Physical Therapy

Want to hear a great example of irony? My injured knees are keeping me from losing weight so that I can help my knees! It's tricky! I've had knee issues all my life, and recently the exercise I've been doing has really jacked them up. It's pretty depressing, so after seeing the doctor about it a few weeks ago, I had my first physical therapy (PT) appt this morning.

Balboa Naval Hospital is currently only accepting Active Duty members for PT. This was unfortunate because with Dan gone, I couldn't really afford to go to a civilian clinic. I'm sure the care would be fine, but can you imagine finding childcare for the 2-3 times a week for three months that the dr wanted me to go to therapy? So, I played the deployment card and said, “Ma'am, are there any exceptions because my husband is deploying in January?"

She replied quickly, “"If you're willing to wait 2 weeks, I can get you in."

Two weeks! I've waited two months for an appointment before!

So this morning it was me and about 10 wounded soldiers. SOBERING. I saw a man with prosthetic legs. One guy in the waiting room told us his story in Iraq. He was in a gun turret of a tanker when an RPG went off. It knocked him against the side where he broke his arm and dislocated his shoulder. Then another one went off, which has caused severe hearing loss. This guy is maybe 30, but I think he's happy to be alive. Another man was about to tell me his story when I got called back. He was telling me his list of therapy appointments for the day. He's an army guy (in San Diego we mostly see Navy/Marines) who's actual orders are for Balboa because his treatments are a full time job. My knees don't seem like such a big deal.

I learned lots of things from the Physical Therapist, some that I don't like, but all that are good for me.

• I have an arch, but I step into it, so I make myself flat-footed. We were told this about Timothy 1 year ago, so now we know who he got it from! I need to be wearing insoles always, and I need to stop wearing sandals or being barefoot altogether. Just let me whine for a second: I live in SAN DIEGO!
• My body type lends itself to pressure on the inside of the knees, which is where my pain is. My hips are also quite weak (I couldn't stop her pushing once in the hip tests), and of course the excess weight I carry hurts as well. She emphasized (because she was a kind woman) that when it comes to bad knees, even a little extra weight can aggravate them.
• She gave me 4 exercises to do daily, and I'll be starting a swimming class at Balboa 2 days a week. I'll see her again in a month. She hopes to actually get me on some machines and weight lifting, but wants to do this first.

I'm in the process of trying to get all misc appts completed before Dan leaves, so in 30 minutes I go to the dentist. Confession time: I don't remember going to the dentist since I've had children (Timothy is 5 1/2). Do I have to tell you how much I dread this? Pray for me.

In happy tooth news, Timothy had no cavities earlier this week, and he has his first loose tooth!!!