Bursitis? Are You Kidding?

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to talk about her bursitis and/or rheumatism acting up. Honestly, I never thought those were real things; I thought they were just words my grandmother made up or "country" terms for certain conditions. I learned a long time ago that "rheumatism" is rheumatoid arthritis, but I didn't think bursitis was a real thing. This morning I went to my doctor because my hip and thigh pain had been getting worse since Saturday. I spent all of yesterday on the sofa with a heating pad. My doctor took an x-ray and put me through a series of stretches and squats to see which kinds of movements I had the most problems with. He then told me I had tendinitis and bursitis in my hip.

Now I feel about a hundred years old. It isn't only the diagnosis (which I've never heard anyone except my grandmother mention); it's that I can't sit down or stand up without feeling like someone is twisting a knife in my leg, and I had hoped to be going to the gym over the next month to get in better shape before my trip. My doctor shot me up with steroids and other anti-inflammatories, along with pain meds and muscle relaxants. He said it could take weeks or months for me to fully recover from this, but that it should be at least a little bit better by the end of this week. In the meantime, I'm not supposed to do anything that keeps my hips from being at an even height, or that pulls or puts pressure on my hip. Isn't that everything? Oy.

Sometimes my body feels worn down and I need to lie on the sofa for a day to regroup. I'm into day two of doing nothing and there will probably be a day three. TV is boring and I've finished my library books. I do have some other books to read, but they're the kind you have to actually pay attention to, and the meds aren't conducive to paying attention. On the plus side -- which I always like to find, and is admittedly less apparent some times than others -- I am about half finished a croceted afghan I'm making for my son for Christmas. But it's eighty-five degrees today, and I think my air conditioning and the heating pad are canceling each other out; having a wool blanket on my lap as I work isn't helping. Okay, I think I've used up all of my allotment of complaining for awhile. Another plus I will take advantage of during my layabout is time to come up with a good topic for tomorrow.