Second week of PT begins: update

Physical therapy; something I have a love/hate relationship with. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I am in my fourth round of therapy here. I've also had occupational therapy on two open hand carpal tunnel surgeries and that was severely painful but necessary. This is different and though difficult at times, again necessary for well-being and healing as well as diagnostic and therapeutic for me personally . Today I started with heat per usual, used my phone to listen to my daughter's album while I relaxed and read a few chapters from my latest book. I then had deep-tissue massage, and I mean deep. This girl had strong hands and though painful at first, she relieved the awful tightness in my upper shoulder muscles that come from my lower cervical spine. She also dug into my lumbar surgical area and I have a few "crunchies" in there. I call them that because they seem to be like speed bumps when I have massage and crunch a little as my brain interprets the pain. Odd, I know. I must have scar tissue built up there. As I have nerve pain now running down my leg again, woke with it this morning, I can only assume there is a nerve entrapped in the scar tissue. If massage will deal with this...all the better. I also had my therapist, Rob, work on my periformis muscle. I have pain that radiates out to the hip and in my SI Joint. We want to rule out both as this would mean more surgery for me. My periformis is "alive" and well thanks for asking. LOL What a jolt that was when he stuck a thumb in it where it connects to bone. He gave me two new exercises to incorporate into my daily PT routine; one for neck to stretch the shoulder muscle that runs down my neck into the shoulder itself and periformis work on a ball, sit and roll it over the deep buttocks muscles to stretch the periformis so it doesn't pull and hurt. My husband says he has a softball I can use. A tennis ball is too small and my pilates balls are too soft. I don't own the lacrosse ball recommended, so will try the softball first though it is a little larger. I then did my pool walking for 20 minutes and it was so relaxing, but I can feel my hips and back, legs and tummy work against the pull of the water as I walk. I tuck my tummy muscles in tight...hope it works. The weight gain from the steroids and now gaba are concerning me. I must take the pounds off safely and quickly. I am back on Alli, watching my calories and fat intake in a journal. It is recommended by my doctor as the only safe weight loss drug out there. With regular exercise, PT and a healthy diet, I should be back on track within 6 months. I now know there is no other way to do it, and I've been doing this after every spinal surgery...sigh. Time must be allowed, give myself a break and just do it a day at a time.