*Home early (for me these days). I had my first PT appointment this afternoon; I had mentioned to my doctor it felt like my hip was getting arthritic and I didn't want that to get to the point where I needed surgery, so she got me a referral.
It was still expensive because it's January and health insurance just rolled over but it's probably worth it, the guy took over an hour to evaluate me and start me on a few exercises.
The very good news? He does not think I have arthritis in my hips. He said there was none of the grinding or clicking that was part of that, and the places I had pain with the various stretches and flexes seem muscular. What that means is that not only will exercises keep it from getting worse, they will actually make it better.
Also, I have very tight hamstrings. But I knew that. I will say some of the exercises definitely made me feel better - I think I need that kind of stretching. He also wants me to do core strengthening, which, totally fair, I NEED that. (That might also make me look slimmer in my clothes, as I tighten those muscles up)
AND ALSO one of the pains I was having, that I thought "could this be some kind of weird ovarian pain" (though it's probably too low) is very likely to be related to the muscle issues.
I go back on Friday for another round of exercises; he is going to teach me a bunch of exercises and then have me do them at home. Which reminds me, I have to look to see if I kept the yoga ball I ordered at one point to see if it would help the hip issues or if I pitched that in a fit of cleaning.
The PT I'm working with seems like a nice guy, and one of the helper-techs out there was a student of mine last year.
* We got snow today. Campus closed early today (at 3:30, I was already home). They say they'll announce tomorrow morning by 7 am. (My office hours start at 8, so I will know before I leave home. Though if the roads seem okay, but they cancel for the safety of the long-distance commuters? I might still go in to work on systematic botany. I did get the lab written already for this week, and I brought my book and notebook home with me so I could do some more reading/note-taking for the future suborders - I'm up to Caryophyllidae at this point but I didn't quite finish taking notes for the later (in Cronquist's system) groups.
* I finished one small knit thing. A dishcloth, which I am going to send to my mother for Valentine's Day:
It's just plain Sugar 'n' Cream cotton, but that works up nicely for dishcloths.
I'm also working on another project that will take longer, but the recipient does sometimes read here, so I won't post a photo until it's been received.
* Maybe I take this evening off working? I"m sort of tired (I think I was stressed about the PT evaluation: first off, meeting new people, second off, a situation where strangers would have to touch me (the guy was perfectly respectful but yes, he did have to put his hands on my hip at some points to see where I was having pain or if anything seemed unstable) and also, like bigger women everywhere, I brace to be chastised for being fat. But that didn't happen; in fact he praised the fact that I keep up with regular exercise.
Also yesterday I came home to a cold house; the furnace had locked itself out. That had happened on Friday, and changing the filter fixed it, but right now I knew that that wouldn't help. So I called the guys and then panic-cleaned (the house had gotten BAD and I am embarrassed when the place is messy). They called back about 20 minutes later to tell me they could come by. I felt bad that my house was still a mess but "no heat" was worse so I told them to come on.
It turns out it was a flame sensor with carbon buildup (This can happen if you don't change the filter often enough) so they just had to clean it off and put it back in. Still, the cost of a service call, but at least it's fixed. So yesterday afternoon was kind of lost and also stressful. (I railed at myself for the messy house, and for not getting out of bed early to work out - I had planned on doing it when I got home. But I did eventually get to it after they were done.)
I probably do need to be kinder to myself; some of my friends tell me that, but sometimes I feel like if I don't yell at myself I'll never do what I need to do.
It would be nice to just sit and knit; I can probably make some time tomorrow to work and anyway, I'm several weeks ahead.
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