Piriformis and TMD

Alright
So. As off now my body hates me. I don't think I ever fully explained my TMD stuff and what I did to fix it. Long story short the cartilage that softens my jaw joint ran away. This causes all of my muscles in my jaw, head, and neck to be crazy tense in order to keep the bones from rubbing and makes it hurt in many other ways. I couldn't open my  mouth wider than two fingers for a while which made eating difficult, let alone the shooting nerve pains when I opened my mouth wrong! It also gave me headaches and extremely tense shoulders. I still get them but it's not as chronic. I saw a few docs, got a night guard made and went on my way. I ended up seeing Dr Mark Tasaki a TMD specialist. TMJ = Temporomandibular joint and TMD = Temporomandibular joint Disorder. He fixed up my night guard many times to make it just right and used an infrared laser on many of the knots in my neck and shoulders to help it all heal. My jaw is working on replacing the cartilage with scar tissue so that everything can relax. It's gotten much better and less chronic but still hurts when it chooses to. Like right now. It's under control and when it becomes chronic I can go back to the Doc but now we're on an as needed basis. Woo hoo.

See that little purple disc? That's what has slipped away.

Pain Areas for TMD


This is all old news that I never bothered to talk about. Now onto the new problems! Apparently since I got the TMD under control, my other muscles felt the need to join in on the fun. "Why let the shoulders/head/jaw muscles have all the fun?" they said, "Let's make her hurt from the lower back down! That'll be new and exciting!" And so my piriformis joined in on the fun. Well, that's the impression I'm under right now. I finally see a doctor tomorrow. For a couple day I was fighting chronic sciatica (aka sciatic nerve pain) that would go from extreme to tolerable at it's own will. It seemed like it wouldn't go away and it was very painful so I called the dr. I couldn't get an appointment until Feb 7th, this was almost 3 weeks ago. That's military healthcare for you. So anyway, last Saturday (not yesterday) I went into urgent care because it gets excruciating and I didn't want to wait another week. What if it was something that needed to be fixed asap? Well they took me in, gave me Naproxen and took XRays. The XRays turned out to be clear (I had to call to get the results) and my hands and feet swelled after taking the Naproxen. They're still a little weird feeling now and it's been almost a week since I stopped taking it. I called and told them and they called and left a message to not take them and to call a dr to get a new prescription. I called and left a message with the nurse explaining that situation and wanting my xray results. They called and left a message saying it was clear and I could just take aspirin.

How helpful. If Aspirin helped, I'm pretty sure I would have been able to wait till my appt. Driving was excruciating. To the T. After 50 mins I was nearly in tears and often screamed. Work wasn't too bad, it's the prolonged sitting that was the worst. I'm waiting for my appt now. I went to a massage therapist. My friend's neighbor is one and she offered a free session. It actually helped a lot. It still hurts often but she  moved or adjusted one of the MANY knots I have and it turns out I can drive now. It got to the point that I had to ask John to get gas when he got home from a very long day because I couldn't be in that car longer than I had to be. It was awful. I'm going to try to set up more sessions with her, but it all depends on time and money. So far she's been more helpful than the Navy.

Oh right, the cause. Well since the Xrays are clear, my guess (since they never bothered to tell me) is that it's the aforementioned Piriformis. The Urgent Care doc suggested that it probably was, but took the XRays just in case. My assumption is that the XRays proved it wasn't a hernia, slipped disc, tumor, or any other thing that would be out of place or unwelcome and pinching my nerve. Piriformis is a muscle in the butt. I guess the sciatic nerve can weave through/around it a certain way so that when that muscle inflames for some odd reason, it agitates the sciatic nerve. It's not fun when the Sciatic nerve is pissy. It hurts from the lower back all the way down to the foot. Mine is bad in the lower back, worse in the butt, painful down the entire left leg during the worst of times and painful down a portion of the right leg. It's.... unpleasant. I worked on Friday and it hurt a lot. I kept from carrying a lot and had to walk really slow. I hate it.

Pain areas for Piriformis. Though mine is also in the lower back and a bit of the right butt


It's a pain in the ass. Literally! Hah. I hate feeling like a sissy. I always liked being the one that could life things and would do everything if possible. In work that is, we all know I'm no crazy adventurer. Now I feel like a wimp who tries to get everyone to do work for me. I try not to though. I just try to avoid some of the heavier things. It can hurt so bad though. As of now it just looks like I'm in for a lot of physical therapy.

Also, you can't ask how it happened. I have absolutely no clue. I have no recollection of ever hurting my bum. I'm told that it could inflame at the slightest of things though. That's why I believe that it just wanted to join in on all the fun my top part is having.

I'm pretty deflated from all this though. I already have a chronic muscle tension problem that basically requires lifelong care or else it could get much much worse. I don't want another.

Moving

Alright, what's next? Let's go with moving cause that can be a small one.
We're officially moving on Feb 18/19/20. We were supposed go on March 1 but that wasn't working out with the Navy's plans so now it's in a week and 3 days. We're only going a few miles east and even staying in Aiea. Watch out for your letters and packages though! I'll have to e-mail out the new address or you can e-mail me. I'm not too keen on posting it in a public forum.

We're moving for a few reasons. The people in charge of this place are insane. They harrassed my neighbors so bad they broke their lease and moved out within months. They blame various ridiculous things on people simply because the old crogie board members claimed that person did it. The rules are so abnormal I'm afraid to put christmas lights out on the lanai in fear of a stupid fine. Every other month or so they send out a letter to EVERYONE IN THE COMPLEX saying there is oil on their parking stall and it must be cleaned or you'll get a fine. Basically extorting everyone. I'm leaking coolant slowly, but no oil. My friend has a BRAND NEW car and it sure as heck isn't leaking oil especially since we've both cleaned out stalls after the first warning and neither cars have leaked since yet strangely the warning has come again. It's ridiculous and we're fully annoyed with it.

Anyways, I have a friend living in one of the Navy Base Housing units. Unlike all the others this one doesn't use up all the BAH (Basic Housing Allowance) that the Military gives. If you live in base housing they bypass giving you the BAH entirely and you just get the house. This one is considered substandard, but it suits our desires so we don't have a problem with it; however since it's considered "substandard" they have it at a flat rate of $1700 including utilities, woo hoo! That's cheaper than what we pay now and we pay all utilities except water. It's very exciting. It's two bedroom instead of three, but two stories. It's a townhouse, basically and it has a yard and a parking spot with an area for 2nd parking spots (just not reserved). There's a DISHWASHER, washer and dryer in a separate room (Cat ROOM!!), and a GAS stove! Woo hoo! I'm very excited. There's no carpeting so it seems rather cold and emotionless, but that's what decorating and rugs are for so I can cheer it up. There is also a ton of storage space. There's an outdoor storage section, shelves in nearly all the walls, a ginormous walk in closet that people often use as a nursery, and a big storage closet under the stairs. It's pretty exciting. I'm often feeling as though I could use more storage.

So anyway, we are moving in two weekends. Fun fun.

Sea Life Park Internship

Well. Life has been crazy. Ever since the internship started I've been too busy or much too tired to post anything other than mindless facebook whines. Thinking in full sentences seemed just too much work. I'm certain the grandparents are rather annoyed that they haven't received an e-mail. I got two very important e-mails from friends on my first day and it took me two weeks to respond! I thought about them every day but pretty much fell asleep the moment I got home every night. Eventually I forced myself to form coherent sentences early in the morning so that my bad-friend-ness would be put to an end.

But, anyway, however exhausting and time consuming it is I love my internship. The hours are either 6-2:30 (or 4:30/5 if I'm feeling kind and well, incredibly needed) or 8-5.
My main duties are the following:
** Getting two rounds of coolers of fish from the fish house. You'll get a lengthy explanation about the fish house further down. This consists of approximately hmm... 3 Dolphins, 3 Sea Lions in one area, 3 penguins, 5 Sea Lions in the other area, and 4 monk seals. 3 Dolphins get 8 coolers. The 8 Sea Lions get 14 coolers. Penguins get one and MSeals get 7. That's 30 coolers total. Now I know. Back to the duties... Oops missed two sea lions for interaction so add 4 coolers. 34!
** Prepping the fish for morning feeds, shows (prior to the shows only), and other feeding times. This requires getting the ice out, putting the fish in different containers for the shows, and cutting them up if need be. Also pouring out any juice made from the ice and fish throughout the day.
** Getting hydration tubes ready, and assisting in this process. Basically the dolphins get water from fish, frozen fish lose water percentage so therefore we hydrate them to keep them healthy and strong.
** Washing surfaces before this is all done
** Changing out chlorine in the foot baths and sponge holders
** Learning sound for 3 different shows. I have two down but need to memorize something before I do the third
** Memorizing the monk seal lecture, the Sea Lion show narration, and learning the 80's show narration
** Assisting with the four shows we do every day, sometimes 5
** Helping count the respirations of the dolphins to make sure there are no problems (I like this. You get to sit and watch the dolphins for 5 min each. It's peaceful unless they're being brats and you have to start over)
** Cleaning all the coolers once their done. Cleaning buckets once they're done
** Weighing out food portions for one of the dolphins and cleaning out the bucket used to measure and the extra cooler for that fish
** Cutting up herring
** Getting refills of supplies
** Taking care that the fish remain in healthy sanitary conditions
** Cleaning the pouches and tupperware from the shows
** Cleaning the tubes and such from hydrations
** Cleaning whatever needs to be cleaned and might have scales all over it

I'm certain I do even more but I can't always think straight. I'm usually very busy, but the days when there are a lot of interns gets slow in the morning since we all pitch it.

Fish house is where you sort fish. This is where I go on the days when I have to be there at 6 am. I go in and help sort the good capelin (and eventually herring, squid, and smelt) from the ripped up and potenially bad capein. They can be scraped but if they're female (eggs get messy throughout the day), soft bellied that will pop during the day, or mauled they can get bacteria in them easily and possibly make the animals sick so we sort out the bad fish. This takes 3-4 hours. Other people then weigh out all the fish according to the diet of each animal and puts the fish into the animal's specific cooler. After everything is done we completely scrub down both rooms and then chlorinate the entire area. It's as sanitized as humanly possible. We then get breakfast for 20-30 min while the chlorine takes effect. Once breakfast is over all that's left to do is take the fish for the next day out of the freezer and into the refrigerated fish house to thaw over night for the next day. I'd say this takes about 30 min. We then look over both rooms for missed fish scales and head off to our different sections of the park. Lately we've been getting out around 11.

If you work fish house you're allowed to leave at 230. I've stayed twice on Tuesdays until 4:30 because Azu, one of the head trainers, has been understaffed and seemed absolutely stressed out. I couldn't just leave her when I didn't have anywhere to be so I stayed to help out. Long days but when someone is obviously stressed out, I have to do my best to help out if possible!

Sooo that's my job. In addition to the 4 or 5 shows we have 2 interactions a day. We don't always have people for them so we sometimes have extra time, but that's what's schedule. I'm supposed to also learn the correct way to pick the guests up, tell them safety concerns, and get them prepared for the interaction. I'll also be able to go into the water with them and pet said sea lion.

Throughout the day I'm sometimes asked to help with husbandry of the animal. This happened the other day with Moopuna, one of our interaction Sea Lions. I helped her get prepared for a vet visit so that she wouldn't be bothered by whatever the vet was going to do. Just a routine check up of course. It's very interesting to take part in such things. I was also given the chance to throw miss Puna some Capelin afterwards which was fun! Yay Sea Lions! So far I've gotten the opportunity to pet sea lions and dolphins and feed both as well. It's very exciting.

Hopefully I'll be able to post more often. Things are about to get crazy again though and you'll see why in a post I'm about to write! Lol so it also might mean you've already read it. Who knows?

I love my internship though. It's pretty fabulous. I'm not looking forward to the public speaking portion though. Eek!


Oh, P.S. My commute is 50 min so I generally leave the house at 7 and get home by 6 or 5 and 330/530. It's unpleasant