I love my lidocaine patches!

This weekend went fairly smoothly. Getting to the airport was pretty easy and I was fortunate that I did not have to wait long for the train or bus. (Btw - I never knew there was a HUGE Pathmark at 125th and Lex. It's enormous!) Thankfully the traffic was moving well too and I made it door to door in under an hour.
I walked in the terminal, seemed like a hassle to have to explain about needing a wheelchair since the gates were not too far from the security.

Saturday my mother and I went down to the Corcoran. We took the metro - interesting people on the metro these days - and it was only about a half hour journey. It was FREEZING out though. The walk to the gallery was a bit longer than I had anticipated. Thankfully I had put a lidocaine patch on my left hip as a preventive measure. I'm getting pretty clever at this point - took me long enough!

I brought my digital automatic camera with me and was having fun taking shots all around, even though we were as cold as icebergs on the north pole.
Thankfully we made it to the exhibit before the masses and did not have to queue up for too long (The line that existed when we left went around and around the whole building - madness!). The exhibit was quite large, about 150 photographs I believe. I was definitely getting worn out by the end of it and craving a seat. But it was so worth it. It reminded me of why I love photography so much, and how much I miss shooting black and white especially. I am now very determined to try to get a Mac with lots of memory and good printer and scanner for my 2 1/4 negs so I can truly get to work on my pictures. It's been way too long since I've focused on my art, and lord knows I have to start cataloging and doing something with it at. (If anyone wins the lottery and feels like donating to the cause, you know where to reach me :-)

Afterwards we stopped for lunch - my mother insisting on eating, and I was happy to sit as well. My right side did hold up fairly well though so no complaints there. I was a bit sore on the metro on the way back but thankfully we were able to get seats after a few stops and that definitely helped.

For the party that night I threw on a lidocaine patch on my right hip just to make sure I didn't have to suffer all night in case it flared up. After standing for a while I had to sit down and take the pressure off. But all in all it was ok.

Tonight I have PT for the first time since the 16th! I think it might have helped a bit to have a slight break though, since the hips were all irritated. We shall see how it goes tonight. I am planning on still going on the easier side as I don't want a repeat.

Weekend plans

This weekend is going to be a bit of a challenge, but I'm up for it. On one hand I know I'm meant to limit myself, but there has to be a limit to limiting ones self right?

I am off to DC for a close friend/practically family members' 80th surprise do. I am planning on taking the subway and the bus to the airport. I know this will be a little more strenuous but the timing is such that rush hour in a cab may be worse. Taking the shuttle so shouldn't be too much walking in the airport. Since I'm not eating much at the moment I can just go to the one area and wait. Usually I do my rounds at the shops and restaurants but that is at a different end, so will pass this time which will work out well for my hip methinks.

Tomorrow I am planning on going into DC from where we are staying in Maryland to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Corcoran - good timing as it closes on Sunday. We're going to take the metro in so more walking than if we had a car, but I will try to limit it as much as possible. I think I did pretty well at the MET last week so hoping this goes well. My main thing is to remember not to walk very fast. I was in my past incarnation a very speedy walker, so it's hard to go slow, even though I know it's better for me. It takes a very conscious effort.

I haven't taken the anti-inflammatories in a couple of days as you're not really meant to mix it with alcohol and to be honest the last few days my friends have taken me out for distraction and with that inevitably comes the drink. Such is the life of a single city girl. :-) And anyway, I don't think the drugs were helping much either.

Sunday will be pretty motionless as my cousin is coming over to my aunt and uncles for lunch before we leave for the airport, and then the return flight. I am hoping because this flight is so short I won't flare up like I did on the flights to London.

Fingers crossed!

Genetic Doctor

I pretty much knew in advance what she was going to say, but with her positive spin on things she really knows how to make you feel better.

So do I have a genetic condition? Dr. Davis, whom I can't recommend highly enough, is very straight forward and direct. This is a quality I highly admire. I truly hate when people, especially doctors, jerk you around.

She said that whilst it can be confirmed or disproved that I have EDS, the likely hood is high, and that the only thing I can do is to moderate my life. Basically meaning no high wire stunts or climbing the Andes. I already realised this was not where my desires should be. The horseback riding is a hard pill to swallow even though I know it is v. v. bad for me. But such is life. She recommended that I don't do too much weight-bearing exercises and that aqua therapy would be the best thing to stick to. I had been hoping to get to the pool a couple weeks back but because of the hip irritation it hasn't happened yet. Hopefully soon.

I will try my best to preserve what I can for as long as I can, and that is all I can do.

so far...

the left is still pretty sore but the right (touch wood) seems to not be any worse for the trip to the museum yesterday. A good sign!

I did it...

Not sure yet if it was the best idea, but we did make it to the MET today. I am glad I went as there was a Lee Friedlander exhibit that I hadn't even known about which was good, and their new "Depth of Field" which was OK. I guess it is good for a general intro into photography. Reminded me of my intro to photo classes I took at university. But still, glad I saw it.

I did put on a lidocaine patch on my left hip before we left. I was OK walking around. After the photo exhibits we went to the cafeteria for lunch and then my dad wanted to go back and see the impressionists. Thankfully they had benches in a lot of the galleries so I was able to sit whilst my parents looked around.

My left hip is definitely acting up and quite sore but, touch wood, my right hip hasn't acted up. At least not yet...