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(Look at the staff, not the painting. You will see that my shy bride is hiding around the corner.She doesn't want to be photographed with a walking aid.) Pic by Don
Michele writes:
Fall is almost here, nights are much cooler, daylight is much shorter, and some summer clothes have made it to my off-season closet. I have been thinking that I have too much barbeque around my middle. So I tried some exercises designed for the over 50 crowd, with bellies (mine is not that big, but I am vain, and I admit it). I thought I did just fine, was doing them for about a week or better and really had no ill effects. In fact, I felt better, and my stomach actually felt tighter. OK, I needed to do this!
As I read the newspaper last Sunday, I came across another helpful exercise that I thought I could add easily, to my present 'routine'. I use that word with some satisfaction, because I really hate to exercise. But I can do a bicycle movement on my back, on the floor. And I did. About 3 sessions.
Thursday, I awoke with a backache. It lasted all day. I actually wore a Therma Care patch on the spot, as I was going jean shopping with a sister. It worked. I was not uncomfortable. However, that night and the next day, I noticed that the pain (and it was pain by now) was moving around, and increasing.
I thought of visiting my chiropractor, but I really thought this was all muscle strain. He really can't do anything for that. But once I tried to sleep, and could not find a spot where I could settle, I got up and took Motrin and a muscle relaxer. Slept much better than I expected.
Don and I got up later the next morning: Saturdays are great aren't they!? As we shopped for the stuff on our list, I had a harder and harder time walking. Now the pain was at the hip and tops of my legs (?!). We went to my brother's home for dinner. Pain was stopping me from getting up out of the sofa. I was stopping and leaning on the walls. Don saw me at one of these rest stops and gave me this concerned look. I just said "my back!" and then was able to finish my walk to wherever. So once home I tried ice again, more Motrin and more muscle relaxer. Slept well when I slept, but the Motrin wore off.
So now it's Sunday, the fourth day of this ordeal. Don found a walking stick that was a Christmas gift for hiking (some kind of irony here) and that has helped a bit. I don't look like the bent-over witch from Snow White. When I used it to try to take my dishes from the table to the kitchen, he took them from me and said he was cleaning things up, wasn't he? Yes, thank goodness. I was having a hard time sitting still as I looked at what I normally can do in 10 minutes, and I had been putting off for.....since yesterday.
You shouldn't take more than six Motrin in 24 hours. I hit that a bit ago...So I am waiting for time to pass. I've been taking prescription strength, so guess I should. And tomorrow I will see my chiropractor. The first thing he will say is why didn't you come in sooner. Why didn't I? Because I cannot believe that doing a bicycle movement, on my back for 20 seconds, three different times, has caused all this. Age does discriminate. Just ask me!
Tuesday evening, Sept. 16, 2008
Sunday was the last time I wrote about the Ordeal. Later that day, after I had written about it, Don took me to the Urgent Care office of our doctor. Of course, this doctor was not my doctor, but she wasn't a physician's assistant either. I wanted to see the real thing. I was having all kinds of worries about what was really wrong, and I wanted reassurance, right then.
Doctor W. poked and prodded, asked me questions such as what did I do, and why did I do That? I do not think she thought exercises were a legitimate reason for all the pain I was obviously in. Too BAD!
Her diagnosis was a ligament pull, somewhere in the hip area. Why it hurt so much in other areas, she couldn't say. She did want to give me a stronger pain killer than Motrin, but I vomit with any of them. She asked if anyone had tried a pill for nausea before the pain killer was taken. No. But then that was dropped, and I don't know why. She said the muscle relaxer would be what she wanted to prescribe, and I had that already. But, that is what I walked out with; the pills I already had. She did say I could take the Motrin more often, but, no miracle drug to reduce the pain.
Now it is Tuesday, and I have also seen my Chiropractor, twice. And today I did feel better. Still moving slowly, but more upright, no walking stick, more ice, and less Motrin. I'm seeing the end of the Ordeal, maybe by the end of the week. I think. I suppose I could have gotten by with seeing NO ONE, but I'd probably not feel as well as I am.
And I know age discriminates. The future holds some trepidation, but I'm going to be more careful...This felt like a wake-up call. I may look younger than my 58 years, but I can not act that way. It does not help!
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