TGIF Says Mrs. Sturdy

At my last doctor's appointment, she complimented me on the "great strides forward" I had accomplished. While I'm still overweight, I no longer qualify for the Obese category according to my BMI. However, even with all this new and improved me, there is still weight enough on me to create problems with my knees when I'm doing certain tasks at work.

Like kneeling, for instance. Some of my clients have that absolutely worthless long handled bathtub/shower cleaner. Other's still haven't modernized and I am called upon to get down on my knees to reach the back wall of the tub. Truthfully, I'm doing that at all my clients, because that extended thingy works so well...NOT!

Problem is, there's still 170 pounds on my frame, and floors are hard. Especially when I am having to be down there for awhile cleaning up the problem created by the client whose Depends aren't so dependable. I'm sure those of you who read that post know what and who I'm talking about. That particular bathroom is so small that once I'm down there, I can see all the spots that the contents of the Depends wandered off to, and there isn't any way to get between the toilet and the wall or the sink vanity unless you're crawling around on knees.

We had another one of "those" accidents again yesterday. And in the middle of the night, I was rudely awakened by pain. In my right knee. I do have arthritis in it, and normally that rude awakening means I've been in one position too long. Not so this time. No matter how many times I tried new positions, I couldn't ease the pain. At 2:30 AM, I got up and took something for it. I finally got up at 6 and tried bounding out of bed. There was a slight problem with that. Somebody was trying to hammer on my knee with a sledge hammer and darn near took me down to the floor. A position I'd still be in because there is no way I'd be able to get back up again with this pain. Fortunately, I just fell back onto the bed and could rethink the bounding thing.

Once I decided against the bounding, I cast around in what's left of my mind for the location of my compression brace. Haven't used it in...oh...three or so years, I think, but wonder of wonders I remembered where it was.

Now, I told the doctor at the outset of this health improvement journey that I was stubborn. She feels that word has negative connotations and replaced it with the word sturdy. So, Mrs. Sturdy put on her brace and did the stuff she had to do around the house before going to work. I then got into my car and went to work. I called my doctor from the driveway of my first clients home after having worked there 2 hours and managed to score an appointment for late afternoon. After my last case, of course.

My problem was so obvious that she didn't even need an X-ray. There is a lump on the lower left side of my knee joint, right where there is a bursa pad. It was hot to the touch and when she touched it, I nearly slapped her. Yeah, a day of pain can make one hostile. Diagnosis? Bursitis. Treatment? A shot of cortisone mixed with lidocaine and some instructions about REST, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

I only have 1 client for 2 hours tomorrow and Monday so I will be able to comply with her directions most of the time. As a matter of fact, it feels like time to elevate and ice the damn thing. OH, and she also said something about not kneeling on hard floors, but...yeah...I'm really going to pay attention to that one.