Extremely bored; yet afraid to do anything for fear of reawakening the excruciating pain.

May 25, 2007

Thursday Thirteen 94::30:

I've been down this past week with a bad back (really bad.) This is an outgrowth of an injury from 1994, when I sneezed mid-stride. Two hours later, I was unable to straighten up. I was bedridden for two solid weeks. That was over thirteen years ago. So far this time, I've been on the disabled list for nearly three weeks. Things are a little easier now than they were then, when the Internet was still a toddler. Now, I can do just about anything online...when I can sit, that is. Laying down is about the only completely comfortable position. Standing and walking are doable for about fifteen to thirty minutes. So what do I do to pass the time?

1. Make a med chart, listing which medications I can take when. I'm taking some sort of pill every two hours, to stay ahead of the pain. My doctor finally prescribed me cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxant) and hydrocodone (pain management). I take the cyclobenzaprine once a day, naproxen once a day, hydrocodone every four hours, and Tylenol gelcaps three times a day (so in alternation with the hydrocodone - anything to stay ahead of the pain). I even called my local pharmacist to doublecheck that my chart didn't contain any overdosings, or dangerous interactions. That gave me about 15 minutes of fun...but it also lets me remember when I can pop my next pill and stave off the pain. Handy reference. (And for an extra 20 minutes of activity, I figured out which dosages I could start trimming as my condition improved. I was desperate for something to do that didn't involve whimpering or trying to find a comfortable position for my left leg.)
2. Refuse to look at my carpet, which is sadly in need of vacuuming. I haven't yet felt guilty enough to ask my parents to do this for me, though they did give me a better bed and drove me three hours' north to pick up an extension for my desk (which has been discontinued by Ikea...dangit.)
3. Place a flexistraw in a glass of water. Face the flexistraw into the box-fan (which is constantly on gear 2, to cool the apartment down). Watch the flexistraw move slowly back and forth while my mental soundtrack cues up the Warner-Brothers-cartoon snakecharmer music.
4. Sleep. (Especially after taking hydrocodone and/or cyclobenzaprine, both of which knock me out quite nicely. Last night was the first good night's sleep I've gotten in over a week.)
5. Stare out the window. With the position my bed's in, all I see are trees. No power lines, no other buildings, no streetlamps...nada. It's very soothing.
6. Drink lots of fluids. This helps flush out the toxins from the aforesaid (godsent) medicines. Getting up and shuffling into the bathroom also offers a change in routine.
7. Make a grocery list. Shop online and have your ginormous grocery list delivered to your door. Swear when, a day later, you find out that they forgot to bring the blueberry bagels and the blackberry pie. (But they brought the artichoke and garlic sausages, which are amazing. And microwaveable.)
8. Write up blog posts in longhand. Yesterday, I went and printed out a bunch of interesting-looking posts so I could (sort of) stay involved. They got me thinking, and since I couldn't sit at the keyboard, I put my thoughts onto paper. (I remember when my handwriting used to be so much neater...)
9. Paint my nails. Since I work from home (and I still have been working - just not in contiguous blocks of time), and since I have time on my hands, I've been enjoying some of my less "corporate" colors of nailpolish. So far my nails have been blue-white, blue-glitter, orange-glitter, lavendar-opal, and magenta. If I could paint my toenails, I would...but I can only bring my right foot up far enough to paint. My left leg won't bend like that without my sciatic nerve complaining...rather loudly.

The last time my back was hurt, I was bedridden for two weeks and subsisted on peanut butter on whole wheat bread, and gatorade. I was living by myself, my family were all over the hill, and none of them had had back problems or surgery yet, so none of us were really clear on the whole concept of staying abed for weeks when no fever was present. This time, everyone's been helping me out. Between being able to do almost everything via phone, and having lots of help, this has been a less arduous experience than it could have been:

10. Thanks to my aunt, who went shopping for me while my parents were out of town. She brought me bread, Gatorade, peanut butter, and milk so that during my first week of problems, I could have real food.
11. Thanks to my parents, who kept me at their place last weekend for three days and two nights of being waited on. I got real food, I got a better mattress (which they have given to me), and I got someone with whom to watch movies (Dad, my sci-fi pusher.)
12. Thanks to my brother, who drove me to my doctor's appointment yesterday morning when I was unable to move; and who gave me a jumpstart on my medications.
13. Thanks to my brother's girlfriend, who drove across town on her lunch hour to pick up my prescriptions for me so that I could start managing the pain and muscle spasms.

What color should I paint my nails next?

Total Votes: 5

Magenta glitter

 20% (1)

 

Deep red glitter

 0% (0)

 

Mauve

 0% (0)

 

Frost pink

 20% (1)

 

Blue glitter

 0% (0)

 

Purple glitter

 0% (0)

 

Copper glitter

 40% (2)

 

Copper metallic

 0% (0)

 

Green glitter

 20% (1)

 

Green opal

 0% (0)

 

Oh - and by the way? COBRA sucks swamp water. They can't seem to get their shit together. I've had to pay for my prescriptions and doctor visits out of pocket because they forgot to send me my original signup package, they waited a week after I made my payment before transmitting the enrollment information to my insurance company, and once Blue Cross shows me as enrolled and paid up, I have to fight with Blue Cross for reimbursement of medical expenses.

Other Participants

• The hidden side of a leaf with Calvin and Hobbes trivia
• Confessions of a Sophisticated Writer with favorite scents
• The Gnostic World of Candy Minx asks if fictional feminism is dead
• Amy Ruttan training her computer to recognize her voice (this is almost as much fun as the linguistic exercise of translating something into another language, then back to English)
• Puss Reboots with favorite blogs
• Wylie's Words with reasons why she's not T13ing this evening
• Fond of Snape with favorite quotes from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie
• History is Elementary
• While Sleepwalking... with things learned from American movies
• The Screaming Pages summarizes her first week at her new job
• Philly Transplant with some lovely photos taken at Longwood Gardens
• Tennessee Text Wrestling with links and shortcuts on her computer desktop
• This Eclectic Life with a hellish motel visit (learn where *not* to stay. Ever. Ever. Ever.)
• Live. Love. Read. with things about her husband - it was their 15th (crystal) anniversary just recently!
• Journeywoman with a rant about poor manners

Keywords: | Thursday | memes | illness | home | health | gratitude | family | cabin fever |
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