FRUSTRATED!!!

Off to Cleveland we went on Thursday thinking we would get some answers and a date for surgery! Wrong answer......this Dr. found several issues with the knee from the tests, but he doesn't do surgery!!! So he called today and set us up with another Dr.! Wait till you hear this name.....Dr. Shickendantz! Yup, just like it sounds. I hope to be able to keep a straight face when we get to meet him on Tuesday. We will be going to the new Sports Medicine Facility that the Cleveland Clinic just recently opened on Transportation Blvd. Really praying that this Dr. will get the ball rolling. Scott is just hanging in there, but the pain is horrible, and using a walker all the time is NOT fun!
So to combat my frustrations today, I pressure washed the deck, mowed the lawn and got my one fountain up and running! Not too bad for getting groceries in the morning, and then spending time on the phone chasing Dr's.! We plan on just hanging out at home for the weekend. I did buy a bunch of extra munchies and thought I might invite a bunch of the family over to help pass the time. If anyone reads this, don't tell Scott, I would like to surprise him......maybe Sunday afternoon after the graduation ceremony.

ANSWERED PRAYERS!

Today we met with yet another new ortho Dr. The last one we were supposed to see kind of blew us off and said Scott didn't need surgery, but yet we had never even met him!!! His PA met with us and ordered PT which only added more pain to the huge amount he was already having. Anyway.......we went to see the new guy today.......not the joking type, very serious, but he had read Scott's file and found that in 2006, when he had his last MRI, there was a small tear in the meniscus. Nothing was done at that point, but that is definitely the area where all the pain is located at this point. He ordered an arthrogram and CT for next Thursday and then we will be meeting with him to discuss what is next. Most likely he will be having surgery to correct the problem. This is what I have been asking for over and over!!!! We are happy to hear this, but don't have a date set at this point. The pain is thru the roof today since the exam, but at least the weather is nice and Scott is sitting out on the deck. At this point, we will take it day by day and just send up the prayers of thanksgiving that someone finally listened to us!!!
Chris got a good check up yesterday and will be returning to school on Monday. His infection is gone and he is feeling better. Even got in a bit of skateboarding!!! Erica thinks that some rollergblading is in order with the nice weather, and I hear the lawn mower calling my name.
On another note, Chris's bedroom is getting a great paint job by George's Painting!!! So glad to get this done.

WHAT'S NEXT???

The crazy train has stopped at this house!!! Chris went on his 8th grade trip to D. C. last week. On Tuesday before he left, he was home and not feeling too good, but felt better by the morning and I dropped him off at the school around 6 a.m. I talked to him a couple times and he didn't sound like he was having fun. His wallet got stolen, and he felt horrible about that. Then on the way home, the girls bus broke down and they got home at 3:30 a.m., instead of 11:15 p.m.! When he got off the bus I thought he felt a little warm. When I looked at his face, I thought he must have fallen and scraped it! No Mom, it just keeps looking worse every day! So he slept for a while Saturday a.m. and then I took him to the Express Care. They thought he had shingles, but that just didn't seem to sound quite right. Did more research and ended up calling a neighbor who is a Dr. He too, felt it didn't sound quite like shingles, so Chris and I headed to the local ER! Turns out they thought it may be a staph infection! So we came home and started washing everything in sight, and used a LOT of Clorox wipes. I took him back to the family Dr. yesterday and she did a culture to try to determine exactly what it is. For now she is calling it a skin infection, but he is out of school for a few days until it looks better and appears to be healing. As for me, my workplace thought it best if I stay home until the result of the culture comes back, as we are VERY busy and they don't want to take a chance of me carrying in a germ and causing a bunch of people to be off. That's fine by me, as this week has a lot of appts.
Friday I am taking Scott to Cleveland again about his knee. Pain is so intense he is using a walker to get around. I am also looking at running to Akron to get the hitch and lift put on my vehicle in preparation for the arrival of Scott's power scooter. Friday morning, I also have a dentist appt. in Wooster before we head for Cleveland. Thursday the VA rep will be here for a visit!!! And Thursday afternoon, I take Chris back to the Dr. for a check up. Erica has piano tonight and I have allergy shots!
Been looking at some info about Virginia Beach. Would love to get away for a vacation this summer and thought that might be fun. If you have any thoughts on this, let me know!

Rain and Relaxing!

This has been an even crazier week for me than usual!!! Scott has 6 appts. this week, and then Erica had piano and an eye Dr. appt., Chris had guitar lessons and then he had to pack to head to D.C. for a couple days with the 8th graders!!! What fun! We had a bit of a ruckous here last night as we lost power for around 3 hours. I ended up putting burgers and asparagus on the grill! Delicious! But then I had to wash a last minute load of clothes for the traveler around 8 pm!!! I guess a semi hit a pole in town and they had to shut power off in order to fix things. Glad it wasn't off overnight!!!
So tonight I am trying to catch up on e-mails, update my blog and just kick back. Really need to work on my book, as I have hit a roadblock and need to get it in gear. Any suggestions!!?? :) I got off to such a roaring start, but then hit a mental block, then it seemed life just got in the way. Oh well, I still have hopes to get it finished this year!
Scott had a biopsy on his stomach yesterday. He had a scope to look for an ulcer, but no sign of one was found. Then the Dr. checked his stomach and it was very red and inflammed. So he did the biopsy and if that doesn't show any problem, he wants to check out the gall bladder.

BACK FOR MORE PT!!!

This was a LONG week with lots of Dr. appts. Due to severe pain, Scott can only get around with the use of 2 crutches. This is causing more pain in his elbow that he had surgery on last April. It was just feeling better and we FINALLY finished with physical therapy. We were told by Scott's pain management Dr. that we needed to contact the ortho. Dr. about Scott's pain. They called this week and referred us to another surgeon, as Scott's surgeon has retired from doing surgery and is only seeing a few patients. When I called for an appt. they told me it would be July until we could get in. I called the ortho. Dr. back asking if this was the only Dr. he would recommend. Yes, he is the best. I looked up his credentials and was rather impressed, so I called again. This time the girl said she would set us up with the Dr.'s PA who evaluates new patients and can get us in quicker if he feels it is necessary. Would we be able to come up on Friday??? Oh yeah, we sure can, and since we were already going up for 2 appts. on Thursday, she added x-rays to that schedule. So Thursday was very tiring, but on the plus side, the elbow Dr. feels once Scott is off the crutches, his elbow will settle down again. Then on Friday we met with the PA. He said at this point Scott's muscles from the hamstring down are very tight. He feels that is where a LOT of the pain issue is stemming from. He told us that even if they would operate at this point and find a problem, he felt there would still be a pain issue due to the tight muscles. So Scott has to start PT again for 12 weeks. He also has to ice 3x's a day and take ibuprofen 3x's a day. As long as he is improving, we go back in 12 weeks to meet with the Dr. and determine if the knee is feeling better, or if he is still having issues. He said we will not see quick improvement, but it should get better with time and PT. So we go to start more therapy on Monday.
Beautiful weekend and I finally got the yard mowed! (and got the dog pooped smooshed!) Then today I worked on cleaning the cracks in between the boards on the deck. They get so full of bird seed and twigs and the helicopters off our maple tree, which if not cleaned out, rot and will cause the deck to become weak. The breeze blew most of the crud off as fast as I dug it out of the cracks.
Next week looks to be a bit crazy with the start of PT again. I'm gonna try and convince them to let us come only 2x's a week, as 3 just really makes for a bunch of running. But if it takes 3x's a week, we'll do it. Really praying this will work and give Scott some relief. No trips to Cleveland this next week, so far! We will have the PT appts. and we have a home visit from a VA rep on Monday, and on Friday we have to see a Dr. about Scott's reflux problem, but at least the sun is shining right now!

UPS AND DOWNS

This has been a challenging week, once again. On the upside, we were to Cleveland on Wednesday and Scott was evalutaed for a power scooter. They said he is a perfect candidate, so they ordered one for him, as well as a hitch and power lift for the back of our vehicle. Everything should be in and ready to install in about 3-4 weeks. This will give us a lot more freedom to go places that used to be off limit for Scott due to his knee problems. So we are excited about that. On the down side, his knee has continued to worsen. We are in contact with his ortho. Dr. and are waiting a return call with an appt. The pain management Dr. wants him to have exploratory surgery to see what is going on inside the knee. Today when he got up for church, he could hardly walk. Some of that is the rain that is moving into the area, but I feel strongly that something is wrong inside the knee.
On Friday I was in Cleveland again to take Scott's uncle to the Dr. for 2 appts. and I had an aunt who was having some problems and also needed to go to Cleveland. Worked out great to be able to take everyone at once. Scott ended up staying home, as I knew it would be a really LONG day and he was just hurting so much. Didn't end up getting home until after 10 pm!!!
Prom was last night and our daughter got to go to her first one!!! :) How exciting! I had no clue the gym at our school could be transformed into a wonderland! So beautiful. The grand march was also a new experience for us! Tons of people, beautiful teens, cool cars and perfect weather, made for a great evening.
This week will bring at least one more trip to Cleveland, and one local visit to the family Dr. Piano and guitar lessons are also on schedule and at this time it looks like that's about it!
It sounds like the skateboarders should be pulling in at any time. Rain is coming and they want to hit the ramps while it's still dry!

CHALLENGING TIMES

This time of year is always challenging for us. 9 years ago on Easter morning, we lost Scott's mom to a brain aneurysm. Even though Easter falls on a different date each year, we are still reminded of our loss at Easter time.
We are also facing challenges with Scott's pain issue. I have felt for several months that the pain in his knee is a mechanical issue and not one from nerve damage. I feel they have the nerve problem under control at this point. We were back to see the pain management Dr. on Friday and he agrees with me. Now we are faced with convincing the ortho Dr. to refer us to another surgeon, as he has retired from doing actual operations. I have a call in to his office and am waiting to see what they say. If they say this ortho Dr. will not agree to another surgery, we have decided to let the pain management Dr. help us find another Dr., possibly at University Hospital. We really like Scott's current ortho Dr. but my gut says we need to have a scope put into the knee to check for scar tissue. Scott falls a lot from his balance troubles and I think that has caused some of his trouble in the knee. The pain Dr. said Scott is his only knee pain patient that keeps coming back!!! He has had his spinal cord stimulator for 2 1/2 years and we do feel that has helped. However, anytime we try to go anywhere, even to just walk thru the hospital to visit someone else, his pain level escalates so badly, that for the next several days, he can hardly walk, sleep or just relax! We will be going to the VA hospital on Wednesday of this week to have Scott evaluted for the need of a power wheel chair. We know he needs this at times, but I hate to see him have to use it on a regular basis. Please pray that the ortho Dr. will find it in his heart to refer us to one of his associates. We feel very comfortable at the Cleveland Clinic and hate to have to go elsewhere. His history is so involved, that would also become a challenge to have to go thru that repetition again.
On another note, Erica and I enjoyed an evening with my sister in law and niece for supper and prom shoe shopping!!! : ) We found her a cute pair and enjoyed a delicious supper at Applebee's. Prom is just around the corner and I pray for safety for all who will be driving a little later at night than usual.
On a lighter note, I made an awesome dessert to take to Easter dinner tomorrow.......too late, we already ate it!!! It was amazing! :) We'll be sure to let the Beck's know how delicious it was!