I have a Hitch in my Get-Along. That is the unofficial diagnosis for my hip issue. Sarah finds it hilarious, and the words often morph into her telling me that I have a glitch. Yes, yes I do. I have a hitch and a glitch, and unfortunately, resting doesn’t seem to have improved things. I don’t think resting made anything worse. I think my hip is just in worse shape than it was, so what was manageable for years is no longer manageable. I limp or walk slightly awkwardly at almost all times and if I’m lucky then I don’t have too many moments of severe pain where I can’t hold my weight on my right leg. I did get a chiropractic adjustment yesterday because my top cervical vertebrae, known as the atlas because it holds up the world of the head, was quite out of alignment. That adjustment did not fix my hip, nor did I fully expect that it would. On Thursday I will meet with an orthopedic surgeon and find out if I need more scans or a shot of something or surgery of some sort. As my 45th birthday looms, contemplating a possible hip replacement really doesn’t help me feel young and spry.
My hip pain and not being able to reliably do what I usually do in life has been emotionally challenging to say the least. I feel worn out physically and emotionally. I’m enjoying my work much less than usual and tears are flowing more often too. I am reducing how many clients I see per week, but that means that when people want to schedule I’m already looking at April.
Despite being told by the bus company that Sarah’s regular driver would be back this past Monday, he was not. The bus company was evidently the most surprised by this revelation, scrambling to come up with a substitute on Monday morning when Sarah normally would have already been picked up. After that stressful morning, the bus company did in fact supply subs in a timely-enough manner. Now we have been assured that Sarah’s regular driver will be back on Thursday.
Getting out the door on time with Amy has also been a challenge, even though she has a flexible window of departure since she walks. Because of my hip, Carl was walking with her to the main intersection where we always want to make sure there is a crossing guard. She walks the rest of the way on her own, so could do the whole walk independently but that isn’t how we have done it so far. Anyway, Carl has a morning bus to catch so needs Amy to be ready by a certain time on the dot. This goal proved elusive, with all parties frustrated.
Enough with grumps and frustrations…. Last Sunday we had a wonderful visit from N, one of our Sarah-Rise volunteers from the past. N. was with our Sarah-Rise program for the four main years that we did it full time. I realized recently that we met him almost 10 years ago. That boggles my mind. How can so much time have passed? And yet, of course it did. Anyway, it warmed my heart to have him here again. We reminisced about the time when he and Sarah pretended that he was a snail shopping for a new shell, while she assisted him in trying on different options. For this visit, Carl, N, and the girls played the Goodnight Moon game with much laughter and hilarity. Everyone except me attempted to sit criss-cross, some of them hamming it up to tip over. Amy turned herself into a veritable pretzel, as she so often does with her toes up by her ears. It felt so rejuvenating to have company in a way that felt so normal but has been anything but normal for the past two years.
There has been much silliness from all parties living in this house. Amy and I donned exaggerated serious faces to tackle some of her math homework. Then she and Carl made all sorts of faces while taking selfies, and Sarah played with a paper bag on her head while helping Carl make dinner yesterday.
I hope you are well and that if you have a hitch in your get-along you also have some serious silliness to alleviate some of the sadness.
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