Pain, Plants, Slugs, and Embarrassment

So, my back is absolutely killing me.  So's my neck.  I've got a bit of a "buffalo hump" starting back there (not a dowager's hump, which is down farther and caused by tipping/crunching vertebrae).  This is caused by sitting with my head/neck craned forward, which, it turns out, I do a LOT of.  I had no idea.  I knew my posture was a mess, but I hadn't realized just how abysmal it really is until I started trying to tuck that chin and straighten that back. 

Ouchie!

So, the temps were supposed to dip down low, which necessitated a hauling in of the plants.  That was day before yesterday.  Imagine my horror when I came in that night to find our kitchen table crawling with slugs.  SLUGS!  Uncalled for!  I cleaned them up, but ew, you know?

Speaking of plants, I went to a neighbors to warn her about the upcoming cold temps and to ask for some cuttings from her Wandering Jews (http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/09/wandering-jew-tradescantia-zebrina.html).  She was happy to give (she has many, many plants), but was bothered by my dainty, tender snipping of stalks.  She said, "Just grab a handful and yank."  I didn't want to ruin her plant, so I gave a little tug.  She rolled her eyes, stomped down the back steps, and grabbed an ARMFUL.  She YANKED, and there she was with a brimming armload of plant.  She handed it to me and shooed me out the door.  Told me to come back tomorrow for whatever else I might want.

Wow!

Scheduling wound me up not having a chance to go to her house the next day.  When I got home from taking our boy to Hapkido, there was a GIGANTIC plant, pot and all, on the front porch.  This one Moses in the Cradle ( http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landscape/dbpages/583.html).  Unlike the Wandering Jews, the Moses in the Cradle is toxic, so we couldn't just let it hang out on the floor or on the kitchen table like we did with the WJ (which, along with my lavender, is now occupying the entire kitchen table!).  We wound up taking it upstairs to hubby's office, where it's sitting quite prettily on a stool in front of the window.  Hopefully, it will fare well.  I'd love to have it outside, come spring!

Now, the embarrassment.  My neighbor's house is frightfully clean.  Like spotless.  No prepping for guests, no catching her off-guard--the house is always spotless all of the time.  Even with her two grandsons living there now.  It's . . . humiliating.  My house isn't filthy, it's not awful.  It's usually presentable, and a couple of times a week it's really good (except for the computer desk, of course).  But when compared to hers?  Oh, shame.  So today, my arthritic joints and screaming back cleaned.  One of those BIG cleans, where all the knick-knacks get pulled off the media towers and dusted.  Where shelves that have been the landing spots for all sorts of dreck for a year get sorted and rearranged.  I mopped, I scrubbed, I swept, I vacuumed.  And now? 

I hurt.

I hurt, and it still doesn't look as clean as hers.  But I think she could come in and not feel panicked at the clutter.  And that's going to have to be good enough, because I don't have any more in me this day.

Drugs, Drugs everywhere

So, I'm something like the opposite of a drug-seeker.  I am, in fact, a drug-avoider.  I dodge medications whenever humanly possible.  They scare me.  I have an arrhythmia, I'm diabetic, and I have a history of gastric ulcer.  Plus I'm on a beta blocker for the arrhythmia.  As a result, I really do fear new medications. 

A few months ago, I went to see an ENT for a miserable pain in my neck, jaw, and face.  Being me, I'd waited for a couple of months before breaking down and going in.  Hey, that $35 copay may seem like nothing to some, but to us, it's a hit.  Especially after the avalanche of copays earlier this year.  The ENT's expert opinion?

Anxiety.  I have a bad case of nerves.  And, considering the stress level, I could go along with that.  Heck, I wanted to go along with it.  He prescribed something called Metataxalone aka Skelaxin, and sent me on my way.  I never took even one of those pills.  I was too scared.

Fast forward a few months.  The back pain, which I've had on and off since the move over a year ago (wowser "on" for months after the move, then a bit better, now brutal), finally drove me to see my PCP (or the doc standing in for her while she's out on maternity leave, actually).  As I posted earlier today, the verdict is osteoarthritis/degenerative disc disease.  Back pain aside, common symptoms are neck, jaw, and facial pain.  Sound familiar?

Luckily, I still have a whole script for Skelaxin.  And I just took one, because the pain tonight is amazing.  It's not like the lower back/blown discs pain.  No, this is a mixture of burning, strained, raw, grainy, pins-and-needles, and, as strange as it sounds, cold.  If you ever went to college, you probably remember the back/neck ache that came from lousy posture and a head bent over a book for hours at a time.  It's like that, but from mid-back through the base of my skull.  Makes me want to scream.

I'll wander back in later and let you know how the pill did.  The prescription NSAID (diclofenac) didn't do squat earlier today. 

Spinal Crackers in Space

So, the x-rays finally made it to my gp's office (though my usual gp is out on maternity leave and my original choice for gp is handling her cases).  Still no promised call, though.  Instead, I received a single page interpretation from Fairfax Radiology, with a scrawled note from the gp once again recommending the in-house physical therapy we can't afford right now.

The radiologist's findings?

Spine, Thoracic Three Views

History: back pain

Comparison:  none

AP, Lateral, and Swimmers views of the thoracic spine:

The vertabrae are intact and aligned.  Vertabral body heights are normal.  Disc heights are mildly narrowed throughout the thoracic spine with small anterior osteophytosis.  No focal lesion or fracture.

Impression: mild degenerative disc disease throughout the thoracic spine.

Not as bad as it could have been, but man, the pain really is getting pretty danged irritating.  We already know I have multiple blown discs in the lumbar/sacral regions. Bet the cervical spine's a mess, too.  I know that the way I sit at the computer and the way I hunch over the iPad to play Monopoly with our boy likely makes it worse, but everyone agrees this originates with my 1993 car accident. 

Marvy.

I'll do some digging, see what I can find for exercises and the like to make this better.  Supposedly, it responds well to non-surgical approaches. 

It's the first Saturday Hapkido class for our boy.  He is so loving this!  Wish it didn't cost so much--it's basically the cost of the physical therapy I'm not getting.  No, my PT isn't more important.  I've got mild spinal degeneration, holding off for a year or so isn't likely to do me much harm, considering I've had this back ache for most of a year.  He is so happy about this, and he is doing so well--no way I'm messing that up.  He needs this, and I need for him to have it.

Did some digging and found my old OB/GYN's assistant on Facebook.  No, that's not as creepy as it sounds--she's the one who found the mystery mass, and she asked that I let her know how that resolved.  But then she left my old doc's office, and I didn't know where to find her.  Found her on Facebook this morning (she, too, had moved out of state), and just dropped her a note letting her know what the mass was and how things turned out.  She was a wonderfully nice woman, very smart, very up on her research, and really was a joy.  In as much as you can miss the person manning the speculum, I miss her.

Only three hours of sleep last night, hence the weirdo title for today's blog.  It makes no sense to me, either.  Going to hit the hay again as soon as Hapkido is over.  Have a wonderful Saturday!