Sassy69 2016: The Force Awakens

[Curt James]

And by the clock on my laptop, it appears it is now officially April Fool's Day!

Your shoelaces are untied.

(I love the kittens video.)

[sassy69]

Your shoelaces are untied.

(I love the kittens video.)

I'm wearing flipflops today

And more kitten pix. They're learning to lick themselves: https://youtu.be/E0N9GdNoP58

[sassy69]

4/1/16 - TGIFnF - April Fool's Day

AM: laser therapy on my left knee

PM: legs
5 min treadmill
15 min lower body warmup

- started w/ some light squats, but it was bad on my knee, so opted for hamstring focus

lying fitball leg curl (on toes) - 20 x 4
alt standing leg curl: 15/15 x 3
seated leg curl: 100/15 x 4
ham/glute raise: 15 x 4
kettlebell sumo squat: 35/20 x 3

[sassy69]

Nice.. it's been over a month since I added anything.. LOL

I'm still lifting w/ my trainer 2x/ week and introducing more cardio, but we all know 2x/week ain't doing shit.

That said, I'm still dealing w/ my left knee. I got an ozone injection 2 weeks ago which is helping. I also located a Physical Therapy guy who does dry needling but pushes the pins deeper into the muscle to get stuff to release -- deeper than your typical acupunction. He did an evaluation today and some initial treatment. The short answer is basically everything above & below the knee is tight so all of the tension is centering itself on this little spot just to the lower right of my knee. So he's going to work on it, says he can probably get the worst of it in 4 sessions, and then I'll have him work on all the little crap -- but I'm excited to maybe get passed this as well as get the general tightness I've had, to improve mobilty and get just generally get my shit working again!

Im' still looking at a show in October, but technically that means a 16 week prep needs to start in mid June and I'm still just starting to play w/ putting light weight on my recently repaired right bicep tendon, so we'll see, but definitely gotta get on the stick and get going. I've already managed to gain 15 lb of flab since January w/ all of the down time. The one up side is my shoulders and back are improving, particularly working on the width of my lower lats. You can even see in my avi pic that I don' thave a lot of width across my back. Upper is ok , but lower lats definitely smallish.

And if anyone has been following my FB, Im' up to 11 foster cats + my 2 for a grand total of 13 cats on my property. 2 brothers, 2 moms and 7 kittens, and my 2 girls. One group of 5 kittens are 6-ish weeks old and the other 2 are 4 weeks old today. They are all soooooo cute, it's disgusting! The older kittens are eating soft food, but one still doesn't like kitten food so he gets some mixed in w/ baby food (chicken & gravy .. mmmm) . I'm trying to get him more to the kitten food side because I think the baby food is giving him the runs a little. The other 2 kittens will probably start solid food in the next couple of days, and learn their big kitty pooping skills Fun!

[baby muscle]

Sorry your knee is bumming. I want to experiment with dry needling on my foot. There's someone who does it here but may be difficult to get workers comp to agree.

I am enjoying all the cat pics too. It's YOUR log so I think you can put whatever you want, haha. The other day I was talking apples and chickens with Sunnyday on hers

[sassy69]

And if anyone has been following my FB, Im' up to 11 foster cats + my 2 for a grand total of 13 cats on my property. 2 brothers, 2 moms and 7 kittens, and my 2 girls. One group of 5 kittens are 6-ish weeks old and the other 2 are 4 weeks old today. They are all soooooo cute, it's disgusting! The older kittens are eating soft food, but one still doesn't like kitten food so he gets some mixed in w/ baby food (chicken & gravy .. mmmm) . I'm trying to get him more to the kitten food side because I think the baby food is giving him the runs a little. The other 2 kittens will probably start solid food in the next couple of days, and learn their big kitty pooping skills Fun!

Well, another couple months w/ no updates LOL. Fail. But generally I'm still dealing w/ soft tissue problems in my left knee - it comes & goes. I just got back from a week and a half vacation w/ the family. I did get some time on the driving range - first time since the scene of my biceps tear last winter. I'm happy to say my biceps tendon works beautifully now and my stroke is pretty good too! Those lessons helped! So sorta just getting back into things after a desperately needed vacation, and of course, getting over the creeping crud that always follows any ride on a packed airplane. :c/

Kitty update:

1) Mom + 5 kittens were adopted within a week.
2) Jake & Elwood spent 3 weeks at a local Petco being advertised as a "bonded pair" (meaning have to be adopted together). They didn't get adopted but the store said they had a lot of people looking at them, just didn't follow up. It is a fact that it is hard to place more than 1 cat at a time. I did want to give them a chance to get adopted by a family, but since that didn't happen, they are now "my boys". They moved back in earlier this week, just like they never left.
*** I'm still 1 cat short of being the Crazy Cat Lady so its ok.
3) Mom + 2 kittens - Mom got spayed on Tuesday and is spending 10 days in a separate room from her kittens while she heals. Boy kitten is up next to get neutered when Mom is healed, and he gets to spend some time separated while he heals. And hopefully by the time he's done, his little sister will have beefed up to 4 lb so I can get her spayed as well. Then they should be up for adoption.

Good times!

[sassy69]

9/19/16:

Kitty report: still have the second mom & her 2 kittens. Last night I heard from the rescue that they may have an / some adoptors. Waiting to see. Otherwise I've requested that these guys get brought into the shelter as they have been at my place, locked in 2 separate rooms (mom in 1, kittens in the other) by themselves for most of the last 2 months. I had to separate them after they got spayed / neutered so they wouldn't spaz out and rip out their stitches. But when I tried to bring them all back together, mom decided she liked living as a single. I don't have the room or the time to try to re-integrate them and I really just want them out of my house. I'm so disappointed w/ the rescue that requires them to be 4 lbs to get fixed. The other litter was fixed at 2 lbs and all 6 were adopted by 2 1/2 months old.

Training: weak ass

Body: MRI confirms left knee has a 15 mm tear in the medial meniscus - the source of all my knee pain since January. I'm going back to my bicep surgeon tomorrow for a consult. I'm guessing unless he's going some new magic medical glue, I'll be going in for arthroscopic surgery at some point in the next month to have them cut off the part of the meniscus that is currently just hanging loose. Oh joy. What that means is basically the knee just won't have as much padding, so I guess no jumping plyos or impact cardio for me (not that I've done any of that in decades ...).

And that's really about it. It's finally gotten below 100F in the morning here in hot & steamy Phoenix, so I'm intending to start walking in the morning before it hits 80F, or at least until I get whatever surgery. At this point my goal is to not get too fat.

[Curt James]

MRI confirms left knee has a 15 mm tear in the medial meniscus - the source of all my knee pain since January.

Sorry about the kitties.

And I hope your surgeon can take care of your tear.

Quickly and fully!

[sassy69]

Sorry about the kitties.

And I hope your surgeon can take care of your tear.

Quickly and fully!

Fingers crossed for both kitties & knee. I'm glad I was able to get scheduled w/ the surgeon tomorrow!

[sassy69]

10/19/16 - Quick update

Kittens - I got them moved out of my house at the beginning of October. Sadly they only went back to the shelter, but at least they are getting socialized and are not locked in a room in my backyard. I made a hyuge donation of kitty litter (nearly 1000 lb) to the rescue to help support them a little more w/ them going back.

knee - I went in for surgery last week and it went very fast. In fact so fast, my ride home was still w/ her cat at the vet, so I ended up calling another friend for a ride home. The final report is that they cleaned up the large / complex tear on the medial side of the meniscus and also found another smaller tear on the lateral side. Both of those were cleaned up, basically they just cut them off so there's a clean edge on both, though I am now left w/ an in complete meniscus. Doc says the main impact will be that there is less padding now for my knee, so watch the deep squats and the heavy weights, and respect perfect form to protect the joint. The good news is that the joint itself is very solid. They removed a little arthritis as well.

So yay me! Started PT this week and really have almost full range of motion but still a bit sore and tight w/ some inflammation. I expect 3-4 weeks of PT and 3-4 months to be fully healed & fully operational.

And while I've now got my insurance deductible all paid up, I'm going to get 2 more MRIs scheduled for my right knee & left elbow. They all probably have a degree of the same wear & tear as the now repaired right elbow (bicep) and left knee w/ the same type of pain, though not on the same level as the repaired stuff.

Definitely keeping a roll of duct tape w/ me at all times now!

[sassy69]

11/1/16 - Tues

Hope everyone survived Halloween and its associated stress & sugar comas!

So in keeping w/ the current theme of this log, i.e. Sassy's Repair Work, I got my right knee MRI'd last week and just reviewed the radiology report w/ my doctor:

- 11mm full-thickness articular cartilage defect over the lateral femoral trochlea inferiorly
- patellar median ridge & lateral patellar facet chondromalacia & limited surface irregularity

In English:

- full tear thru the little tendon that connects the femur to the patella, and subsequently, a lot of scar tissue on the under-side of the patella. Because there's that "crust" build up from irritation from that tear, the tear has probably been around for a while. The only real knee pain I recall is circa 2004 when I had some bursitis problems, probably from some ultra heavy leg extensions I recall.

So I've got another consult scheduled for this coming Friday w/ my orthopedic doc to see what he can do.

I may be helping fund his wife's Ferrari (he already has one ...) this year.

Updates to follow on Friday!

Oh, and I'm also working w/ my chiro to establish history of issues w/ my left elbow for an MRI while my deductible is paid up.

Interesting side note I wonder if other people are seeing w/ their insurance - the MRI I just got, my doctor commented that my insurance company gave a lot of pushback on approving this one as well as the one I had done for my left knee about a month ago. And both of these cases have nearly a year of established documentation on efforts to address the pain w/ chiro / accupuncture / etc. The elbow not so much, but we're going to work on establishing some history before submitting the request for the MRI again hopefully before the end of the year. Should be interesting ....

[sassy69]

Sunday - 11/6/16

Remember to Fall Back! (Unless you live in AZ!)

Good news from the doc review of my MRI on Friday - just some arthritis. No surgery needed! Just going back in a month for my left knee follow up & Hyaluronic Acid (HA) injections, aka "Lube' in both knees.

I'll still follow up w/ chiro this week & next re: left elbow, but it sounds like its not worthy of an MRI and just needs some PT & TLC.

Now about getting back into the swing of the gym. Still haven't found "the enjoyment" there but now that I've confirmed the main points of pain are treatable, I can move forward w/ greater confidence!

[Sunnyday]

Great news and I'm sure a huge sigh of relief!

[sassy69]

Great news and I'm sure a huge sigh of relief!

ThxSunny!

Knees still on the slow path back - I did 25 min of like "Level 3" on the Stairmaster (not even stepmill, just stairmaster) a few days ago, of course forgot to bring my knee sleeves, and let me tell you about Not. Happy. Knees. Blah - so still low & slow I guess. I'm scheduled for Hyaluronic Acid (HA) injections in both knees next week (unless I can get an appt this week), so pretty interested to see how that works. One of my mom's friends (75 yrs old) w/ a knee replacement has gotten them, so aside from feeling like a 75 yr old w/ a knee replacement, I'm hoping that treatment works well. Otherwise really doesn't sound like there's any other surgery in my near future. (No complaints there....)

[sassy69]

11/29/13 - Tues

Continuing the slow process, I just got word that my HA injections have been approved and are being shipped to my doctor so I can go about scheduling that new experience. Currently there will be 3 injections in the treatment, specifically for my right knee - I have to go to my doctor (who, annoyingly is an hour round-trip drive) to get the injections, I think they said one / week for the next 3 weeks (not sure how that lines up w/ the holidays, but I'll get that clarified once I schedule w/ my doc). I'm also going to pursue this for my left knee, hopefully before the end of the year while I have my deductible paid up. Otherwise it's $400.

Anyway, the process continues.

My recommendation: don't get old & take special care of your knees, shoulders, elbows & wrists!

I also strongly recommend against attempting "Black Friday" shopping within 2 months after knee surgery. Let me tell about how many times I've iced my knees since this weekend. OMG.