in the Reeves home are feeling these days. Just blech. This weekend Lady came to visit us, which was lots of fun for the girls....apparently so much so that Carrie got so excited and gave herself a tummy bug. We went to dinner on Saturday night to Jim N Nicks, normally one of her favorite places because of the cheese biscuits they bring out for you to munch on while waiting on your food. She ate one of them then wanted to lay down in Lady's lap. Not a good sign. She ate maybe two bites of mac n cheese and that was it. We got home and she snuggled on the couch with me while Lady gave Anna a bath. Then poor Lady came out to sit on the couch with us, Carrie crawled over there, and within about 30 seconds threw up in her lap. Pretty sure it might be awhile before Lady comes back down to visit!

So once we get Carrie feeling better, Anna starts feeling puny. Thankfully she doesn't have the throw ups, but definitely has a fever. She was feverish Tuesday but fine Wednesday morning, then I saw the school's number pop up on my cell around 2:15 and was practically packing up my stuff before I even answered the phone. So she's hanging out with Whizzy today while Mommy & Daddy went to work.

Of course, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be at work on Thursday....I've been feeling a sinus infection coming on for a day or so now, and not sure how much longer I can keep it at bay! Guess I really do need to go find an ENT/allergist like Jerry's been hounding me to do....

New Favorite Place

Anna has a new favorite place to visit - the library. She's been there a couple of times before, but back when she probably didn't really understand books all that well. These days she absolutely LOVES books and will quite literally come over to you, open your hand, and place a book in it for you to read to her. So when we entered the kiddie section of the library yesterday she thought she was in heaven. It was so very quiet in the library, as libraries tend to be, but then my kid came in. I put her down she looked around and just screamed "BBBBBOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKSSSSS!!!!!!!!" After I got over my initial embarassment of her breaking the silence, I was so excited that she was that excited. I could let Carrie wander off a bit in the kids section to go pick out a few books, which was good because Anna wanted to take every book off the shelf, flip through it, then toss it behind her and keep going.

Hopefully we have another little nerdlet in the making ;)

I'M BACK!!!!

It's been a whole freaking month since I posted. Bad Kristy!!! I know I always say this, but it's been pretty busy! One of my new year's resolutions was to post more. Guess I already fell off the bandwagon on that one, huh?

I feel like I do have a good excuse though - I now have some more initials behind my name! I took and passed the SPHR exam (Senior Professional in Human Resources). It was a loooong road - I started the class to prepare for it back in October, and just took the exam on 1/31. The very last day of the testing window, I might add. Gotta love waiting till the absolute last minute. I'm sort of proud of myself for passing - it's not a given that everyone that takes it passes. The exam typically has about a 50% pass rate (according to the governing body of the folks that put out the test). And what made me even more nervous was there wasn't anyone from our study class standing up and saying they had passed yet. Eek. But my geek gene must have kicked in and so I PASSED!!! Now I just have to keep up with the recertification credits - 60 hours over 3 years. I'll take that any time over having to study and take that exam again.

So now that I have all this "free" time, I'm embarking on new projects. You know, like cleaning my house since I feel like I haven't in a few months (not true, but you get the idea). Setting up a budget. Getting organized. You know, all the fun stuff :)

Now I'll leave you with a pretty cute picture I got from Jerry today. Carrie had to have a shoe box covered with solid colored paper for her Valentine party, and it had to be at school today so they could decorate it. I totally forgot to do it last night since I passed out around 8:45 because I was not feeling great. I got a text this morning asking me where the construction paper was, so I told him and check out what he made! :

Check out the perfect corners....I told him I thought this box was probably the most stable, well-constructed Valentine's box since an engineer made it. I don't think I'll be doing the present-wrapping in our house anymore!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well this has been an interesting week in the Reeves' home. First week since I went back to work after Anna being born that we haven't had a nanny in the house. Read: first week of utter chaos. I don't think it's really that bad, but at times it's felt like it!

We said goodbye to Lizzy on 12/16 with tears, hugs, and promises of keeping in touch. So far we have done so, I am happy to say! She was such an amazing nanny to the girls, and she's due to have her own little bundle of joy in 3 days, so we can't wait to meet little Elijah. Lizzy had really become part of our family and we were quite sad to see her go, but glad to still have her right around the corner. We really did become friends over the 9 months she worked for us, and I am sure it will continue. She came over the other night to bring the girls' Christmas gifts and Anna just screamed out "LIZZY!!!!" when she saw her at the door. It was too cute :)

Anna's now at the same school as Carrie, which Carrie thinks is quite cool. She likes to remind everyone that she's the big sister and that her little sister is in the "baby" room. Anna has done pretty well, all things considered, her first few days. Monday she had a few crying spells whenever the door would open and it wasn't Mommy or Daddy, Tuesday just one, and yesterday none. However, now she's gone to not really batting an eye when Jerry drops her off to letting it be known that she's not terribly thrilled about it all. Of course, once you drop her off and get outside the room to look through the one-way mirror they have so you can spy on your kids, she's happily playing with the other munchkins. I get the arguably better job of picking up in the afternoon, which means I am greeting with full on hugs and squeals of "Mommy!!"

Christmas was great. We spent it at home which is so nice after years of traveling back and forth. The girls got a ridiculous amount of stuff. It's obscene, really. Perhaps for the future I should just hand out their 529 account numbers and call it a day ;)