Knee Results Are In

Before we get into the knee results I have to tell you about my surprisingly eventful Thursday....

I took a long lunch at Job #1 and had lunch at Panera with Sarah and her mom. Yay!! That was super fun. I love being an adopted daughter of the Gorton family. :-) After work, Andy and I headed to Casa Larga - I had an appointment to check out the place for a possible wedding venue, but Andy wasn't able to go to the appointment so we decided to head out there for a wine tasting so that he could at least see what it looked like. The wine tasting was pretty fun actually and only cost $2 to try 5 different wines. Awesome! 

After our wine tasting we headed to Anna and Bipul's for... HOLI!!!!

Lisa and Babs

Andy getting his colors!

Bips and Anna

According to Wikipedia, Holi (Hindi: होली, Nepali: होली,Punjabi: ਹੋਲੀ Sindhi: هولي) is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus as a festival of colours. According to Babs, Holi is a fun time of smearing colors on our faces and eating delicious Indian food. :-) 

Then Friday morning came... the knee appointment. The moment I've been waiting for.

Back to Building D

The exam table - my friend

I went in for my appointment and right away they pulled up my MRI pics. The images actually grossed me out, and when you add the talking to it... well, I had to lay down on the exam table because I felt so lightheaded I thought I was going to pass out. They brought me orange juice. I felt like such a wuss. 

Anyway, my MRI came back NEGATIVE for a meniscus tear. Yay! Sort of. I mean... I didn't want them to find a tear, but what was sort of frustrating was that they didn't really find anything wrong. Something has to be wrong... it hurts! What they did find was a "Baker's Cyst." Apparently what has happened... I've had a lot of inflammation: inflammation = fluid. When you have fluid in your knee it wants to take the path of least resistance, which is apparently to the back of your knee. Well all of my fluid traveled to the back of my knee and formed this cyst (I could have described this wrong but that's at least how I'm understanding it). 

That's not supposed to be there

So for all of this inflammation to have occurred (and they saw I still have inflammation behind my knee cap and on the sides of my knee) something at some point was unhappy in my knee (and still might be unhappy...they said the MRI can't show everything). They did another "poking" exam and I still had pain when they pressed on the side of my knee - they said the MRI didn't show that I should have pain there, but I do... 

I was given two options. Try physical therapy or get it scoped (surgery). After talking to the docs there, talking to my dad, having my dad talk to the ortho at his hospital, and talking to a lot of other people who have had knee surgeries... I'm going to get it scoped. They will go in and at the very least clean out my knee... and perhaps they might find something (and fix something) that the MRI didn't show. I'll be on crutches for 2-3 days. Not too bad. I'll admit that I'm very nervous, but for peace of mind, I just need to do it. If I do physical therapy and then my knee hurts one day, I'm always going to wonder if something is going on that shouldn't be. I'll be calling tomorrow to schedule my appointment, but I'm thinking it will be in a couple weeks.

Thankfully I had appointments to check out wedding venues Friday afternoon - that was a much needed distraction from the nervousness of my impending surgery. Anna and Lisa went with me (THANK YOU SO MUCH). First we checked out Casa Larga.

Casa Larga

From the outside it looked ok, but once you get into the reception room, as Anna put it... it looked like vomit, haha. That's why I brought them!! That place is officially ruled out.

The second venue visit was to Shadow Lake. I originally was interested in the club house but that proved to be too big for the number of people we will have. Surprisingly I actually liked the tent option they had.

See the tent on the right?

If push came to shove I'd be fine getting married there. I liked the lake and all of the trees, but other than that there was nothing really special about it. I think the search will continue. :-)

Saturday was Job #2. Then I had the most resourceful shopping trip of my life. Thanks to the power of coupons I got all of this....

Sandals, Conditioner, Curl Styling Product, Mascara, Make-up Remover Wipes, and a Face Mask

... for $7.26!!!! Of all of those purchases I was most proud of the the sandals. Originally $34.95, I got them for a penny. ONE PENNY!!! :-) Saturday night was spent at the Distillery with Andy, Sarah, and Jon. I love hanging out with those two. We had so much fun - I am already counting down to when Sarah will get back from Turks and Caicos, and she hasn't even left yet!

And now it is Easter Sunday! I slept in :-) then made scones. I was very impressed with this because I actually had to knead the dough. They actually turned out really well... just like the ones I like from the fair.

Doughy goodness

Fisher Scone!

Then Andy and I headed to Buffalo where we had Easter dinner at his Grandmother's. We're about to head back now (have to work in the morning) so I better wrap this up. All in all, and good Easter - although I'm feeling a little uncomfortably stuffed. Hope you all had a Hoppy Easter!!!

MRI

This morning started bright an early with my MRI appointment.

This is where the magic happened

I went in, filled out a bunch of paperwork, then I got called back. I appreciated their timeliness! First was changing into a fashionable hospital gown and robe. Thank goodness for the robe because the hospital gown they gave me was missing a tie so my backside was rather drafty!

Cute huh?

After a quick wait the lady led me back into the room. Talk about space aged!!! The machine was waaay more modern looking than what I was expecting. And the room felt very "modern" too because there were large screens on the walls and ceiling with super high def images of nature. They came in handy later...

I got up on the table, she put my knee in a "cage" and then slid me in. That is a tight space. I'm not claustrophobic, but I think if they had put my head in the machine, I would have been uncomfortable. I also had headphones on to block out the noise. YEAH RIGHT! That thing is so freaking loud. It sounded like Chewbacca with a jackhammer. The deal with the MRI is that you have to stay perfectly still... well let me tell you... it's hard to stay still when, with no warning, these giant loud noises start happening. At that point I was glad the pretty picture was on the ceiling because I just focused on that in an attempt to not be bothered by the noise.

The scan took about 25 minutes. Halfway through I started having some knee pain. My knee was locked in the cage and I just am not used to having my knee super straight that long. Once again my marathon mindset came in handy... I just ignored it so that they could finish (I had a call button that I could use to stop it at any point but I thought it would be dumb to stop it just to say, hey can I just bend my knee for a second?).

Once it was over I was out of there. I didn't even get to see anything! But I should get to see the images on Friday morning. I'm really curious to see what it will look like.

Two last videos... I searched for these so I could show them to Andy when I got back, and thought you guys might be interested. The first is a quick video showing the process of an MRI for a knee - it is exactly what I experienced (minus getting to see your images at the end). In the second one you can hear some of the different sounds the machine makes. But imagine it a thousand times louder than the video. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQJRjbdS6Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS_V_OgeX-U

I tried to upload the videos but I guess I'm not that blog-savy... just follow the links!

The rest of my day is pretty blah. Working at Job #1, then going home to sit&eat. At least there are good tv shows on tonight!

Festivities Part 2 -Steltenpolooza

Get ready for lots of pictures!

Thursday: I had an open rehearsal I was running, which is usually lame, but it was actually fun because it meant I got a sneak peek at Anna's concerto!

Dress Rehearsal for Anna

That night was her first performance of her concerto with the orchestra. I was so excited to see it - she looked amazing in her dress and of course played beautifully!! I couldn't have been happier for her. :-)

One performance down, two to go!

 Friday: Anna and Bipul's BIG DAY!!! At 11:00am, Andy and I headed to City Hall for two of our favorite people's wedding. I didn't know what to expect, but the small group made it even more special than I could have imagined. Enough talking... here are some pictures!

Dipu, Babs, Anna, and Lisa

Marriage Ceremony

It's Official!

We were surprised that they let us have free reign of the room, which of course meant we had to goof off.

Let's negotiate who will take out the trash in this marriage...

I object!

ORDER IN THE COURT!

Haha, it was a good time. After the ceremony we were off with the new Mr. and Mrs. to Dinosaur BBQ to celebrate!! It was such a great day and so fun to be a part of something so special. And of course Anna and Lisa's parents were there too which was awesome as I always look forward to their visits. :-)

Later that day I headed to Sarah's to curl her hair and then it was time for her birthday celebration with all of her Zumba friends. We had dinner at Selena's (mexican food) which is always delicious, and of course the company was great. Her friends are so nice and funny!

Saturday: Worked Job #2, ran some errands, then watched Anna perform her concerto with the orchestra again. If possible, she sounded even better than Thursday night!! After her concert we headed to TRATA for Anna's and Bips' wedding celebration. Shortly after arriving Anna's dad didn't feel well...I won't go into the details but he ended up spending the night in the hospital and we were all very concerned. I'm so glad he is feeling better!!!

Sunday: Slept in (much needed), went out to breakfast with Andy, then we headed to the RocLiving expo... sort of like a first time home buyers fair. I brought a big purse in hopes to load up on free stuff, but when the moment came I got too nervous to go up to talk to any of the tables. Damn how I wanted that free chip clip from Wells Fargo!!! lol. We were only there for about 10 minutes before we left and headed to Buffalo where we had dinner with his parents and brother. Busy busy weekend.

Monday: Back to work at Job #1. Blah. But after dinner, Andy and I met Anna, Bipul, Lisa, Ben, and Lydia for a night of bowling haha. It was actually really fun and I bowled the best two games ever!!

Lisa willing the pins down

Andy - chest pound of manhood post-strike

My "I got a strike" dance

Anna - come on!

Lydia...obviously a dancer. Check out that leg!

Bips - manly fist bump action

I was LB (Lady B)

DO YOU SEE MY SCORE??? DO YOU SEE HOW MANY STRIKES I GOT IN THAT GAME??? DO YOU SEE HOW THREE OF THEM ARE IN A ROW!?!?!?!?!?!? After bowling we went to the Distillery for half-priced appetizers and dessert. I stayed up waaaay too late but it was a lot of fun.

Tuesday: Right now I'm at Job #1 and soon will be headed to Job #2. I'm really not sure how I'll stay awake - as soon as I am done I'm going to bed. I have an eeeearly morning tomorrow because... I finally have my MRI! I'm so glad it's here. As fun as bowling was, my knees (yes both) started hurting half way through and they haven't stopped since. I want this to be over with!

  

X-Rays

I spent the morning at the Orthopedic Center - I've never been so excited to go to a doctor's appointment before, haha. First were x-rays. Apparently they had to do those for insurance rules, and also to rule out a stress fracture or cancer. Cancer?? Thankfully my bones turned out to be just fine!

Looking down on top of the knee

Front of knee

Side of knee

Back of knee

She said my bones look good. I'll admit, usually this sort of stuff grosses me out, but I really enjoyed seeing my x-rays. I wish I could get a full body x-ray to see my whole skeleton! Anyway back to the appointment... then she had me hop up on the table and began poking my knee. Poke. Poke. PokeSLAP! She poked me really hard where it's been hurting and I just automatically slapped her hand!! I'm sure it's happened to her before but I felt bad. Long story short, I'm going in for an MRI one week from today to see if I have a meniscus tear (as she suspects). Two days after the MRI I get to meet with the surgeon to determine "what's next."

Soooo basically all that was really determined from this appointment was that it still hurts (which I already knew). But I still feel really "happy" because the next step is already scheduled. In one week and two days I will finally have an answer!!! It's about freaking time!

In the meantime I'm still on the injured list. No real exercise, although I'm going to figure out something I can do for upper body and abs. I've got to do something.  

Festivities Part 1

Hi friends!

As I outlined in my last post, I have a lot of exciting things going on (mostly exciting for other people, but exciting for me that I get to celebrate with them). Here's a recap of what's happened so far...

Saturday was the race I signed up for but couldn't run. I had fun playing "Race Mom" instead (I held Sarah and Maddie's coats while they ran). Both girls did a great job, each getting a new PR!

Maddie and Sarah

After the race, the three of us headed back to my apartment for green Lucky Charms pancakes! I wish I had taken a picture but I was so excited to eat them, it didn't even cross my mind. Thank you Sarah for making them. :-) Once we were done with breakfast it was time for the parade. I've never been to a parade in Rochester, so I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Parade "Float"

Andy caught up with us towards the end of the parade and we headed to Dinosaur BBQ. It's a shame I couldn't run the race because I sure could have used the extra calorie burn! The rest of the night was spent napping and laying on the couch playing "Duolingo" (a Spanish app) on my iPhone. Solid day off.

Sunday was spent at Job #2, grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, stopping at Elizabeth's to wish her a happy birthday (Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!!), and then birthday dinner at Sarah's house!! Sarah's birthday was actually Monday, but I had a lot of fun spending her birthday weekend with her. :-) Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!

Monday (yesterday) was job #1 and then... The Biggest Loser Finale!!!!!! I was so happy for Danni. She looked amazing! Definitely an inspiration to at least do what I can to be healthy.

And now it's Tuesday. Nothing much going on today besides working both jobs. Tomorrow morning is my knee appointment!!!! I will definitely update you all asap with the news from that. I'm hoping that they will say I'm fine and can start exercising again. :-) Cross your fingers!

Dad's on the mend

Try as I might to format my blog, it's just not working. Monday I posted what I ate... Tuesday I took pictures of what I ate but didn't have time to post them... then at Job #2 Alyssa talked about how it's annoying when people take pictures of their food, haha. I kind of feel like she's right, so... I'm ditching that approach.

But enough of that, I have good news to report! After months of trying to ease his shoulder/arm pain, my dad finally had surgery yesterday and it went smoothly! What a relief. :-)

Done with surgery and already having coffee!

So far this year both of my parents have had surgery, and I've felt bad that I wasn't around for either. Thankfully my mom was able to keep him company.

They're having a romantic hospital dinner haha

Two Larson's down, one to go? I go in Wednesday morning to a specialist... she'll possibly be taking some x-rays, so I'll be one step closer to knowing if I'm just being a big wuss or if I'm going to need surgery too. 2013 really sucks so far. Hopefully it will start to get better...

Hmm what else. Sheena has set a wedding date - November 2nd. Yay! Andy and I aren't nearly as "on the ball" as Jason and Sheena, but we have (and by we I mean I) have at least narrowed it down to 6 venues to check out. Of course I have no idea when we'll actually visit them. Baby steps I suppose.

Job #1 has been super busy - I had two field-trip concerts to run, but thankfully there won't be anymore until May. Phew! Job #2 isn't as bad anymore now that I've just started saying no to extra shifts.

I guess that's really about all I have to report... I pretty much just go to work and then come home and sit. I sure hope I can get back to the gym soon. I don't feel like I have nearly as much energy as I do when I get some exercise.

Looking ahead... here's what I'm looking forward to:

Saturday - Johnny's Running of the Green 5 mile race. Yes I'm signed up (I signed up awhile ago). No I'm not running. But I'm still going to cheer on Sarah. And then we are going to eat breakfast and watch the parade. Yay!

Sunday - Elizabeth's Birthday

Monday - Sarah's Birthday and The Biggest Loser Finale (Go Danni!!)

Wednesday - KNEE APPOINTMENT!!!!

Thursday - Anna's concerto with the RPO!

Friday - Sue's Birthday, Anna and Bipul's wedding, and Sarah's birthday celebration with her Zumba friends!

Saturday - Anna's concerto with the RPO (again) and Anna and Bipul's Wedding Celebration!!!

Looks like a fun and busy week ahead. :-)

Sit&Eat

RunnerBabs

You can now call me Sit&EatBabs. That's all I do. Well, I sit and eat. I don't sit and eat myself. I guess Sit&EatBabs is kind of confusing.

After over 2 weeks of no exercise I went to the gym on Firday and walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill. Bad idea. I have since cried every night while laying in bed. My doctor has finally decided that it's time for an MRI. Let's get this show on the road people! I've wasted too much time. I am gaining too much weight. The weather is getting better and I want to go outside. If surgery is what I need, FINE! I don't care anymore! JUST MAKE THIS PROBLEM GO AWAY!!!

Also friends - I am sorry for talking about my knee so much. I am annoying myself with all my knee talk. Thank you for still listening. :-)

Sooooo.... Since I can't update you on all of the fabulous things I'm doing (because I'm not doing anything) I will now try a new blog approach. I will post pictures of my breakfast and lunch. By showing you what I eat I will hopefully make smarter choices. I don't plan to do dinner because then I'd have to wait until later and let's face it... I'm more likely to update my blog while I'm at work, lol.

Here goes.

Breakfast

Breakfast today was peanut butter toast, an egg, and coffee. Those of you that know my normal breakfast habits will be shocked to see a real egg, but I'm trying something new. During my last shift at Job #2 I got hungry way before lunchtime. Melanie asked what I had had for breakfast (egg whites and fruit) and she said, "Where's the protein and the fat??" So I decided to try having more protein and fat to see how it would hold me over. This breakfast certainly had more calories than I typically eat for breakfast, but it did seem to last... I didn't need lunch until 1:00pm.

Lunch

Lunch was a turkey sandwich, two little plums, and a surprise maple cookie that Rebecca brought me! I suppose I've had a lot of bread today... wouldn't have thought about it so much, except looking at the pictures makes it pretty obvious.

Well... this isn't very exciting, haha. I guess I better get back to work. Tomorrow and Wednesday are more field trip concerts so I've got a lot to do to be ready for those.

I 30

Yesterday was my birthday. I am officially 30 years old. Wow that sounds old, but from what everyone says, it's a great decade. I accomplished a lot of amazing things in my 20's... in some ways I don't think my 30's (or any other decade) could live up to those moments. But I also had a lot of really low lows in my 20's, so I'm hoping that my 30's will be a little less of a roller coaster. 

Here's how I celebrated my birthday weekend....

Friday - Andy, Will, and I went to the dollar movie theater and saw "This is 40."

Have you seen my starfish?

This movie was hilarious. Great night.

Saturday - Worked Job #2... it was SO busy that the time flew by, which was nice, but a little breather would have been appreciated. As soon as I was done I flew out the door to my hair appointment. Yay! I haven't had my hair cut or highlighted since before the marathon. I didn't think my hair was getting toooo bad, but now that I've gotten it done.... wow my hair was bad, haha. I love my hair now (although wish it would grow faster). I honestly don't remember what I did on Saturday night... I hung out at the apartment while Andy played a concert... must not have been too exciting.

Sunday - Slept in. Read my Jillian Michaels book. Cleaned the apartment. Then Andy and I went to Hicks and McCarthy for breakfast. I've been wanting to try that place for a long time, so I'm glad we finally went. It was really good, and I'd definitely want to go there again sometime.

Picture this covered in snow

After breakfast we went to the mall so I could look at laptop cases. Andy is going to get me one as soon as I can make up my mind on which one I want. Then it was time for his afternoon concert so I ran errands to pick up party supplies. Finally it was the moment I'd been waiting for.... Birthday Bingo! Bingo Palace was as amazing as it sounds. I was so grateful to see so many people come out to celebrate with me, and while bingo lasted WAY longer than I ever imagined it would, I still think people had a good time. :-)

Get it? I am 30, and I 30 is a bingo number!!!

My lucky bingo Pegasus!

My mom sent a bag of "bingo charms" which were hilarious. Everyone picked out a different one, but sadly none of them were actually lucky. We all lost!

Ben, Will, Bipul, and Andy

Sarah, Jon, Scott, and Katie

Elizabeth and Alyssa

Kristin, Anna, and Lisa came too!! We were probably a little rowdier than the normal bingo crowd, but the Bingo Palace employees seemed to think we were a hoot. Best part of Bingo Palace... you can bring your own snacks! I think my favorite part of bingo (besides seeing all of my friends of course) was digging into the treats! Sarah brought  funfetti cupcakes (and cookies) for everyone. I love funfetti! And she made everything from scratch!! And Lisa made brownies that were super good too! I can't decide whether or not it's a blessing or a curse to be friends with such skilled bakers. :-)

After bingo, Lisa, Will, and Ben came back to our apartment and hung out. It was a small party, but we stayed up really late and laughed a lot.

Monday - My actual real birthday!!! Slept in again because I did NOT go to work. Read more of my book, watched TV, and opened my presents! My parents sent me a box with 30 wrapped gifts inside. It was so much fun to open all of those gifts, and while it may sound strange... this one was my favorite.

30 Quarters!! These are like gold for apartment laundry!

The afternoon was spent with Andy going to lunch at Subway and then to Trader Joe's. Jillian Michaels would have been proud because we were not hungry while grocery shopping, we went with a list, and we read the ingredient labels to make sure we were buying as natural of foods as possible. 

The rest of the night was spent making taco chili for dinner, tanning (you used to get to tan in a super fancy bed for free on your birthday but they apparently ended that), watching The Biggest Loser, and.... eating lemon cake from Panzari's!!!

Happy Birthday to me :-)

All in all, it was a good birthday. Turning 30 wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it might be. Guess it's time to act mature and like a grown up now. Haha - yeah right!

Thank you to everyone for making me feel loved and special on my special day. :-)

TGIF

Hellooooooooooo Birthday Weekend!!!! My birthday is technically on Monday, but I am going to get this party started early. Woot woot!!

My original plan was to go to the Mardi Gras Zumba Party at the club tonight, but now that the doctor's put me on the injured list, that plan's been cancelled.

Knee update: I started the meds two days ago and felt really sick to my stomach.... thankfully I realized after a day that, oh, I was taking twice as much as I was supposed to. Moron!! I probably made my stomach bleed. I'm sorry stomach. :-( My knee maybe feels a tiny bit better...maybe. But not tons. It better shape up fast because I need to get back to the gym.

Life without exercise is weird. You'd think it would make me more productive but it's done the opposite. Now I come home from work and park it on the couch. Do I clean? Nope. Do I organize? Nope. Do I melt peanut butter in a bowl in the microwave, then stir cereal in it until it's all coated, and then eat it with a spoon? Yes. 

One thing I have been doing is reading a new book I got on Tuesday after Job #2.

So far I am really enjoying it (and yes I read it while eating my peanut butter cereal). It's full of different tips and tricks to incorporate throughout your life, and each tip is rated a 3, 2, or 1. Tips that get 3 points will make greater changes whereas 1 point tips will help, but not as much. The idea is the more points you incorporate, the better. I don't think I'll actually tally my points, but so far my big take away is that I want to make an effort to eat more "real" foods. I know that sounds weird, but as Andy can attest... I'm the queen of buying anything fat-free/sugar-free/calorie-free - he lumps this all into the category of "cardboard." Now, since this is my birthday weekend, there's probably some funfetti in my future, but starting Monday... yes Monday, my actual birthday... I'm going to make a real effort. I'd like my 30's to feel healthier and more balanced than the weight roller coaster of my 20's.

What's in store for my birthday weekend? Tonight's a trip to the cheapo movie theater to see "This is Forty." Tomorrow I am working Job #2 (blah) and then I'm getting my hair done. Yay!!! I haven't had my hair done since before the marathon, so this is a very needed trip. Then Sunday is the big celebration. TRIP TO BINGO PALACE!!!! I'm pretty sure I'm going to win lots of money. ;-)