Ready for the Day

1:14 PM 4/14/2007

   As usual ... I am more motivated to add to this when I am in total misery, which is the case now.

   I am foolishly forcing myself to do something that is almost impossible ... do my maple syrup project.

   Is this foolish pride, or trying to maintain self-esteem?

   Should I relegate myself to a lifetime of watching T.V., yacking on the telephone, playing on the computer, sleeping ... or ... try to stay active so that I don't die of a heart attack or high colesterol?

 

11:09 PM 4/23/2007

    My upper back ... where I'd had the whiplash in 1976 ... has been having bouts of making me really miserable.  The pain is mostly between my shoulder blades.  Surprisingly, my lower back hasn't been too much of a problem.  This past afternoon, when my upper back really started hurting, & four aspirins didn't help ... I made a really stiff gin drink & rested a while.  My back was hurting so much that it almost felt as tho I would get a charlie horse in my ribs.  The gin helped; I resumed some light activities.

    Then, this evening the pain & cramps came back.  My gin is nearly gone ... I've got enough for two small drinks.

 

10:20 AM 4/27/2007

     My knee has been making me postpone activities; my back keeps getting worse, too.  I had the cortisone/steroid injection in my knee ... not sure if it's helping?

     Next week, I have an appointment for the steroid "facets" in my back.  I've been getting them in my lower back, even if it's not terribly bad at the moment.  It is a precautionary routine that I've learned is necessary.  Then, the next step is to make sure that I also go back (several weeks later) for the facets in my mid-back.  Since my upper back has been giving me such grief lately ... should I get facets in that area FIRST?

   I've spent at least five hours trying to reduce the pain in my upper back.  The chiropractor worked on that area Wednesday; it was so painfully tight & painful.  I just must make sure that I do go to the chiropractor EVERY week without fail ... hadn't been going as much lately.

     My maple syruping project is over ... I'll bet that the task of disinfecting/rinsing the jugs out is going to cause big-time pain tho!

Almost Easter

L o i s
my journal.... Upper Peninsula, MI and beyond

3:12 AM 3/30/2007
    I've been awake for several hours ... did some wiggly-stretchy exercises on the sofa to loosen my back & the leg where my knee is sore ... watched some T.V. NOW, I hope that I can get back to sleep??? Getting upstairs made my knee start hurting, sharp pains as I take a step on that side.

 

                  

7:15 AM 4/7/2007 EASTER SUNDAY TOMORROW
    This past week, I've been thinking of adding a note here to remind me that, when the doctor at the pain clinic asks how long my last "facets", injections, lasted ... I can say that the first week in April, my upper back started hurting again ... now, my lower back is beginning to ache, too.  These are just awful aches, not really pains.
     Since my "good" knee is bothering me so terribly, I really haven't noticed my back much ... it works that way.  What back aches I have right now, could that be brought on by my knee hurting?  It is often hard for me to get around ... I just have to quit & go lie down ... take aspirins ... This, of course, helps my back, tho.

OF COURSE, SPRING IS COMING IN, BUT, NEITHER LIKE A LION NOR A LAMB ... BUT, A MULE!

APRIL showers bring frostbite ... & SNOW ! 
     Winter came back ... really lots of snow & cold ... my maple syruping, mercifully, has come to a temporary halt.  I think that I shouldn't even have tried to do it this year ... but, I'm trying to get exercise, too. 

 

     I at least have to get some pre-Easter housecleaning done ... TODAY ... & make the trek to the grocery store before I get snowed in anyworse!

Tags: back ache, bad knee, Easter