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Week in Boston

I haven't posted in a week because I was at my youth groups international convention in Boston! It was an amazing week, and makes me sad I am a senior, so this one was my last.

My health did make being functional a bit harder and slightly less possible than when I went to last year's. Mind you last year I was just about seven weeks post op from knee surgery and had only been totally off crutches for a week. I even had to use one crutch for a day because whenever I got shoved my knee would give out.

This year while I didn't have to worry as much about my knee specifically, as since the euflexxa it is one of my better joints, I had a lot of other things to worry about. My first issue with any trip I have taken (even overnight ones) is packing, because my hips hate bending. I found the solution was to put my suitcase on my bed (such a no brainer I feel stupid for not thing of it sooner.

The bus ride was four hours of sitting, not something I can do easily, but I was able to get my own seat so I could move around and not get stiff. I also used heat on all my joints after the bus ride (actually almost every night I used heat), my heat pad was my savior. I also brought two ice things, one gel ice pack that I can strap and velcro to any joint, but could only use half the time since I only had a freezer for part of the trip. I also brought one of those blue ice bags, like the ones you see on TV shows or in cartoons. I am not usually a big fan of this but it was a life savior during the trip as it did not require the fore thought of putting into a freezer.

Medication was also annoying since I was not always able to go back to my room to get it before meals, and breakfast tended to be a couple hours after waking up. My conclusion was I need a pill box(I feel like an old woman just typing it). Any ideas on where I can get one that doesn't look AARP issued? I also started eating snacks after I got up to take my medicine with.

The biggest issue was the weather. I only had two really bad days, one was when it was pouring and the other was when it was snowing. All I could do was take Tylenol to take the edge off for a few hours, however it only provided slight relieve and would not last until I could take another dose. If I had been home on either of these days I would probably have spent mos of the day in bed, but it was not an option.

Overall I had an amazing time and try not to let my joints get in the way of my life.

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