Doing well

I’m doing well today and feeling no pain.  It’s amazing to me how much pain gets in the way of doing constructive things.  I don’t like pain and have a low threshold for it.  At the slightest hint of a headache, I must take something so I’m not in pain very long.

 

Fortunately, the meds I take have kille the lower back pain from which I suffer.  Chronic lower back pain is worse than knees that hurt from arthritis.  I’m 64 and don’t want to fall apart just yet.  I don’t know how my cousin can stand the pain since she has MS and is in bed all day and all night—flat on her back.  I guess she’s suffered with the pain so much that she has been able to block it out.  I don’t have the same quality.

 

Having a pain free day is like getting in a canoe and gliding down a river somewhere.  There are no worries, nothing.  Just fun.

 

Hope you have a great day, too!

Lower back pain

I’m in pain.  Real pain.  It started when I woke up this morning and even though I have taken my medication, the pain still exists.  It’s bad enough that I’m having trouble concentrating on any task.  I wouldn’t wish this sort of pain on my worst enemy.

 

I guess I will just have to tolerate it since it happens every day.  I, of course, will discuss the pain with my doctor and see if there is an alternative to settle the matter.  Perhaps a massage therapist would help.  Anything to get rid of the pain.

 

I’ll leave you all with just this.

Speedy

I visited my VA doctor yesterday and the results were wonderful!  She increased the dosage of my medication and even prescribed a muscle relaxer for my back spasms.  Needless to say, I felt a sense of accomplishment in getting her to “do the right thing.” with my meds.

 

Today is a much better day than yesterday.  I was in severe pain when I saw the doctor and now that is all gone.  Of course, sitting on the edge of my chair to write this blog does not help with the lower back.  I don’t get my muscle relaxer until the end of the week and that along with the increased dosage of my gabapentin is going to knock me for a loop.  The doctor even asked me if I would be driving and I answered no.  With the two meds, I’ll probably be a walking zombie who won’t even be able to concentrate on writing reviews for Pop Syndicate.  But, I will try.

 

It’s hot here today and rain is on the way this evening.  I’m staying in where it’s cool and Mandi, my cat, is enjoying the cool floor to lie on.  She plays a little while then flops down on the floor right where she is as though she needs cooling off.  I leave her to her own devices and when I walk by her, she attacks my pants leg.

 

I must get to my reviews.  Bye.

Pills

Here I am with almost 6 years of sobriety (7/26/08) and I take pills to help me make it through the day.  I take a pill so my hands won’t shake, a pill at night so Restless Leg Syndrome won’t keep me awake.  I take a pill to lower cholesterol and vitamins to make me feel healthy.  So, what have I done?  Exchanged pills for alcohol?  It would seem that way.  I even take a pill for lower back pain.

 

But, what would you do?  Go back to alcohol?  I know if I do that I will die.  And I don’t want to die from alcohol-related symptoms.  I think I’d rather be known as a pill popper any day than to go back to the way things were in 2002.  I was making good money and came home every night so I could drink (alone, too) and pass out on the sofa before going to bed.  Many times I would fall just getting up off the sofa so I could go to bed.  Since my mother lived right below me, I would call her to tell her I was okay.  No more of those days.

 

People in my AA group have said that I’m now a drug addict because I can’t live without taking prescription medicines.  I say I’d rather be on pills the rest of my life than risk going back to alcohol to dull the pains I have every day.

 

What say you?

Independence Day

This is a day of rest.  Call it an “extra” Sunday in the week.  What does it mean to rest and take life easy this particular day?  To me, it means doing absolutely nothing.  A time to clear my head of computers deadlines, etc.  I’m going to spend time with relatives and I don’t have to take any food with me; it’s already been done.  We’ll have the usual homemade ice cream, but the work is done by the machine itself and takes very little effort on the part of the person who wants the ice cream.  A bag of ice, making the mixture and pouring it in the machine, plug in the machine and keep feeding ice and then letting the mixture setup.

 

I value my time and am looking forward to resting and clearing my head.  I’ll watch those around me, take pate in conversations that will not be about business and in the process, be able to come up with new ideas for marketing.  Picking strategies, planning my web site and other things.  I want the relaxation of being away from the computer since I spend eight hours each day using it.  I’m actually busier now that I’m retired than when I was working full time.  I need this respite and intend to enjoy it no matter about anything else.

 

My neice, Trina, found a new job on the east coast and will be moving tomorrow.  That’s also part of the reason I’m looking forward to events today.  I’ll have a chance to wish her luck with her new position–although far away–and spend some time with her.  That’s part of my R&R.

 

Have a GREAT day!!!

Friday

Today in the Arcadia Valley, I feel better than I did yesterday.  I would just as well like to forget Thursday, altogether.  It was filled with pain in my lower back and left leg to the extent I could not sit or stand for more than 30 minutes.  A relative (I know we’re not supposed to do this.) gave me a pill that stopped the pain entirely.  There were no side effects and I felt great the bigger part of the day.

 

Amazing what modern medicine can do.  I slept well also and I owe it all to a little pill.  Fortunately, I will be able to see my doctor on Monday so she can prescribe something until we decide if I’m going to need surgery again on my leg for circulation.  I hope I don’t need surgery, but I can’t live on pain pills the rest of my life, either.

 

A good day to everyone who reads this.

 

Arcadia Valley out!

Wednesday

June 18

Oh, my!  This is the first day I’ve been without 24 hours of pain in my lower back and left leg.  Let me tell you:  I would not wish this pain on my worst enemy.  It all started in Nov. 2007 when I was in such pain that I had surgery to place 3 stints in the iliac of my left leg.  After recovery, I could not believe the difference the surgery had made; I could walk and stand without pain even in my lower back.  Well, some time in May, I felt one of the stints move into my groin and the pain has been intensifying ever since.  I finally got the doctor’s attention and it looks like I will be going back in for surgery to move the stint back into the iliac.

 

When I came home from the doctor’s office yesterday morning, I took some aspirin and went to bed at 9 a.m.  I slept until midnight when the pain awakened me.  For some reason, the pain has gone away entirely (Thank you, Lord.) and it’s almost five a.m.  I feel great right now.

 

I was in so much pain that I became desperate and wished I’d had some sort of pain killer available to get rid of the pain.

 

Let’s hope that today in the Arcadia Valley is a much better one than yesterday!