The 2 months in between the first and second Follow up

Hi again,

In the two months between appointments a few things happened. One of which was being able to decrease the pain medication a bit which meant that the pain from surgery was decreasing and I was more than happy to not be taking so much Tylenol. It concerned me b/c I knew that taking too much for too long would be bad for my body. Another was my hip-knowing that it was bursitis, I knew not to over do the walking and it slowly improved which was so great! I had basically gotten it so bad I had to use a wheel chair a few times and it was nice to not need the wheel chair so much after a few weeks of the cortisone shot. Yet another great thing was of course Christmas! I managed to get to the Christmas Eve service and see a lot of people that I hadn't seen since before my surgery, which was a real mood lifter. Also my sister and her husband came for Christmas and it was so great to visit even though I still had too much pain to sit up for more than 20-30 minutes. Also I could finally be a little more independent-I was finally able to lift the water pitcher and a few other items on my own!!! You don't know how amazing that is until you go through it. I never would have thought I would get excited about lifting a water pitcher! I did have a bit of a hard time at first not being able to give gifts to people for Christmas b/c of my circumstances but my mom helped me to realize that it was fine if my family didn't get much from me. I love giving gifts and seeing the joy it brings to people as they open it-I also love making gifts b/c it means that much more to the recipient. I still managed to do some baking which was difficult but I was determined and made it work. I could not stand for very long b/c of my back and my hip so I would measure out a few ingredients, lay down and then get up and measure out a few more and lay down until I had the ingredients ready and then I would mix them together and get help to get it in the oven. Overall it worked pretty well except when I would try to do something myself that I should have asked for help with-like lifting the flour, but like I have mentioned before-I hate asking for help. This whole experience has helped me in terms of learning it is better to ask for help than to risk hurting myself trying to do it on my own. As for Christmas, probably the best gift I received was a kitten for company and another reason to push myself to be able to get down on the floor since it was still difficult to get on the floor. I also enjoyed watching the kitten play around which provided amusement and helped to cut down on the boredom I was dealing with. The only down side was that the kitten (who I named Felix) didn't like to be held against the hard brace so I could not cuddle with him. Slowly though, Felix got a little more accustomed to the brace and would allow me to carry him at least. I promised Felix that he could have my brace to play with when I was done with it b/c he enjoyed curling up in it when I would take it off. Of course I was ticking off the days till my second follow up appointment which I assumed would be the day I could say good bye to the brace.