And the verdict is...

I'm restricted to bed/couch rest until surgery, probably this coming Wednesday.... I'm walking steady with the assistance of a cane. The good news is that this has absolutely nothing to do with MS. Amazing, huh? I've always been a fan of a good piece of irony, and this is ranking right up there! My doc kept telling me he was sorry for my pain....telling me he wished he could fit me in sooner but his schedule was already packed. Still, I'm writing this while waiting for his surgical nurse to call to fill me in on instructions and the exact day/time.

I'm actually taking this as a blessing in disguise... this explains a lot of my leg/hip pain going on for a while. I'm looking forward to getting back to a more active lifestyle... A friend called me last night and actually went through the exact same procedure and gave me lots of good info!! And she told me I could harass her as much as I wanted... I plan on taking her up on that throughout the weekend.

They went ahead and drew the blood at the doc's office yesterday so I wouldn't have to go back to the hospital again before the procedure. I'm not supposed to be in a car for more than 20-30 minutes, if at all, and that has to continue until 3-4 weeks after the surgery! That's the biggest, messed up thing about this all is that I now can't travel up to North Texas for Thanksgiving because it's just over a 4 hour drive up to my big brother's. I am soooooo freakin' upset that I can't be there surrounded by both my big brothers and the 6 very rambunctious, hyper, totally awesome niece and nephews!!! It was going to be total chaos and I was going to love every minute of it!!!

Course, it was also going to be the first opportunity I had to cuddle and smooch all over my new nephew!! Now, I won't be able to hold him for at least 6-8 months - UGHHHHH!!!! My brother did tell me they would be down to the Texas South right before Christmas and would let me have all the nephew time I needed!!

And, yes, I do have the latest installment of my puppies to bore you with... It's a great illustration of the happy dance I will be doing post-surgery, after a recovery period... but I promise I won't post the video of me doing it... (unless it's really goooooood!)

Here's to the happy things in life!!