Shoulder Diagnosis

Parsonage Turner Syndrome

I am SO HAPPY to have a diagnosis!! I just left my orthopedic surgeon's office. Here is my interpretation of his doctor mumbo jumbo:

Rare, special people are blessed with the rare occurence of inflamed nerves in their shoulder. This is known as Parsonage Turner Syndrome. I am one of those people - but instead of having some unknown reason for the inflammation, my inflammation is caused by pregnancy hormones. Aren't children wonderful?! Some people have it MUCH worse than me - even paralysis in the affected arm.

With my first pregnancy, the nerve ended up damaged and the muscles were so weak that it would have taken a VERY long time to heal on its own. I had muscle weakness and decreased range of motion. Thus I had surgery to relieve my pinched suprascapular nerve. The nerve runs through this "hole" on the top of your shoulder blade:

Or so I think - this is part doctor and part google talking
That portion on top of the hole is a ligament in most people. In 3% of people (including me!) it has turned to bone. That portion on top was REMOVED one year ago.

Essentially, this time, the nerve(s) are inflammed and I'm in pain, but with that ligament removed, the damage and atrophy should not be as bad. This time, I should feel better after pregnancy hormones are gone. This time, if I don't feel better after giving birth, surgery isn't the solution - they've removed what they can!

The surgeon recommended that I have a steroid injection in my shoulder. I'm waiting on my OB to approve this. I'll see the surgeon again 6 weeks thereafter. In the meantime, I'm supposed to watch what I lift because the steroid will make me feel better than I really am!

Now that I'm out of the surgeon's office, other questions are coming to mind. Will this pain continue while I'm breastfeeding? (If so, that would be terrible - I couldn't breastfeed in bed with Grant because of the shoulder pain and I was looking forward to it this time around.) Will I/Can I continue steroid injections until these hormones and pain are gone? And most importantly, if I get steroid injections in my arm, will I end up looking like this?! Clearly I've been watching too much Jersey Shore.

26 weeks

In a matter of minutes, I will be 26 weeks along. This pregnancy is still a lot like Grant's. I'm bigger tho and craving more sweets. I'm sure those 2 things are unrelated.

Derek got a shot of my profile while me and Grant took a dip in the pool. Please ignore the skinny-dipping boy. (Sidenote - He managed to poop in the 20 minutes or so that he had on a diaper between skinny-dipping and bath time. I was so happy he didn't poop in the water!)

My shoulder is hurting quite a bit, the same way it did when I was pregnant with Grant. I have seen the orthopedic surgeon and a diagnostic doc. I go back to see the surgeon this week, so hopefully I will have some info on minimizing pain. They really don't like to do anything with us pregnant chicks though, so I'm not expecting much. I spent a good portion of today laying in bed, which helps my shoulder. I also swam a few laps in the pool, which I remember the surgeon recommending last time around.

I've gained at least 15 pounds. Maybe I'll weigh myself and update this.

I'm starting to look at our "to do" list before baby arrives, and I'm not sure we can get it done in 3 months. In a perfect world, I'd also finish my Christmas shopping before Baby Girl Hicks arrives. We'll see how that goes!

Weekend wrap up

On Friday night, we (Derek) invited ourselves over to my cousins', Matt and Julie's, house for poker, Rounders, baseball and beer. Years and years ago, I never will forget, we used to live in the same apartment complex as Matt and Julie and the above combination was AT LEAST a weekly occurrence. They were amazed that we just lay Grant down and he goes to sleep. While we were there, I went ahead and invited ourselves over for next week.

Saturday we had some donuts and played in the morning. Grant went down for his nap and Derek and I got out dueling laptops for his second (and my first and only) fantasy football draft of the season. Immediately after, he left for Big Dave's for Draft #3. I stayed home to make sure Grant got a good nap and good lunch!

Derek had T-shirts made a few weeks ago that say "Grantler". We ordered a 3T for Grant so he could wear it a long time. It is a little big.


After the draft, Susie and Kelsey came over to watch Grant. Derek and I joined some friends at Top Golf. We had a great time and were home and in bed by 10pm. That's what I call a good night!! Grant's appetite is definitely back in full force - he ate a grilled cheese sandwich and almost half a cantalope for dinner!!

Today has been a lazy Sunday. I had to do some CLEs, so I used the time to catch up on my blog (there are several back-dated new posts!). Kyle visited briefly, and we got in the pool for a little bit too. It was nice to just pull dinner out of the freezer and pop it in the oven.

Grant seems to be teething. We give him a frozen teether, and when it's not cold anymore, he walks to the fridge and points to it, indicating he wants another teether. And a low grade fever also appeared this evening. Great. I'm hoping "Fever Sunday" isn't Grant's idea of a fun Sunday.

Grant has been pointing to body parts. He knows his belly button, toes and nose. He can sign "eat" now, which he will usually do on the way to the dinner table. He's a little confused with the word "baby". I always point to my belly, so he points to his too.

Grant videos

A few videos of my boy talking:
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I have no idea why he whispers "bye bye" but he does it most of the time!

He has gotten much better at saying Bubble since this was filmed!

30 before 30 update

Here's a quick update on my progress on my 30 17 before 30 list (which is now 12 before 30):

1. Chop it off!!

2. Finish 2 stockings (Derek's and baby's) - I need to add Derek's name and the back of his stocking. I have purchased Baby Hicks's stocking and it only has 75 steps. But I really think I need to add another snowman to my stocking.

3. Organize the office weekly - Whoopsie!

4. Go camping - Fall 2011

5. Go to church once a month - Again - whoopsie!!

6. Teach Grant the Lord's prayer

7. Take a family vacation - Miami!

8. Finish our Italy scrapbook

9. Make photo albums (or photobooks) every other month

10. Have a spa day with the girls

11. Go to work without makeup
I'm working on this. I'm now regularly going with only powder and mascara.

12. Plant a garden

13. Make a blog book - My pregnancy book is great and Grant's book arrives on Saturday! Have I mentioned how much I love FedEx tracking?

14. Get a new fence Does it count as done if we're still fighting over the bill?! I would NOT recommend Condor Fencing.

15. Take 1 day off of work

16. Get a great pair of red heels
Today, I got an email reminder from DSW telling me I NEEDED to use the $5 birthday gift card. I had another gift card from some shoes I returned previously, so I ventured over at lunch. After thoroughly reviewing the sale rack, I moved into the full price arena. And then I heard it.

Angels were singing. The heavens were parting. I followed the light and found these! Full price, yes, but they called to me. IN MY SIZE! I wound up out of pocket $13. I'm itching to pair these with a regular boring suit.

17. Take a hand-made sign to a sporting event

Sick boy

Grant was sick last week. He was sent home from daycare on Monday after he had 3...umm... dirty diapers before 9 a.m. He had a stomach bug, but never acted sick. His appetite was really off the entire week but he played like a champ.

I stayed home with him last Monday - I caught him being "sneaky" with some leftover yogurt. He liked reaching something that was supposed to be off limits.

He now knows the word "monkey" - when you ask him where the monkeys are, he wants both sock monkeys from his crib and his big monkey that Santa brought him.

His favorite activities over the past few weeks have been playing ball with Lola, playing with lightswitches and banging the drop down portion of his crib. He knows he's not supposed to bang the furniture, and I swear, every time he's just testing his limits.


After he recovered from that stomach bug, we had 1 good weekend day. We played at the park!


I just love those BLUE eyes!

Grant had a fever of 100.3 on Sunday. Even after Tylenol and IB Profin, he still had a fever. Of course, this carried over to Monday, so Derek took him to the doc. He was diagnosed with an ear infection. It's his first. For an almost 15 month old daycare baby, I think that is really good! After 2 days of medicine, he was better and returned to daycare. I think he liked staying home with Daddy.

He was feeling better on Wednesday, which was good. Derek had a fantasy football draft that evening. While he was at the draft, several of us girls got together for a potluck. My contribution was brownies and ice cream. Grant waited patiently while Derek picked up the ice cream for us.

*Sigh* Adorable!

Weekend fun

A quick weekend wrap up:

Friday - we grabbed a burger with the Dacuses then came home and played Quirkle for the first time while watching Jersey Shore. I had seen pieces of the show before (probably on Chelsea Lately) but never a whole show - I understand now how it sucks you in!

Saturday - RAIN!!! I could hear it raining as soon as I woke up. I hoped it would last long enough for Grant to play in once he woke up, and I lucked out.

After a "big house breakfast", the boys went to visit Derek's parents. They saw the animals and drove up to Grant, Oklahoma. I'll update later with photos when I am able to steal Derek's phone.

While they were out and about, I worked on blog books. I am adding in photos (including a ton that Jesse took) as I go along, so it's taking a while! I finished and ordered my Pregnancy Blog Book (Sept. 09 - May 10), and I'm about halfway done with Grant's first year! I'm actually at the point where I switched my blog to a wider format and started using photobucket. This apparently creates some problems, so I'll be working through that over the next few days. If I can't come up with an easy method, I'll be switching back to smaller photos and abandoning photobucket.

After dinner, Grant had a cupcake (and a bath).

Sunday - In the morning we played in the pool. We tried out the puddle jumper after my cousin Mary raved about it. Review: This will probably be better next summer. Grant still face planted in it.



Grant took a short nap in the morning, then barely ate! He normally eats at least this much (and then asks for "moh")

so when he only ate a few grapes, yogurt, no strawberries and no oranges, I knew we were in trouble. Sure enough, about 30 minutes later, he threw up. He never ran a fever and played all day just fine. He got a little bit of an appetite again at dinner (but who could possibly refuse PW's Chicken Spaghetti?!). He also woke up crying at 11:30pm. He let me rock him, read to him in the dark and even sing This Old Man. He let me get all the way to 10 and I remembered not that long ago, 10 wasn't enough!

I'll definitely call and check on him at day care today. Update - at 8am, daycare called saying Grant has diarrhea. Update - at 9am, Grant had 3 diarrhea diapers, so he came home with me. He had a low fever (99.2) at the doctor's office, where they said it's a virus that will just run its course.

All in all, a good weekend. Nothing too exciting but my favorite type of weekend!

Games people play

Derek and I have a game that we play. The new Texas license plates are being issued in alphabetical order - AA-AZ then BA-BZ, etc. So we are always on the lookout to find the newest plate. Derek is ahead with CY9 right now.

I love this game. It usually consists of iPhone photos back and forth to each other with only a subject line ("FACE" or "DOMINATING" are the most common). I also love that any time I'm on the road, I'm thinking of my love and wanting to demolish him in our game wanting to show him how much I love him and think of him throughout the day.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today was my first annual 29th birthday party! We had friends over for some fun pool time and fajitas. I did a horrible job of taking photos. This is what I've got:

That's Rach playing with Grant and our new misting system in action.

Our "new" backyard is GREAT! Derek worked hard on Saturday to install a misting system. Plus he got a new canopy. With the umbrella, canopy, and misters, we managed to only hit a high of 88 degrees in the backyard (actual temp was 104).

We learned a lot from Grant's birthday party. See above re: shade and temp. We also learned to cook the fajitas ahead of time. Derek cooked them when Grant went down for a nap around 11am, while I prepped the other food inside and chopped fajitas as they came in. We were able to enjoy the party more and avoid too much heat (cooking at 11am vs. 1pm in Texas is a big deal). We left the chicken in the warming tray, popped some onions on the stove, beans in the crock pot and then had a merry 'ol time!

Josh, Cat, Lane, Lolly, Jill, Rach, Meadow and Kyle partied with us. One thing we did wrong - we cooked WAY too much meat! That just means we've got leftovers for the week though!

After the party, Grant napped again, ate dinner, then we played in the bathtub!

Grant LOVES the bathtub bubbles! I tried to take a few photos - a real risk nowadays since he splashes like a maniac in the bathtub these days. I love the shot of his little tush (splashing on his belly), his big 'ol belly and leaning over to talk to yell at me.

We're trying to get Grant to say more words. If I turn off the bubbles, he starts whining. I won't turn them back on til he says "bubble". Same thing with food - he whines when it's all gone, so we won't give him more until he says "more". As you can tell from these photos, he's onto our game.

Grant and Lola - again

Before bed tonight, Derek got Lola worked up. Grant LOVED it!!

I know Grant and Lola videos are plentiful on here, but they are just too adorable! Plus look at how Grant looks up admiringly at his Dada - so happy and full of wonder on how his daddy gets his favorite dog to behave so unruly.