I dunno - is it gross to Blog a picture of one's spine? I saw an orthopedist today to see if there were additional causes for my hip and back pain. It is a huge orthopedic clinic with doctors who specialize, I think, in every bone in a body - I have seen one there who just does hands, about my carpal tunnel problem. After manipulating my legs and hips a bit, Dr. Danto had some X-rays taken and then showed them to me on a computer screen. Pretty slick - no waiting for reports or having the x-rays to store somewhere.
This is a view taken from my right side - back to the left and belly button to the right.
This is the image that showed a different problem than the arthritic hips (which are visible, but a long way from needing replacement). If I took the time to learn I could put an arrow "on the spot", but if you look at the bottom vertebra before the hip bone you can see that it is out of alignment. I have no experience reading x-rays, but even I could spot it immediately. The doctor feels that some physical therapy in a pool will be helpful and, most wonderfully, the clinic has a pool and offers just such therapy! I'm willing to give it a go, even though it means that I'll have to find a bathing suit somewhere. Since I haven't shopped for one for at least thirty years I hardly know where to go. Guess I'll ask the Poodle Mommy who has suits in LBeach and in Havasu. Of course, she is a size 3, or some such, and I am a size 2X, but there must be suits for huge ladies, eh? Maybe I could just sew a large sack with a drawstring neck and holes for my arms and legs - sort of like a tea cozy! Oh, yes, his other suggestion was exercises to improve my posture which has deteriorated greatly in the last twenty years. Some of the exercises I have been doing for the psoas muscles (they are still a problem) are for posture, so I'll just keep doing them. He didn't say a word about losing weight. I always find it odd that doctors don't nag more about the subject. If obesity is such an enormous problem I think it would be part of their script to remind, chastise and harp about the subject to all their patients.
This is a view taken from my right side - back to the left and belly button to the right.
This is the image that showed a different problem than the arthritic hips (which are visible, but a long way from needing replacement). If I took the time to learn I could put an arrow "on the spot", but if you look at the bottom vertebra before the hip bone you can see that it is out of alignment. I have no experience reading x-rays, but even I could spot it immediately. The doctor feels that some physical therapy in a pool will be helpful and, most wonderfully, the clinic has a pool and offers just such therapy! I'm willing to give it a go, even though it means that I'll have to find a bathing suit somewhere. Since I haven't shopped for one for at least thirty years I hardly know where to go. Guess I'll ask the Poodle Mommy who has suits in LBeach and in Havasu. Of course, she is a size 3, or some such, and I am a size 2X, but there must be suits for huge ladies, eh? Maybe I could just sew a large sack with a drawstring neck and holes for my arms and legs - sort of like a tea cozy! Oh, yes, his other suggestion was exercises to improve my posture which has deteriorated greatly in the last twenty years. Some of the exercises I have been doing for the psoas muscles (they are still a problem) are for posture, so I'll just keep doing them. He didn't say a word about losing weight. I always find it odd that doctors don't nag more about the subject. If obesity is such an enormous problem I think it would be part of their script to remind, chastise and harp about the subject to all their patients.
9 comments:
I feel your pain Dear Del. Look into Land's End catalog. They have wonderful suits in sizes for actual women. Some are even very forgiving-more like shorts and a top than a bathing suit.
Hope you feel better soon.
I agree Del, look at Land's End first! I have a wonderful mastectomy suit which is black shorts on the bottom and a tank on top....I like it because you don't feel like you're cramming a too larger sausage into a sardine can...easier to get on and off and the shorts on the bottom cover a bit more and you don't feel umm....quite as fluffy. :)
I third it! Their measurement chart is great and includes a torso measurement (as do their suits). Look at http://www.landsend.com/customerservice/size_charts/women/swimwear/index.html
PS Dick is starting PT for his hips, so you two will have war stories to swap!
And I fourth it! I get mastectomy suits in a tall length there.
Dottie D
That is a very interesting picture Del! Nice to know of others experiences, then it isn't such a scary thought when it is "your turn"...
You'll be fine with a suit. Might be a lot of fun too!
I've purchased suits from Avenue and Lane Bryant from their internet sites and the stores. I always have to laugh when it says do not use chlorine in the care tag. Hello, pool-wear?!
Glad you are finding more info about the constant pain. I'm doing water-walking -- I could swim, but then I would have straw for hair. The W-W doesn't wet my hair so I don't have to shampoo it out every day. Once I got the routine down the water is kind of nice.
My arthritis doesn't show up bad on the x-ray but because my leg keeps giving out, the surgeon says any time I give the go-ahead, he'll put in a new hip. I'm giving the W-W a month before I shout Uncle.
Dee and all beat me to it, but I will just add my recommendation for Land's End. Good suits, if you have to be seen in one. I did laugh out loud at the tea cozy mental image however!
I'm doing physical therapy for my knees (sometimes in water, daily on land), and the water is so refreshing. Hope this helps your pain. It's nice to feel weightless in the water!
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