Penny.

She's my new physical therapist.  I'd actually met her before, as the pain management center sent me to her to set me up with a TENS unit...the 8-electrode one.  She never could find one.  Anyway, she recognized me and I recognized her. 

She asked me a lot of questions, then did a VERY thorough physical assessment.  She and Dr. Kaeser are the only two to put me through such an assessment.  I've been to PT over and over for injuries...and they just Graston me and send me on my way.  Not Penny.  She was determined to find any type of underlying issue so we could target it.  My right hip is externally rotated, so we worked on that.

She measured the angles of my heel and knee flexion.  I knew those were going to be dismal.  She looked at the number and said:  "Are you actually trying?"  I was.  I am so inflexible.  They were BAAAAD.  She asked me if I stretched regularly.  No point lying to her.  Now, I do roll my IT bands daily, and I use the robot on certain sore spots, but as far as a stretching routine...um, no.  I'm a Trueblood.  We don't stretch.  And it shows.  Want to see inflexible?  Ask my dad to bend over and touch his toes.  You'd think he had a steel rod in him that kept him from bending.  And I'm not much better.  I have to be better, as Penny is convinced that this unbelievable tightness is a major culprit for my long history of injuries.  I told her about my robot, and she said I need to use it on calves/hamstrings daily, if not twice a day.

So I am.  And I have an exercise to do to help my hip rotate correctly.  It's not hard, and it actually works (makes my legs the same length).  She determined that it is my pain is indicative of iliopsoas strain/tendonitis.  Then she did the Graston.  She had a Graston tool I've never seen.  It had a pointy end. Wow.  That's all I have to say.

Then she said something I didn't expect.  "Now, you know, with tendonitis it's best to run on it some to keep it warmed up."  Yes!  I knew that!  That's how I've always dealt with tendonitis!  "Oh?" I said.  "Yes.  But just a couple of miles.  You can't run to the point of pain."  "Okay."  "But you scare me," she said.  "I think you would run yourself into the ground if you could keep from getting injured?"  Silently I thought, well, wouldn't everyone?  Then she said "I'm afraid you'll break the rules."  I swore to her I wouldn't, and I won't.  I just want them to tell me what to do.  So she said for me to run 2 miles every other day this week instead of completely resting.  It's not much, but it's something.  She reminded me again that I HAD to stop at 2 miles no matter how good I felt, and that I had to stop if it got painful.  I'm supposed to do my hip rotation exercise immediately before and after running.

So, with Tim, I ran 2 miles.  I'm out of shape(ish), but NO hip pain.  Not even a twinge.  I like Penny, and I see her again on Friday.  One thing not so good about this run...I had the all-too-familiar shoulder pain and a touch of abdominal pain.  I'm assuming that the stuff she removed is already starting to grow back.  Ugh.

And I still haven't been able to get an appointment with Dr. Wiebke.  We even paged the surgeon since we can't get the nurse to call us back.  I don't know what to do, but I'm sick and I need HELP.  If I hear nothing by morning, my mom is taking over.  And they will be very sorry when they have to start dealing with her.

Other news...Amelia's officially a 4th grader!  Hard to believe, and a little sad.