I hate getting shots, but given the current situation - well, it just isn't too bad at all. I'm drugged out of my mind right now, but I haven't sneezed once since 3pm this afternoon. Hopefully I won't for a while. At this point I'll get shots every single day to save my spine.
Good news to report: my leg is itchy. Why is this good? I can feel something. Apparently this is a sure sign the nerves are repairing. Itchy is good. Sneezy is bad. Doc says so. Not sure where Grumpy, Happy and Bashful fit in, but you get the idea.
Well, well, well...my Saints. My dear, dear Saints, you are breaking my heart over and over and over. We beat ourselves quite handily tonight. Most impressive. Can't get started on a tirade about the idiot refs (I'm sorry, the guy almost ripped Reggie Bush's HEAD OFF and you DON'T SEE THAT?! WTF?!) or even dear, dear Martin Grammatica (yay for you at 52 yards but you MORON...I still hate you from Denver a few weeks ago)...
Injuries. Oh the injuries. Just thrilled to know Tracy Porter's out - dammit another Saints injury!!! I don't know if it's broken wrist, hand or forearm yet. Either way this means we'll see lots of Jason David. Goody.
On a much brighter note: Reggie Bush, you truly make my heart sing (before it shatters into tiny black and gold Fleur-De-Lis pieces, of course). Drew Brees, I wear your jersey each week with pride, always. And Sean Payton, you scare the crap out of me but I think I heart you too...I do scream at you a lot, I know this, and I hope you don't take it too personally.
Other news: I've either got a bad cold or I'm having a major allergy attack. Normally I wouldn't even think about it other than "ew I feel kinda icky," but I'm sneezing like mad. Sneezing, you see, is one of the absolute biggest no-no's for those w/disc problems (coughing too, but sneezing is worse). I knew this, sort of, because until now each time I sneezed it did give me a slight twinge. Today I'm having the sneaky sneezes...the ones you can't prep for and brace for...and I'm paying for them. I took a Benadryl to try and Stop the Sneeze. Not working. So tomorrow, I will go in and let my doctor shoot me up with something a little more hardcore. This is the regular doctor - the one I never see because I am rarely sick...aside from the spinal surgeries, of course. Surprise sneeze...bad bad bad.
Nice. Very nice. Apparently this ad IS running in the state of Virginia, right now.
On a related note, did anyone catch Springsteen's set at the Obama rally in Philly on Saturday? What?! You say you were watching football?! How DARE you?! Okay, for those of you who could not multi-task on Saturday...here:
My gift to you. And while I'm on a roll here, might as well throw out my favorite performance from this past tour that I did NOT see: Anaheim, California - "Ghost of Tom Joad" with Tom Morello. Damn. The music and the message never gets old.
It is a "W" so I'll gladly take it, but we've got work to do. Much work.
YAY VANDY! Auburn sucks horribly, which always makes me smile. Vandy: #1 in SEC East?! Amazing. What a strange, strange year we're having down here. Funniest sign of the day spotted at the Vandy game: "Geeks shall inherit the turf." Go geeks!
Psst: the meds last night were so incredibly helpful with the pain. I think I slept longer and harder than I have in a month. Downside: I literally didn't wake until 11am and even then I felt extremely hungover. Took several more hours before the fog lifted. I'm debating whether to repeat tonight.
And a quick note on the strange ferris wheel dreams I've been having: I looked this one up to interpret...
"Ferris Wheel
To see or ride on a Ferris wheel in your dream, suggests that you are going around in circles. You are headed no where. Alternatively, it is symbolic of wholeness and the circle of life. Life is full of ups and downs."
So there you go. Absolutely how I feel at times with this spine of mine. As a shrink's kid I should have gotten this one. Doh!
Can't sleep again for the umpteenth time, and I am more sure than ever that pain is the culprit. Tried a new experiment: taking ALL the drugs that I have been prescribed. At once. I must explain that I'm extremely stubborn. I try to do things without "help"...and really I just hate taking all drugs. I like my liver, I'd like to keep it a while longer. Anyway. Just an FYI for anyone who has had back surgery, or any other procedure that causes major pain recently: take the drugs if you need them. My current regimen: Mepergan every 4-6 hours and Motrin 800 every 8 hours, Lyrica twice daily and Parafon Forte for spasms (muscle relaxers are a joke, IMO, so I never take those). What have I been taking for the past few weeks? Motrin 800 twice a day. Lyrica a few times, only when the nerves begin to jump (mainly at night). A few hours ago I took all of my drugs, at once, as directed. I think the lightbulb moment hit as I was watching yet another episode of Dog Whisperer (there wasn't a damn thing on, I swear)...
I get it now. What a huge difference. I feel SO much better. I can sort of tell the pain is there, but it is dull and achy - not sharp and burning like normal. I still would never take these during the day. I am certain I would fall asleep at my computer (the Mepergan is a monster, but it's the only narcotic that doesn't make me queasy and itchy).
Lesson learned. I'll still be glad to be back to my old standby of Motrin (I love you, Ibuprofen). I took the Mepergan for a day or so after I came home from the hospital. I slept something like 19 hours (spouse was concerned, I was dreaming about brain eating zombies and ferris wheels for some reason). Hate to miss Saturday sleeping. But I think this might be well worth it.
*sigh* One step up, three steps back. This is the first week I've felt even remotely like "myself" since before the surgery. I was sleeping better and feeling much stronger, considering. I think maybe I'm pushing too hard, though, because as of tonight my pain has skyrocketed and the electric current between my posterior and my toes could light up the whole neighborhood. Hard to sleep with that going on. Remember a while back when I said I'd need to re-read some posts to remember? I did. I CAN do this and I WILL do this and I WILL walk again...maybe a little slower. Right now what I'm doing is not exactly walking. It's shuffling...it's awkward. I teeter and totter. No grace involved. All of our buddies are in town this weekend for the Alabama game - all of them have called, wanted to get together...I just can't do it yet. If they came here to the house I think I could pull it off okay. But going out? To a restaurant? A bar? The GAME? No. I've given my beloved full blessings to go out out out and enjoy the fun football stuff between now and December...I hate more than anything that he's missing out. He says he's not. I say he's fibbing. Yes, I am truly lucky.
Anyway, this is the routine: up at 8am, first walk. This one smarts the most, because I'm so stiff. Leg won't always do what I want it to do. I'd say maybe a quarter mile before it gives out. Then home, lie down for a few to rest (who knew this would be so exhausting???). Then back up, do a little work (hurrah! brain turned on! curiosity about anything and everything satisfied!). I'm happiest when I'm working, to be honest. Always have been. Despite not wanting to, I break from work for another walk. Little less awkward, just as slow but not as fearful of a fall. Quarter mile. Tired. Rest. Back to work! Hurrah! Then beloved arrives home and orders me to get off the computer and get up and moving (grrrr). Walking or swimming, whichever he says. My trainer. Swimming is easiest and I can usually tire out any lingering muscle spasms or stiffness from the sitting/lying down. In an ideal world, the best thing for me would be movement every 20-30 minutes. Anything. Just movement. But that's not reality so this seems like the best approach, breaking up the exercise into shorter segments.
So that's the update for now. This time next month I want to see one mile walks twice a day, and swimming or yoga (my yoga now will never be the yoga I was doing pre-surgery, but the stretching is still there) three times a week, minimum.
Can we get a pool, beloved? Oh. Right. October. Okay, indoor pool?
This is serious. I know many of you are growing quite weary of the election and politics in general right now. I get that, and I understand why. But the deadlines to register to vote in the 2008 presidential election are approaching very quickly in several states...despite your frustrations, we ALL need to cast ballots on November 4, 2008 - have you registered? I'm not the only one asking. celebrities galore, including the extremely hot (IMO) Leonardo DiCaprio want to know, too.
And while I'm on the topic of election 2008, how about Obama's new iPhone application? I downloaded this morning and it's great. So far no crashes - much better than some of the other apps I've added recently.
Now I must go. Back and legs are positively on FIRE this afternoon, despite walks this morning and this afternoon. No swimming today - I think I was overdoing it with the daily plunges.
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