Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Not a whiner nor a worrier be


I try not to whine. Much

I am not a natural born worrier. Really.

Right this very moment I am going to do both.

Four weeks ago I was sitting on my porch, having coffee with a couple of friends when I felt a twinge in my back. I thought it was because I had been sitting in a cheap plastic chair for too long( I gave up the good rockers to the company.. I'm nice like that). I shifted in my seat, and finally stood up to relieve the pain. I didn't really give it too much thought at the time. However over the last few weeks I think of it a lot.

My friend Tracy, in jest, might say that it was karma biting me in the back. I had teased her about this very coffee meeting. She wanted to come but couldn't. I exploited that fact. We took that picture just to tease her. I'm not nice like that.

My friend Jennifer, also joking around, might say she would trade what happened to me over what was happening to her at that time. She was in lock-down at an area Walmart that had received a bomb threat.

What happened to me? I have no idea. But over the last four weeks I have gone from thinking I had pulled a muscle, to scheduling an MRI for later this week. After going my usual medical route ( posting on facebook and seeing what the old wives and others have to offer in the manner of therapies.. and trying THEM ALL), I finally went to see my doc. The pain was still in my lower back. She tested me for kidney stones and sent me home with muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory meds. I took them for about a week. Well, I took them at times when I could be stoned for 4-6 hrs. Ok, I really didn't take too many of them. And really only recreationally. The only thing they did for the pain was make me not care that I hurt.

Over that week ,the pain began to spread from my back to my hips and then shot down my thighs whenever I sat for more than 2 minutes. This was no pulled muscle. I eat all my meals standing at the kitchen counter. I blogged once, twice now, kneeling at my desk. I watch TV laying on my stomach and spend the night waking up whenever I roll to my side or back. I never realized how many times I make the drive to my church and Noah's school. 12 minutes. Sometimes ten of those were spent with tears rolling down my cheeks.

When I finally fessed up to my friends the horror stories began. No one can tell horror stories like moms. We are jaded to most medical ailments, either having had them ourselves, or know someone who did. We flip medical terms and worse case scenarios as easily as we flip pancakes. They scared the poo out of me and made me worry. I called the doc back yesterday. After a very painful exam ( this from the woman who had a hair caught in the OBs speculum once... I know pain) she is thinking herniated disc and scheduled me for an MRI. She also prescribed another, stronger pain med.

I took my first dose and it sorta worked. yay! So I took a second dose before I went to bed thinking I might actually have a good nights sleep. And I did. It was getting out of bed that proved problematic.

I was dizzy. Not my usual, blond dizziness.. really woozy. (yes, I am blond. Dark Ash Blond.. that's what the box says!) As the morning progressed I added hot sweaty flashes to my dizzy fog. I got dressed because we had our annual furnace check up scheduled for 9 AM. Once I got through that I could lay down.

At 8:30 my body decided that the best course of action would be to vomit. Violently. As wave after wave hit me, Noah pulled on my shorts. " Mom, why is there a guy at the door?"

If anyone wants the number of the AC /Furnace repairman that comes early for appointments, give me a call.

So here we are, later that day. Of course sweats and vomiting were on the " CALL DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY" list of side effects. I spent the rest of the morning horizontal. I got up to make Noah lunch and ate a bagel. I've been flushing my system with as much water as I can. I have spoke to my doc and there is a reward waiting for me at the pharmacy: vicodin. That should hold me over til we can figure out what this is and take care of it. I'm pretty sure that is another med that will require me to time my Mom-taxi duties. I'm ok with that.



My goal for this little medical episode is that I come out the other end without any labels.I don't want to be thought a Whiner. Or a Superhero. Or a Martyr. Or a Worrier. I just want to come out with no more pain. Quickly. I hope that's not asking too much. And when I do, I'm going to have another coffee to celebrate. And maybe Tracy and Jennifer can make it into that picture.

2 comments:

  1. I hate to correct you, but 'karma' would be appropriate if you, oh I don't know -- had bashed Skye in the head with a rubber mallet. You're much too nice of a person for 'what goes around comes around'.

    I've missed your blogs. And I hope you feel better soon so I can come to that coffee.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GEEZ, WOMAN! And why didn't you call me? Seriously. Why didn't you call me??

    And, I want to be in the pain-free coffee picture, too.

    ReplyDelete

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