Hip New Doctor

Or.... New Hip Doctor.





So as you all know I have my hip problems. At last year's appointment my doctor pretty much told me to go on with life until I needed a hip replacement. It wasn't very helpful. I was so disappointed. He also told me to get my right knee checked out as he was pretty sure that was what was causing my continued hip pain. Well, after my knee is all said and done the hip has still been bothering me.





I have recently resigned to the fact that I will always limp and I will always be handicapped. That was a big step for me. It is hard for someone to admit that they will never lead a "normal" life. For me it was watching my sister's wedding video. It was so hard to watch. After that I just lost it!!! I sobbed uncontrollably for probably 20 minutes. Poor Josh didn't quite know what to do. However, at that point I accepted that I have to live with the body that I have got and there really isn't anything that we can do about it.





So this summer the left side of my lower half has started to bother me. So after talking to my wonderful therapist Marc we decided that it would be a good call to have Dr. Graf check out my knee and to visit the doctor that my hip surgeon referred me to keep an eye on the hips. As all doctor's in the UW system it takes about 2 months to get in when you are a new patient. So my wait was finally up last week.





I went to my appointment with Dr Illgen not quite knowing what to expect. In all honesty I was expecting the same brush off that I got from my surgeon. I was just going to be happy with someone looking at my left side and telling me not to worry or see you in a year. I was surprisingly mistaken. I LOVE DR ILLGEN!!!! If I weren't happily married I would marry him! The whole demeanor of my appointment was relaxed and studious. There was no abrupt decisions or shock factor. The Dr spent most of the time studying every x-ray that I have had taken over the past 2 years and watching the evolution of my hip joint. He didn't neglect my feelings. He was straight but gentle with me about my hip. He told me that within the next several years that I would need a hip replacement. My right hip has degraded so much even in the last year. He wants to watch my hip very carefully and make smart moves. Because I am so young I have a lot of time ahead of me (so I hope) so the plan has to be laid carefully. We talked about how to include a family in this and different steps depending on how things go. I walked out of that appointment feeling better than I have in a long time.





The first time I walked out of Dr. Mann's office I cried! This time I cried too but, for joy! For finding someone that I loved so much that can help me along this crazy path that I have been on. Someone to validate what I was feeling. I never knew that I needed that validation until last Friday. Until Dr Illgen told me that "If he had to live with a hip like mine he would cry everyday." What kind of Dr tells you that? A compassionate one. One who wants to help. One that you can truly believe in.

California Day 4

Our fourth day in California was my favorite day there. I would have to say it was they day I was looking forward to the most. We took the last day as a sightseeing day for just Josh and I. That was the best decision about the trip that we ever made. Friday morning we left our sketchy seaside resort and headed back to San Francisco. Along the way there were many neat things to see. Although we traveled the same highway it was earlier in the day and we missed all the excitement along the way.

Below is a picture of one of the MANY farm fields we passed along the way. It isn't all that clear but the fields were FULL of migrant workers. There was field after field of them picking produce.




After we made it to San Fran and checked into our hotel we decided to try out the 49 mile drive. This is a drive that was set up by the tourism department to help get people to come and see the city. The route starts in the center of the city and weaves through places like Chinatown, Japantown, the financial district and then heads out to Fisherman's Warf, the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge (which we did not see due to fog). Below are some pictures along the way.

One of the many famous landmarks in San Francisco is Lombard street. It is a street that had to switchback to accomidate for the very steep grade of the hill. You may have seen it in movies and Grand Theft Auto. Here was our view:

We had to stop at Fisherman's Warf. This area is a tourist trap!!! I think that parking was $6/half hour. We stopped just to say that we were there and to catch a picture. There is a Ghiradelli Square there but we didn't see it until we got back into the car. Apparently there is cheap broken chocolate available there.

Here is the biggest highway that we drove on. There are 12 lanes (6 per side) It was crazy!


Finally, here is a picture of the fog rolling in. It was amazing how the fog sucked in the the mountains and then they would be gone. We had never experienced anything like it!

Sorry that it took so long to get this all posted. But that was our trip!

California Day 3

There is not a lot of good things to say about our day 3 in California. I was hungover as all hell and we visited the same damn beach as we did the day before. I was really wanting to see the Hearst Castle but that didn't happen. I didn't get to eat any seafood because I couldn't stomach it and Josh tried Thresher Shark. This is a view from our hotel room that night. As you see we are RIGHT on the ocean. The hotel was an old beach inn. It was kind of sketchy.
We went to a farmer's market in a nearby town for dinner and sightseeing. There was a ton of fresh produce. I had the BEST clam chowder I have ever had in a yummy garlic bread bowl. Other than that not much to report. We fell asleep to barking sea lions and crashing waves. That was the best part of this day.

California Day 2

On our second day in California we visited Morro Bay. This is a very interesting beach on the central coast of California. We drove a very windy hilly road to get from the hotel in Atascadero to get to the ocean. Once you got to the coast there was a considerable drop in temperature. Below is a picture of the famous "morro rock" This rock was formed 23 million years ago from plugs of 2 extinct volcanoes. This rock is closed to any climbing or disturbances like mining to preserve it's beauty.



While we were there I stuck my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life. The water was VERY cold. I would guess the temperature at ~50 degrees F. There was a surfing class going on at the time of our visit and all of the kids had dry suits on to protect them from the water temperature. On this beach we found several neat shells and even a sand dollar.



While that side of the rock was beachy and smooth the opposite side of the rock was rocky. I
chose not to climb the rocks, Josh and his family climbed all over and saw several neat things including sea lions and starfish. We have a really neat picture of this area that we put in black and white and are going to frame and put above our couch in our living room. Grandma Flossie and I sitting on a bench while Josh and the family climbed on the rock ledge I got FRIED while sitting there.

After our adventure at Morro Bay we headed to Pismo Beach to the resort where the wedding was happening. We ate fish and chips at a little outdoor place called Brad's. The food was great even though we were harassed by pigeons the whole time. After lunch it was time to head to the resort to check in and get ready for the wedding. Just an FYI for anyone who travels to California, beach resorts do NOT have air conditioning!!! So if you are hot and sunburned a cold shower is your only bet to cooling off. The ceremony began at 6:30. It was short and sweet. It was a very God centered ceremony. Much of what you would expect from Josh's family. Here are some pictures from the ceremony.

Instead of the traditional unity candle Ben and Jenelle mixed sand from California and soil from Wisconsin to signify their union. That was a really neat idea. I was surprised that they were able to get the soil from Wisconsin to California and back.

The dinner was exceptional. The food was great and the drinks were strong. We had an overall good time. There were about 45 people there total. There was just food, cake and fellowship. What wedding wouldn't be complete without cake smashing, so here is your picture.



The day went by quickly and I ended up pretty drunk on tequila and our complimentary bottle of wine.

California Day 1

We arrived in not so sunny San Francisco, California on Tuesday, July 11th at approximately 1:45 pm. The flight was early arriving so we were excited to have the extra time. We were going to miss the rehearsal because of our flight but were early enough to give us a little wiggle room before dinner. We were looking forward to being able to check into our hotel and freshen up a little bit after a long plane ride and a 3 1/2 hr car ride. Now those baseball fans would know that July 11th was the day of the All Star game in San Francisco. When we arrived at the rental car counter they were out of compact cars and wanted to give us a minivan. I refused to drive a minivan. I told the gentleman at the counter such a vehicle. He had to "search" the system. We walked away from the counter why he searched. I was called back to the counter and offered a Pacifica. I refused that as well because that is pretty much the same thing as a minivan in my mind. Finally we were offered a Chrysler 300 for the same price as the compact car. Finally 1/2 hr later we were finally on the road.


The ride to Atascadero was very interesting. There were a lot of really neat things to see. The one thing that I noticed how brown the landscape was. We saw green only when we passed farm fields and vineyards. We have never driven in or near mountains before. The miles and miles of grapevines that we saw was staggering.

More Grapevines with mountains in the background.

Another thing that we had never seen before was an oil refinery with oil drills. Dotted along the mountains and road side were small oil drills.

One of the last interesting things that we saw was the sign posted below:

We found out later that evening that there was either a prison or mental institution near by. In the background of this picture is a bell. These bells were along the highway about 1 hour apart. They were mission bells commemorating all of the missions in that area.

We arrived in Atascadero just in time for the rehearsal dinner. We enjoyed a pizza at the restaurant that Jenelle, (Ben's now wife) ran previously. It was a nice little place and the pizza was good. The cake we enjoyed that night was from the Madonna Inn. Check out the link it is a VERY unique place their guest rooms are very interesting. The cake was FABULOUS!!

We returned to the hotel to check in around 9 pm and turned in for the night exhausted!