Where in the World Have I Been?

I am terribly behind in blogging because I have a difficult time sitting long enough to type up any entry. I have been very busy traveling and playing with Richard's kids and Chance and enjoying what I can.

But I have been in a lot of pain.

Back in March, Eric and I traveled to Virginia and on the long flight I felt a twinge in my back and left hip. My left leg hurt off-and-on for a while but was generally pretty mild. Over the months, the pain increased but I didn't think too much about it. I took Ibuprofen for a while and then began taking Aleve, which helped.

By the time we went to California in August the pain was much more notable in my left hip and leg. So much so, that Sandy helped me do some stretches on her Pilate's machine each morning. They helped relieve some of the pressure.

In late August, I mentioned the back pain to my primary care doctor and he referred me to physical therapy for hip bursitis. He was convinced it was my hip, but I was convinced it was my back. I went to physical therapy a few times but mentioned the pain to my friends and they referred me to their chiropractor.

The chiropractor began to help me for the hip bursitis but quickly agreed with me, that this was a back issue we were dealing with me and referred me to have an MRI.

I went for an MRI on Sept 28 thinking it would be no big deal. It turns out I'm a little bit whole lot claustrophobic.
When they put me in the machine, I tried to remain calm as I waited for the music to turn on, but the music never came. I tried to talk to myself into a calm place, but I could hear my heart rate and my breathing begin to pick up the pace....and then my stomach joined in the panic party.
To make matters worse, the night before the MRI, we'd been to a party and as we'd left, we'd seen a man on a bicycle be hit by a car so with my eyes closed in the machine, his face was all I could see. With my eyes forced open, all I could see was the edge of the MRI machine. This white coffin MRI machine was too close for comfort and The Crazy entered into the thoughts, "what if there's an earthquake?" "what if my vertigo starts?" "OMG, did the earth just shake a little?" ... the pit in my stomach grew two sizes.
Sane Tina tried to intervene and remind The Crazy that this tube has two openings at both ends and that I wasn't truly trapped ..... but I was shaking and breathing heavily and could feel that I was going to lose it any minute ... Once The Crazy got in the Rational side didn't stand a chance....I pushed the panic button before the scan ever even began.
I chuckled with my friends about it later that at least I never got to the place of "what if the zombie apocalypse starts while I'm in here!?" LOL!

I returned for on Oct 3, for the MRI. This time I was given a Valium. I was told it might knock me out. It didn't. But it did keep the panic at bay, for the most part.  I decided to prepare myself by giving myself several images to keep in my head's "happy place." Specifically, Lake Powell:

And, places I'd like to photograph:

I also decided to replay a dream I once had. It was one of my favorite dreams of me walking along the beach. I found beautiful sandcastles that wanted to be washed away by the water. As I complied, they left me beautiful gems: perfect emeralds, rubies, amethysts, etc.





The final thing I decided I would do if began to panic, was to count from1 to 50 and back to 1 again. That would be the ticket. :)

I arrived for the Valium an hour before the MRI and felt myself relax a bit but didn't feel too much and definitely did not konk out. The two techs were so nice helping me get into the machine and explaining the process and we went. They forgot to turn on the music again, but this time they asked me about it and I was able to tell them so the panic didn't even start up. The music was nice.

I didn't realize how loud the machine would be, however, so the music was drowned out by the BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...however, I didn't mind the rhythm of that BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. It reminded me a lot of the trance house music that I listen to when I'm running and I was able to let time pass pretty quickly. Lake Powell images helped a lot. Waterfall images were nice.

Twenty minutes passed by without much of a flinch. Then they moved me deeper into the MRI machine and my heart jumped and my stomached lurched. They were moving onto my lower back and I really had to rely on all the little tricks I'd prepared myself with. The machine got really warm....and told myself, "I'm on a beach laying out...yeah, that's the ticket. At Lake Powell and it's really hot...can't get away from it cuz, it's Lake Powell in June! Yeah! That's right!."

It wasn't much help. Heartbeat started rising.

Okay.
Um.
Waterfalls....pretty waterfalls. 
Nope?
okay.

Um.

Beach.
Waves.
Sandcastles.

Not that either?

Okay.

1...2...3..4........
41..42..43..44..43..42...
wait...which direction was I going?

I got stuck in the 40s every time.

Once in a while I'd have a little devil in my ear saying, "just open your eyes...just see how close you really are to the wall...just do it.....do it, do it...just once."   I never did.

Finally!
Finally! 45 minutes later, they told me they were done and I was being let out (as if I was in prison, or something, geez)...That's when I opened my eyes, on the way out. And I'm so glad I waited, because there wasn't more than a few inches between my nose at the machine.

The results came back a couple of days later. I have two bulging discs in my low back (L4-L5 and L5-S1). It's not uncommon for someone in my age bracket. I've been told that about 80% of 39 year olds will have this; it's part of aging, like wrinkles and gray hair, but only about 20% of the 80% will experience the pain of what I have, and most will heal completely (so there's a lot of hope for me).

Here's my actual image:

You can see the bulge putting pressure on the nerve. This is the nerve that goes to the legs and feet. It's on the left side of the nerve, so only the left leg is affected by this condition. (thank goodness)

I have since been undergoing treatment, but I will talk about that in another entry, when the pain has completely subsided.

Be Well Utah

One of the events my department partcipates in each year, is Be Well Utah, which is an initiative to help educate employees and the general public on ways to better our health.

I was asked to take photos of two of the events and had a lot of fun doing that. The first of the two was at Red Butte where various University Departments present a booth and answer questions. Others in the community also have booths. Here are my favorite photos of the day:

The next day a coworker and I went to the Harmon's at City Creek and photographed the testing of cholesterol, blood sugar, fat percentage and blood pressure.

I was excited to find a very normal cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. I didn't need the fat machine to tell me I'm over weight.

Here are my favorite photos:

August in LA

In August, Eric and I flew to LA to spend time with my sisters. We had hoped to be there for the Six-Man Tournament again, but the city moved the tournament from the weekend to the weekdays. All that aside, we had a wonderful time staying with Sandy in her home and partying it with Elida in her home.

Here's the view from the plan as we left Salt Lake. I love that the full moon is hanging out in the top of the photo. We flew out on Friday morning.

Looking down at Las Vegas from the plane:

Saturday, Elida and Damon hosted a pool party. I tracked down a recipe that my aunt used to make and was thrilled to share the deliciousness.
It was a hot day in the valley, so the cool temperature of the pool was marvelous. We swam for several hours and the dogs loved the time as well.
I love a good party with good conversation, family, friends, food, drinks....they make for great memories.

Sunday, August 5, Sandy, Elida, Eric and I went to Manhattan Beach to enjoy the sounds of the waves, the feel of the sand. We watched the surfers wait for the 'perfect' wave. We also caught several dolphins swimming by the pier. Very cool!

We flew home on Monday, which was the hardest thing to do. We SO wanted to stay....literally pick up our lives and move. It's not like we think the grass is greener, but I kept thinking about visiting the beach on those good and bad days. We flew out of Long Beach in the beautiful sunset.

When flew into the Salt Lake Valley, we flew over one of the many fires we had this summer.

Here's the view of Salt Lake City from the plane. Kinda cool.

We had a wonderful time in LA...it gets harder and harder to come home each time we visit. I miss my sisters every day, and leaving them is hard to do.

July 2012 Catch Up

Uh, yeah..... well, it's been a while since I posted photos and family doings. 

We had a nice little 4th of July at my mom's house...just the three of us. We watched the fireworks through the trees from Sugarhouse Park.  Then, we lit off our own little fountains...by "we" I mean "Eric" lit them off. Here are a few of the pictures:

July 11, we went to dinner to celebrate Eric's dad's birthday. John and Laura bought dinner for their family and friends. Here are the pictures I liked:

July 24, Eric and I spent the evening at my Mom's house. Richard, Andrew, Collin, and Marcus joined us; As well as Eric's mom, Kathy, Evan and Chance. I made some jello popcorn  I pinned on Pinterest.  We had a great time!

This kind of sums up our July 2012.  We enjoyed our summer, watched sunsets, relaxed in our nice cool basement playing video games.

Friday Night Videos

Tee hee hee! I've been super duper uber busy that last month and in a LOT of pain. It turns out I have two bulging (burst, whatever) discs in my back (thanks, Trax accident!)... I will recount the events of the MRI soon, but for now here are a few of the videos I've been meaning to post the last few weeks. It is kind of random:

Swedish House Mafia - love this video (thanks to Collin and Richard):


Sweet sweet little baby boxer puppies....resisting the moment of sleep.


A couple of movie trailers
I cannot wait to see this version of Les Miserables:


Samsara looks fascinating:


And finally a little random video I fell in love with the minute I saw it: