What a week: Part II

This part has some overlap into the first part.  You see, the night before the 22nd, I had pulled something in my back.  I thought I’d sleep it off.  When I woke up Friday morning I was so stiff.  It was hard to sit up without grimacing.  It was a pain I’d hardly notice while at the dentist.  I mean come on, what’s a back ache when you’re being drilled on?

By that afternoon the back had started to worsen.  The long ride didn’t make it any better and certainly added to my discomfort though it wasn’t the biggest thing on my mind at the time.  Just staying conscious was my first priority!

I got home that evening and took it very easy.  Now my mouth was sore and my back was sore.  I re-medicated and got some sleep.  When I awoke Saturday morning I could barely move without my back sending stabbing pains through me (cue the music from psycho!).  I was going to a wedding later on and knew I’d be on my feet to some degree.  Finally around 1pm I couldn’t take it anymore and went to the local family medical center.

Here, I waited and waited and waited.  It was busy, as expected.  I’m sure half of the people in there figured they had swine flu.  Some people looked pretty rough though.   I didn’t look it but I felt it.  I got back to the room after about an hour of waiting.  I spent another 45 minutes waiting.  I got checked out, poked at, etc.  I knew the diagnosis from the start but something about a medical professional telling me makes me feel a little better.  Pulled muscle.  I’ve had them before and they suck.  I needed a bandaid for my boo boo.

Two shots were ordered.  Thank God!  I knew they’d sting and burn but the relief would be worth it.  I got one in each hip and yes, those suckers burned.  I got some prescriptions and was out the door!

I got home just in time to get ready and leave for the wedding.  I will say the ride this time was much, much more enjoyable than the previous day.  Our son did great in the wedding even though he was starting to get “boring” and tired.  We promised a video game if he pulled it off.  He did and we ended up owing him a video game, haha.

We got home late that evening.  Our son passed out on the couch within 2 minutes of sitting down.  The week had gotten started on a wild and somewhat painful note.  The rest of the week was smooth and mostly relaxing.  I did a lot of nothing and it was awesome.   I can’t wait until we take another week off.

Next, I’ll talk about the home improvement project that got started!

What a week: Part I

I just got back in to work from having a week and one day off.  It was a “vacation” but at times felt hardly vacation-like.

To start with, Friday May 22, I went in for some extensive dental work.  Instead of spreading appointments out over a long period, I’m having a lot done all at once.  The procedure was some five hours long, but that’s ok because I was highly sedated and remember just bits and pieces.  I did have to use the restroom at one point.  That was fun.  Aside from that, it was straightforward.  I got a ride home where I normally would have slept the rest of the day.  Not this day.

I elected to accompany my son to a wedding rehearsal.  The wife couldn’t due to work so that left it to me.  It’s 1:30pm and I’m so very sore from the dental work.  She brings our son home along with my pain meds.  So I pop two Lortab (take 1-2 as needed for pain).  I was miserable, so two was the magic number.  Around 2:15 they’d kicked in and I was feeling rather good.  The doorbell rings and it’s our ride to the rehearsal.  I didn’t know it but I was about to go on the TWO longest rides of my LIFE.

First of all this has nothing to do with the driver, a friend of ours.  I was coming off of IV sedation and had just jumped onto an opiate pain medication.  While some might have found this prospect exhilerating, it can be incredibly uncomfy when you’re riding in the backseat of a large pickup truck.

My head was spinning about 15 minutes into the over hour long drive.  I couldn’t tell if I was getting motion sick or what.  I got a cold drink to help calm my nerves.  NO not that kind of drink, geez.  It was so hard to keep my cool.  I tried very hard to not let my extreme discomfort show in front of my son.  I felt horrible and thought I was going to a) pass out b) puke or c) both in no particular order.

After we got there, I was ok.  Weird?  The rehearsal went down, we all knew our places, etc.  Now, time for the ride back.  I thought the worst was behind me.  Oh no, indeed it was not.

Ten minutes into the ride back it all starts again. WTF man?  Head spinning, sweating, heart pounding.  Ok, not fun, let me off the ride, argh!  This time though it’s 5pm and people are getting off work.  We weren’t going anywhere fast.  Again, trying to keep my cool in front of my kid.  Again feeling as if I was going to die.  As we neared home I started feeling a tad better.  I had a hard time standing up straight.  I was invited to a dinner that evening.  Needless to say, I did not  attend!

I never passed out or lost my lunch.  Hell, what lunch? I hadn’t eaten since midnight the night before. I forgot to mention that part.  Lesson learned: after my next dental appt.  I am going home and sleeping!   I seriously had no idea that I’d end up feeling so bad, geez!

Oh but we’re just getting started.   I’ll have to write up the part about my back later.

Raining and pouring

So last week I had two crown preps plus the full mouth debridement.  It’s quite lovely I tell you.  Well it’s been my experience that if I have teeth that are borderline “flare ups” and any work is done around them.  They will flare up.  That means they get aggravated to the point of needing to be worked on.  It’s like a chain reaction.  So here I sit, about to call the dentist again.  Likely to have an emergency visit for a root canal.  As ideal as that would be for pain, it involves going and sitting through the process.  Meh.

The trap

Traps are things that we don’t see and end up falling into. We all do it and sometimes it’s not entirely our own doing. I’m guilty of falling into my own traps every other day it seems. Several years ago I had a hernia repair and then two subsequent ‘patch up’ surgeries. I still suffer from pain in that area though it’s not as bad it’s still annoying. My biggest fear is injuring myself and having to go under the knife.

Mind you that’s my personal biggest fear, not biggest overall. As a parent and husband there are other fears that severely trump this one.

Back to the story though…

Well the trap is that every time I get that pain, I want to give up. I want to give up my fitness goals. It’s very taxing on the midsection for a lot of workouts. A lot of times I just try to ignore the sensation of pain. At the end of the day I sit in my chair and I can’t run from it anymore.

I have a counter for it though. My plan is to set it aside and deal with it when necessary. I want to meet my goals and go from there. If it’s so unbearable then I’ll go get it taken care of. If it’s the same, I’ll deal with it. Either way, I’m better off than sitting here sulking about it. Oh damn, was I sulking? Ok, to start off I was but think of it as creative writing. Drama! Suspense! Eh, maybe not.

The point is that every day we have new challenges and we have old ones that just won’t go the hell away. It’s how we deal with them that make us who we are.

~js~