Home for the Holidays

Every family is a veritable cast of zany characters. My family is no different; in fact, I am the most normal person in my family. This year, we gathered at my parent’s house in San Diego to celebrate Thanksgiving. The actors in this play were: my parents, my maternal grandparents, my sister and her family (and their hyper puppy Sophia), and my uncle from China (no, he is not Chinese, he just lives there). Mark was unfortunately absent, as he went East to be with his family.

Dr. PainBeGone

In the past year I have seen five surgeons, two sports medicine doctors and one physical medicine doctor. Nothing prepared me for Dr. PainBeGone. The thoracic surgeon insisted I visit the pain clinic for a nerve block, a procedure in which a local anesthetic is injected into the nerve to relieve pain, to better determine the source of my pain. He set up an appointment with Dr. PainBeGone, a pain specialist.

Random Observations

More Doctor Visits
It has been an interesting few weeks, as I continue on my quest to solve the mystery that is my rib injury. I travelled to Colorado Springs to visit the US Olympic Training Center to meet with Dr. Moreau, the medical director. He was incredibly attentive and took the most detailed history I have ever encountered. I spent three hours with him. His compassion to my plight was reassuring; he understood my frustration and how much the pain was affecting not only my competitive life, but my daily life. I left there with the knowledge that surgery to fix some damaged cartilage and a hyper mobile rib was imminent (the latest theory is that I have slipping rib syndrome, you can read about it here).