Sunday, August 30, 2009

Costochondritis- Day 21 of Rest

I'm on day 21 of modified bed rest and no talking on the phone or social outings. I'm still seeing my medical message therpist 2X a week. I'm able to breathe better than I could 3 weeks ago, not amazing, but much better. When standing and not doing anything, my breathing on a pain scale of 1-10 is a 3 (yay!!!!) and when I move, a 5- blah! When I pick up something, a 6/7- double ouch!

So there you have it. Progress. Snail slow progress, but progress. I'm excited....I'll keep you posted. Hopefully next week I'll report a breathing pain of only 2. That's my first goal...to breathe deeply and freely. What are you doing to keep the inflammation down? I'm not gunna lie, it's driving me nuts not doing much...I miss my family and friends. But I know I have to give this healing thing the best shot possible so that when I am with them, I won't be in my Costo world ...so onward I go!

3 comments:

  1. good for you lucy~ i hope you reach your breathing goal real soon! i know for a fact that 'being still' is the answer (as always). i live alone and have (had) 2 elderly cats in renal failure who need extra care. as you know, with costo its hard enough taking care of onesself, let alone care for others. anyway, since october when this all started, i have had the opportunity to experience various environments- not voluntarily. in other words, since october, life began to ask different things of me- as a music teacher, i had to put on an all school christmas concert, my cats became ill and needed constant care, i packed and moved from my home (then unpacked). as you know, with this 'condition', pushing the food cart is killer, let alone unloading the car and putting it all away. the easiest tasks once taken for granted are now highlighted and painfully anticipated - like opening doors,laughing,and hugging. i love the show 'the office', and cannot watch now without an ice pack on my chest to prepare for laughing (i now call the show laughter therapy). since the move, ive been able to rest more, and sadly, i am less one cat, so that responsibility has lightened alittle...i definately notice a difference in the pain- better, for sure. BUT, and this is critical-- ive come to learn that one step forward can easily turn into 2 steps back if im not careful. i think the key is that the 'rest' state must be faithfully and carefully maintained to be effective. i too know what it is like to feel isolated- the by-product of resting(i too have the talking issue and go on vocal rest periodically)- thankfully, wehave one another. i am thankful for your blog, lucy. take care. A.

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  2. A.,

    Hello my music friend! Thank you so much for sharing all of that with me! I'm so sorry you have lost a cat. =( I know that pets are such a precious gift!

    You are so right, being in a state of rest is so vital for this condition. Took me a long time to figure that out!

    Hugs and Healing to you,
    Lucy

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    1. WTF.. this sucks!! Started with issues in December and didn't know what the heck was going on until 3rd week in January. Light meds, but now I am back to spastic and pain city. Ibuprophen not the answer. Not moving is... my goodness everything takes a motion and surprises are not good

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