Category: Medical: Tailbone

You can count on the bad bad weather

I keep meaning to write and meaning to write and I keep getting sidetracked. Gotta love the insanity that is life.

It has been raining here on an almost daily basis for the last couple of months. It’s absolutely insane. I mean, I don’t think we have even broken 100 yet, and that’s highly unusual for Dallas. We’re only just finally getting regular 90 degree days – in a typical summer, those are a daily occurrence for a minimum of a month by now. It’s so freakishly weird. We were in a drought for the last two years, and now in a matter of 6 months we’ve received MORE rainfall than we normally get in an entire year! There have been tons of problems with flooding, and some cities near DFW have declared a state of emergency because of all the flood waters. It truly doesn’t seem like summer at all.

My friend KD and I went to see Transformers on the 4th. I was kind of expecting a cheesy movie, but it was really amazing. They did a great job with it. It had rained some while we were watching the movie, and on the way out of the theater that created a problem for me. You know the red paint they use for fire lanes? When wet, that stuff can get very slick. One second I was walking and talking, laughing about the movie — the next I had slipped and was falling. Yup, another fall for me; and I landed on the same leg as I did 3 months ago. There were some short concrete poles there, and I grabbed at one as I fell. It didn’t stop me, but it did slow my fall, so my leg didn’t get as badly beat up, but I still had some bruising and knotted muscles, etc. For a day or two after the fall, the arm that I grabbed the pole with to slow my fall was in some serious pain too. I pulled a bunch of muscles on that side of my body from grabbing the pole. Figures, I just can’t stay uninjured for any length of time.

I ended up getting another injection in my tailbone last week. I went to a new doctor this time around, and things went a lot smoother. The best part about it — the injection was done in his office! He has a small surgical room set up to do the injections there. That is a HELL of a lot better than having to do it as day surgery at the hospital!! A lot cheaper too! Another benefit — no anesthesia this time. I was a little nervous about that before the shot, but afterwards I was fine. I really have NO clue why I had to be knocked out for the shot the first time. The injections in my knees are more painful than that! I am having a little bit of pain in the area still though, but in comparison to what it was pre-shot, it’s incredibly minor. I do have a follow-up visit in a few weeks, so I’ll bring up the fact that there’s still minor pain then. It’s not significant enough to worry about trying to get in sooner.

Today, I’m off to the knee doctor. More than likely I’ll be getting injections there as well. I’m kind of hoping I do, since I am going on vacation and need to be able to walk easily.

Last week, I got a jury summons. UGH! They wanted me to report on July 31st, but with that being only 3 days before I leave for vacation, that wouldn’t work. I sent in a request for postponement until after I get back from vacation, so I’ll likely be doing jury duty some time in August. I hope I don’t get picked. Or, if I do get picked, I hope it’s for a cool case. hahah.

God I can’t wait for my vacation to get here. Only 16 more days!! WOOO HOOOO!!!! We’re finally starting to get plans set up better, (my fault there) and it’s starting to sink in that it’s getting close and I’m getting more and more excited. I need to work on my various lists so I can make sure I have everything I need to take with me. I just ordered a couple of books last night for the flights. I’ve already got some Canadian money bought, but I need to buy more. I think we’re going this weekend, because mom needs to buy some too. I’ve had a couple of shopping sprees, buying new clothes & shoes for the trip. And, as stated above, I’ve had tons of doctor visits this month, making sure that I won’t be in pain. Yay!

I have the need to ramble more, but I’m stuck on what to ramble about. So I’ll go and pretend to work some more (already done for the day) until either it’s time for me to leave, or I think of something else to write.

It ain’t the fall that’ll kill you baby, it’s the sudden stop

I know, I know. Most of my entries lately have centered around work (which is getting better right now – YAY!). And the bulk of this entry is likely to be about pain, my other common topic. I really do need to find better things to write about. Of course, I have been a very bad & flaky best friend, and still haven’t written about vacation taken in April, or even finished my vacation recap entry from last year. I need to do that. I know it.

I got to see Serenity on the big screen again over the weekend. Sure, I have the DVD and can watch it whenever — but nothing beats seeing it in the theater. And yup, I’m going to be a total geek and go see Transformers next week.

In just @ 38 days, I’ll be off to Canada again to visit my best friend. Mom is tagging along for a couple of days, she wants to see Toronto, and we’re going to have a great big family trip down to Niagara Falls while she’s there. Then it’ll be just me & Emily getting to run around creating havoc, if we so choose. Haha.

In the meantime, though, I’m looking at another slate of doctor visits. My tailbone is acting up again, driving me insane. (My tailbone is dislocated and arthritic. WHAT FUN! *cough*) When I had my follow up visit for the tendonitis in my arm, the doc gave me a general cortisone injection. That was nice; it even took the pain from my knees & tailbone away for a few weeks, in addition to helping out my arm. Bad part, it’s wearing off and the tailbone pain is worse than ever. I’m having issues even sitting today – I want to be at home in bed and not in this chair at work. Even my chair at home would be nice; it’s more comfortable than this. Only 4 more hours. I’ve got a visit with the orthopedist tomorrow and the pain management doc on Thursday. I’m likely looking at being knocked out again to get another localized cortisone injection. I hope that one lasts longer than 5 months! If that is the doctors suggestion hope that I can get that scheduled ASAP. There’s no way on earth I could sit for 3+ hours on an airplane with this kind of pain. It was just starting to hurt when I was traveling last October and that was uncomfortable. The way I’m hurting now would be a nightmare. Sigh.

I was going to ramble more, but I just can’t sit still and focus well enough to do so. Maybe next time.

Rubber bands expand in a frustrating sigh

Almost a month ago, I made an entry saying that I’d been having trouble sitting, and was diagnosed as having a subluxated coccyx (dislocated tailbone). I had a lot of issues getting an appointment with the pain management doc (referrals not getting faxed, etc) so I wasn’t able to see her until last Wednesday. At the appointment, she asked a lot of questions, went over my medical history, etc. She also mashed on my tailbone to see the area of the pain and I could barely sit the rest of the day from the increased pain because of that. It’s been worse since then, and the painkillers are just barely working any more.

The course of action recommended by the pain doctor is to have a corticosteroid injection into my tailbone; kind of similar to what I have to do with my knees on a regular basis. There is a big difference though – with the knees, the doctor can do the injection right then and there and I’m on my way. With a steroid injection in the tailbone, though, they actually have to put me under general anesthesia to knock me out for the procedure. They’ll then use x-rays to help pinpoint the exact location, and use that to guide the injection. I am having this procedure done on Thursday at noon; and afterwards I’m headed home to sleep the rest of the day away. Mom is taking the whole day off work to play chauffeur for me.

Yesterday, I had my appointment with the orthopedist about my tailbone. After I finally found his office (the stupid insurance co had the wrong address listed online), I didn’t have to wait very long to get in to see him. I liked that quite a bit. First I met with his PA, and she did the interviewing and she decided they were going to do x-rays on me, since I didn’t have the original ones my main doc had done. They have their own x-ray equipment and technicians in-house, so that didn’t take long at all to do.

After the x-rays, the doctor came in to meet with me. He showed me on the x-rays where the dislocation was – it’s just the very tip of my coccyx that is out of place. He said that it actually looked like it was arthritic, which would contribute to this problem. I had no idea that you could get arthritis of the coccyx, but it is a joint, so it makes sense. So I have arthritic knees and an arthritic ass. Haha. Anyway, he went over the treatment options with me, and the thing he suggested as the first line of treatment is the very procedure that I’m having on Thursday. I’m also supposed to continue on my current weight loss plan, since getting the extra weight off will help all of my joints. I bought this nice soft comfy coccyx cushion at Brookstone, using the pillow was of course another suggestion. He said that any kind of surgical procedure (i.e. to remove the tip of the tailbone) would be the very, very last resort because those type of surgeries don’t have a high success rate, and the area is also more prone to infections. So, for now I’m to get this shot, and hope like hell that it helps. If not, I’m supposed to try getting another 2-4 shots before going back in to see him to talk about more drastic measures.

The really cool part of the visit – the doctor had print outs of the x-rays and he let me keep them. They’re not the best, since they’re print outs, but it’s still cool. I tried to scan them last night, but we had issues getting the scanner set up. So, I took a couple snapshots of them on my digital camera. Since the x-ray is all greyscale, those ended up slightly dark, so I went in and edited them, outlining the different bones in yellow. Haha. I’m going to tuck them under a cut, so if you’re interested in seeing the x-ray, you can.

The small piece on the bottom towards the left of the image is the dislocated tip. It is actually supposed to be up against the other bone. It’s pretty obvious in that image that the bone definitely isn’t where it belongs and that’s why I’m in so much pain.

But, just for extra comparison, the drawing below is pretty much how a normal coccyx should line up. And mine definitely doesn’t look like that.