I knew I needed surgery, that was the easy part but my first obstacle was choosing the day. Rather than having surgery within a few weeks, I chose to have surgery over 6 months after my last MRI. I take the risk of having my PVNS continue to grow and potentially cause more damage. Because I had so much time I could spend it preparing for my surgery.
In April I started going to acupuncture regularly, at least twice a month. They won't attach pins to the site where the PVNS is and they are very careful of that. But just relaxing and focusing my energy on the chi flowing through my knee kept the pain tolerable.
In May I met with a yoga instructor who developed a specific routine for me to do daily. One that wouldn't take too much time and include moves that I can do the entire time. When I practice yoga in a group I can't do many of the poses and end up laying down most of the time. So I was happy to have a routine that I can do.
In July I joined a gym. It took a while to get into a routine, basically not until more recently. First I tried going after I dropped my daughter off at school. But that would eat into my day. If the day got too late I would end up not going. I came across a video of some army guys talking about getting up early and how much they felt they could accomplish by getting up at 4:30AM. Ok, I'm not getting up at 4:30am but I started setting my alarm for 6am. Then I changed it to 5:30am. I try to go every day except Sundays but I still do my yoga. Saturdays I don't usually go unless I go swimming which consists of me doing motions I can do in the pool, not really "swimming". Or I go dancing, which isn't really dancing because I end up in pain if I go full on dance moves. So I count that as "exercise".
In September I hired a health coach with an organic food line she offered to help me stay on track with eating right. Ok so it's Halloween and I'm cheating just a little but as my coach says, "It's not about perfection, it's about progress." If I eat any sugar now it's dark chocolate or honey. If I do eat sugar it's maybe once a week. Progress. The food line consists of small portion instant meals that she told me to eat every few hours throughout the day. It reminded me to eat more frequently rather than waiting until I was starving, only eating once or twice a day. Being "too busy" to eat. Then gorging out on as much food as I could. I was living off coffee, carbs and sugar before the coach.
In October I joined a health challenge that was put on by a networking community that offers supplements. I started taking the supplements and that is where I made the most progress. Immediately the feeling that I was morbidly obese went away. I had usually felt that I was probably 300lbs but I weighed 168 which was the heaviest I've been since I was pregnant 19 years ago. I was able to kick my horrible coffee addiction where I would start the day with 16oz of coffee. And if I didn't get the whole thing I wouldn't feel satisfied. And I would keep drinking coffee throughout the day as well. I have stayed on track by the competition factor. I lost several inches off my waist and was able to get down 5lbs consistently.
My newest endeavor is transcendental meditation. I again saw a video that talked about how people felt after 60 days of practice. I will get curious about something that looks good for me, follow it, and let it help me keep improving. I haven't developed a routine yet, and I will be able to focus on that next month while I recover from surgery which I have in 2 days. I also feel this is a little like the slow movement. Where you practice doing everything slower. I've been doing that ever since I was diagnosed in 2013. It definitely keeps me calm in chaotic situations.
Last week the hospital called and asked if I would consider switching my surgery day to today. Another patient needed to delay her surgery because her body mass index was too big. I thought about all of the effort I have put into my surgery and know that I deserve the day I picked. And although I felt for her situation I could not do that for her. I have planned every day up to this moment.
I am ready for surgery.
