Before you start with the fat jokes, please realize that my jeans were actually quite baggy. But sadly, the universe decided that I dress too sloppily and ripped my jeans. The damage is irreversible :( Why do I think it's a message from the universe? Well, I don't really. BUT, I had been shopping most of the day to replace my horribly tattered and size-inappropriate (for once, too baggy) wardrobe. I found some very sharp ensembles and felt quite sophisticated when trying on what became my new purchases. But the contrast of what I purchased with the way I was dressed was actually somewhat funny (and sad). So, I just happen to have an unwearable pair of jeans and a whole shopping bag of fashion. I guess I'll just have to wear the classy looking stuff! :-)
I had a great weekend and somewhat of a semi-local, semi-vacation. I did my pool PT exercises on my own at the pool at the hotel in which my hubby and I were staying. I had purchased my very own floatation belt for the occasion (and future ones) so that I could do my exercises without having to sacrifice form while trying to stay afloat. It mostly worked. The deepest portion of the pool was only 5 feet. I'm approx 5'3" so I did scrape the bottom once or twice. But I got through all of the exercises. And if I thought I got stares during my electric cart ride through the airport a few weeks ago, ha! Everyone stared at me with looks that said, "hmmm....should I keep my kid away from this nutcase or not?" Whatever. I had fun and felt pretty good. I had some pain later in the day when I was sitting in my car for a while, but the pain was primarily in my left hip. Weird.
I had PT again this morning. This was the first time that I've done the exercises in the pool that I've felt real pain when I did them. But the pain was a little unusual for me. It felt like it was in my right groin and front of the leg, but it also felt like it traveled down toward the knee. It wasn't the sharp awful pain I'm used to, but rather, was like that horrible feeling you get just before you get an horrid muscle cramp. Pervasive and all I could think about. We stopped the exercises and Jenn helped me stretch my quads and that helped the pain dissipate, though not dissapear completely. She also spent some time on my extremely tight IT band. Thankfully. The pressure on it hurt so badly but in that good sort of way that tells me it's effective. And I reduced the intensity of all of the exercises I did. But then I really felt like I wasn't doing a whole lot of anything. She assured me that I am, but I shouldn't feel any pain from these exercises.
I did get a couple more exercises to add to my list, including a quad stretch, and the best glutes exercise. For that one, you grab the wall and extend your body, front down so you're floating on the water. Then you do a sissors motion with your legs, straight, moving slowly and strongly and squeezing your butt. The legs press down through the water, so you work through all of that resistance. We do a bunch of sissor motions -- but this one is the only one I've done face down rather than "standing" and I think it's much harder to do. But that's probably because I have not developed these muscles as well as others. That's the coolest thing about doing exercises in the water. It really shows you where you're weak. It's obvious because you'll literally spin toward the side that is stronger. It feels like I'm canoeing with one paddle sometimes. And when I'm trying to move my leg straight and forward, sometimes I'll bend, or swing it outside of the frame of the body before I can get it realigned. It's weird because I do that when I walk also, but because the motion is so much faster out of the water, it's hard for me to really notice it or correct it. I wish I had learned these water-based exercises before I had even started to learn how to run. I would have been so much stronger. It's the best cross-training I've found yet.
I heard back from Vail. Dr. P wants to meet with me and have me do another MRI before he decides whether or not to operate. I suspect that he'll also do that injection thing to isolate the problem and see whether it's just the hip or if the back side pain is coming from something else altogether. But he can't get me in before December. AND, that's only tentative until October when they finalize his December calendar. So my date might get moved (so no purchasing airplane tix quite yet). BUT, I have 14 pages of forms to fill out and return in the meantime, and I will definitely have an opportunity by then to see what kind of progress I can make with the pool PT. Fingers crossed!!!!
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