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Jan 25, 2014

Girl's Day Out, More Fog- Will It Ever End? How To Avoid Foot Surgery!

Little Blackie scanning the backyard

Girl's Day Out-
With the cold weather sometimes I don't let the girls out for some free ranging. With the snow melted, I left them out today! They had a blast digging thru the leaves and looking for yummies-

Ellie walking along the raised beds, asleep for the winter

Two heads are better than one!

My daughter's metal yard sculpture she made us in college, all recycled metals welded

What is that?

Little Blackie posing

More Fog- Will It Ever End?
Two weeks of this and I'm ready to move. Staying in the 20's, and the one local weather man says this is the worst inversion he's ever seen. He's lived here for 20+ years! Can someone just turn on a giant fan and blow this crap out??? Fog, cold, damp. No blue sky. This is my life. Snow already or something! I'm going to make some hot cider.

This is my gray life, sigh, mid afternoon... truly "dark days"...

Last summer, Anya hanging out on my wheelie cart


How To Avoid Foot Surgery!
Last spring when I was getting ready to set up my summer surgery on my left foot, I was told I also have 3 round calcifications in my right Achilles tendon. It showed up on an Xray. After limping off my left foot so long, it probably stressed it, or at least didn't help. After having my much need 1 1/2" bone spur removed from my left tendon, I thought about getting it fixed. My foot doctor (of course) pushed another surgery for the right foot. Another summer would be shot, more expense and pain. And I would have to wait for summer.

 I limped into the new school year last August. I got my lower back working again, after listing to the side  for over 1 year. I asked my PT person, listed as one of the top ten in the country (somewhere) what she thought could be done. She started poking around, and I about came off the table. She did some deep pressure on it, as I could tolerate. After three more sessions she could put quite a bit of pressure on it, with much less pain. This winter I had sciatica, did an aggressive approach and went straight to a new person, who's a Chiropractor AND and excellent acupuncturist. My insurance would cover the acupuncture through her. After getting my back situation situated (only 3 sessions!) I asked her to work on both my feet. The left foot was healed but had a little residual swelling, the right foot swelling and some pain. She did 3 sessions, and a red lamp that's good for inflammation. Result? Yesterday, for the first time in 1 1/2 years I was able to wear my Danskos to work with no OTC anti-inflamms! Victory! I have very little pain, and good range of motion. ALWAYS check out alternatives, and ask around. I never thought deep tissue work would loosen things up, and the acupuncture helped too. Maybe over time we can get them to dissolve. If not at least I can live with them. Now I have floaters in both eyes. More about that another time!




*** Yes, I fixed my watermark :)



7 comments:

Endah Murniyati said...

Nice chickens, cute cat!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Hang in there. We are having the worst winter here - frigid temps and frozen pipes, and now more snow. No blue sky here today either. I don't let my chickens out when it's very cold either (risk of freezing their little toes).

Harry Flashman said...

I like your black and white chicken. I don't have any that color. I have roughly 50 chickens that free range, but the single digit and below zero weather has killed a handful of the older ones.

Unknown said...

Thanks. Kristine, their whole back garden area is covered with dry leave so they do pretty well. I choose chickens that are pretty heat and cold tolerant. Managing a little flock like mine is easy-right in the backyard. They also spend a lot of time in their "sunroom"...

Susan said...

The lack of sunshine this winter has gotten to me, too. My hens would love to see the ground, but I am afraid that won't happen for another six months (or so it seems). I am thinking of adding a sunroom to their coop, too. I like that idea. Hope your fog blows away soon.

Unknown said...

Yes, the sunroom is a great idea, and the for should lift later this week.

Unknown said...

The photos look great, Nancy. The hens all look well raised. You're doing a great job taking care of them. Hahaha! Anyway, I hope your left foot is feeling much better these days. You're definitely right about checking out alternatives before settling into one decision. I'm just glad the acupuncture helped your left foot feel better. Take care! :)

Hannah Holland @ Berkeley Community Acupuncture

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