A little about me...

So first of all, thanks for all of the support on my last post.  It was great to hear how much I have in common with many of my friends.  Aside from the little personal struggles that everyone seems to have, overall, life here in OK is GRAND!  We love it.  We love our new friends too.  Will has midterms this week, so he is pretty stressed out.  I've been volunteering for Just Between Friends in the evenings this week, so instead of spending time with me he can study.  He is usually really good about coming home and spending time with me in the evenings.  It's not like I don't like spending time with him.  :) He needs the extra time to study though, so I'm glad I can be doing something fun, while he is doing something...shall I say...fun?  

Many of you know that  I have had leg problems.  In my past, I've usually hidden it or acted like it didn't exist, not because I was embarrassed or ashamed, but because I didn't think it hindered me at all.  Well, I'm finally admitting to myself that it has become a problem and am seeing a physical therapist.  My first appointment with him was well concerning.  He kept saying things like interesting, and oh wow, and hmm...but I have confidence in myself and know that I can improve.  This isn't at all where my post was supposed to go, but this is where my typing took me, so I'll stick with it.  I'll share my leg story because I'm sure you are so interested.  Actually, I love hearing about medical things, so maybe you do too. 

I was born with hip and knee problems.  I'm not too sure on this because I never thought about asking my mom, until it was too late to ask her.  The only thing she says about it in her journal is that I was born with a knee problem and I had to have several surgeries and I have a few different pictures of me wearing a full lower body cast on my legs when I would have much rather have been crawling or walking.  My grandma t. always told me that my leg was wrapped around my sisters neck when I was born, but that doesn't explain all the surgeries I've had.  My grandma m. informed me after we were talking about my confusion that I was born with out a hip socket or something like that.  After doing some online research I've learned that hip problems are more common than I would have ever realized, especially in girls.  It can be genetic, but I'm assuming mine had more to do with me being a twin and breeched and stuff like that.  I'm not sure though.  At any rate, I've also learned that a procedure to correct this is to take bone from the patella (knee) to recreate the hip bone.  So, that would explain the scars on my knee.  Anyway, apparently, I had several surgeries when I was a baby to correct this problem.  Well, as I grew older, my right leg began to grow shorter.  Walking in that condition caused some problems as well.  When I was in first grade, I was referred to Shriners Hospital and they put a lift on my shoe to temporarily fix the problem until I was 11 and they lengthened my leg.  If you want to read more about that you can go here.   That is when I had my first experience with Physical Therapy.  I remember having fun, but also being in a lot of pain.  I remember one older guy probably in his late teens complaining and some of the staff telling him to act more like me. :)  I guess I was a tough cookie.  :)  Anyway, after that, I just assumed everything was going to be ok.  I went to my checkups every year until I turned 18.  They always seemed so positive.  My leg was still a couple cm. shorter and I couldn't get my leg all the way straight in the knee area, but kids only think about the present, so needless to say I wasn't worried.  I could still walk & run...although I ran a little bit weird.  (Some guy who I dated in college once told me that I ran cute. I was really confused and didn't know what to think about him.  I didn't know I ran weird until then.)  Anyway, I was never really worried.  I would have some issues, but nothing that caused me concern.  It wasn't until I was pregnant that I started to wonder if I would have any problems giving birth and possibly later in life.  Will loves physical therapy and at one point was planning on being one.  So, for the last 3 years, he would tell me pretty regularly that I should see a physical therapist.  He even emailed a teacher on campus who had experience in physical therapy some questions about me.  The teacher wanted to meet up with me, but I never did go visit him.  Well, my pregnancy went ok.  My hip got tired pretty quickly, but it wasn't bad.  Even now, it's not that big of a deal.  But, two things made me realize I would need some help.  In IF we had to do our dishes by hand and only after a couple minutes of standing at the sink my hip would start burning.  I began to worry more when after I would put Evelyn in the baby carrier my hip would start to hurt after a couple minutes.  I even bought a really nice fancy baby carrier that is supposed to be good on your back and hips, but still pain.  So, I began to do some research and finally made the appointment.   They have some really interesting techniques to help strengthen my leg.  Some are not fun, but others are pretty cool. I often wonder how they ever thought of some things.  Anyway, it's been an interesting experience these last few weeks.  I didn't realize how weak I had let my hip become.  I'm reliving a lot of memories I haven't thought about since I was 11.  I'm getting x-rays tomorrow and I keep thinking about all the times I got x-rays when I was 11.  I loved getting xrays.  My grandpa and I would go to the room and they would have all kinds of fun things to do while you waited.  The techs were so fun.  Anyway, wish me luck on this new experience.  Sorry if this was really boring.  This is just something that has been on my mind and I guess I needed to share it, because that's what my fingers started doing.  :)