Today marks a year since my seventh ankle surgery. During the past year, keeping up with my health involved blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, a nerve conduction test, breathing tests, a colonoscopy, an echocardiogram, wearing a Zio patch, physical therapy, tons of medications, and lots more. My energy is lower than it has ever been, and I am in a lot of pain physically. While my ankle issues are part of my pain, they aren’t my only issue. For the past year, I have been doing physical therapy for my ankles, as well as my knees, hips, lower back, shoulder, and sometimes my neck. I typically go to physical therapy twice a week and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I have been denied by SSDI several times, which all have been appealed and I now have a court case scheduled for May 24th. I have learned that advocating for myself often requires demanding a second opinion and have had to do so more advocating for myself than I would like. My health overall has been bad and, even with all the tests, doctors still aren’t sure why. 

Currently, I have been using my walker to get around in stores, it is not the most ideal situation but due to my shoulder being messed up, I cannot lift my wheelchair out of the car easily anymore and it’s more difficult to use the wheelchair with my shoulder pain. With the walker, I can use it as a chair when I get too tired while shopping, and I can use the handles to hold my reusable bags that have items in them. I do miss my wheelchair, so I hope at one point I am able to figure out how to adjust back to the chair without having to lift

Baths have been helping me manage some of my pain or at least some of my energy. I have found that Dr. Teal’s muscle recovery soak, whole body relief really helps when my pain is really high, and my energy is really low. It doesn’t make the pain go away, but it makes my body feel at ease for a little bit

My next step in testing is for some connective tissue diseases through a geneticist. I am currently on a waiting list for seeing a specialist to get the testing done, so I don’t know how long the wait will be. I may also be getting another knee X-ray or MRI soon due to my knee giving out when climbing stairs and periodically when my energy is low.  

My current diagnoses:

Osteochondritis Dissecans, Osteochondral defect of ankle, Vitamin D deficiency, Insomnia, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Gender & Body Dysphoria, Neck Pain, degenerative disc disease upper back and lower back, knee pain, unstable kneecap, SIBO – Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, Abdominal spasms, Mixed IBS, Bloating, Palpitations (sinus tachycardia), Fatigue, Migraines, Middle ear effusion, Vesicular palmoplantar eczema, B12 deficiency, Chronic generalized pain, Benign cyst on humeral head, Carpal tunnel, Painful orthopedic hardware (ankles), Ankle impingement syndrome on my left ankle, Fibromyalgia, Paresthesia of Skin, and more.

I also have an unknown shoulder problem, which different surgeons and doctors have diagnosed or told me is one or many of the following: (1) Shoulder pain, (2) Muscle strain, (3) Rotator cuff tendinitis, (4) Scapular dyskinesis, (5) Cervical radiculopathy.