Update

Grandma is here today, helping with Widget while I lie in bed (useless).  The pain has gotten worse and worse over the past 3 weeks.  When it was almost unbearable last week, I got permission from my OB to try drugs again.  This time it was a 2 day regimen of toredol.  It really helped, but by Thursday, the pain was back with a venegence.  That’s an overused phrase, but it feels appropriate somehow.  If only I knew what the venegence was for, I would repent and atone!

Also on Thursday, I had my 10th PT appointment.  Apparently every 10th visit has to be with the local supervisor, to ensure that treatment is appropriate and to send in the paperwork for the insurance company.  They assured me it would be routine.  Well, it wasn’t.  I was greeted with the news that she had read my chart and she had three things to say:

1. The work that had been done over the past 5 visits by Dale was CONTRAINDICATED for pregnancy and may have hurt the baby.  He would be disciplined and I would not be allowed to see him again.

2. She would not do or approve any further PT for me until after the baby is born — 13 to 15 weeks from now.

3. I should just “suck it up.”  Yes, she actually said that to me — three times at the beginning and again at the end.  Pregnancy stresses the body and there’s nothing to be done.  Yes, I will continue to walk with a cane, at least until the baby comes.  No, it won’t resolve right away after the baby comes.  It will take about 5 months for the relaxin to leave the body and for my hip and nerves to return to normal — or normal enough that they can be adjusted through PT again.

Yes, she did tell me to suck it up.  I would gladly do so — have gladly done so — for the past 5 months now since the pain began, but it would have been irresponsible for me not to try for improvement, as otherwise I’m on my side in bed grimacing in pain 24-7.  I did the right thing.  I just wish the PTs had as well.  I’ve seen 3 PTs in the same office over the 10 appointments, and they each have had radically different views, each telling me that the previous PT was incorrect.  Scary!

A funny story to end with:  Thursday afternoon was a regular playdate, and we decided to go, to try to salvage the day.  Since I was in such bad shape (the PT supervisor did do some therapy — in this case, rolling a giant foam cylinder over my poor legs and hips using all her weight — which hurt like anything and made me limp even worse for the next 3 days), Daddy decided to drive us over and wait for us in the car while he did some paperwork.  An hour later, we emerged from the house to see the car surrounded by two police cars!  Worried about what had happened so near to our playdate and Daddy in the car, I limped out to check, leaving Widget in the house with his playmates.  Daddy was glad to see me, as he had just finished explaining to the nice men in blue that he was waiting for us, as I was pregnant, with back problems, and couldn’t drive.  Apparently a neighbor had called 911 on him, worried that he was a predator!  Oh my!  So far from the truth.

Apparently there are 15 registered sex offenders living in the neighborhood in question, and the neighborhood watch is active.  Good for them!  And if you don’t know the number in your neighborhood, please go to the National Registry or your state registry today and find out.  Please note that the State Registry for your state will have much more information on each offender, so it is worth it to click through to the state registry appropriate for your area.  Most states will display name, address, type of crime (violent or non-violent), and even a picture.  Before I had kids, I was a little leery of this kind of public shaming, but now I am so glad that I can recognize convicted offenders if they show up at the playground.  I will accept a loss of certain civil liberties if it increases the safety of our children.