Cheri's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

So Christmas cheer took a hit today with me. My back went out on Monday night. I mean OUT! One minute I was "twinging" and the next I was in full back spasm. I get this every now and then but the last time was in May so I feel I've had a good run. So of course, I didn't bring my pain medication with me to Keller this time - no muscle relaxers, no lovely pain meds, not even my moist heat heating pad (I know - I should ice it but heat is good at night when drifting off - or trying to - sleep...) I'd had such a good Monday up to then - my cardiac stress test showed I was healthy as a horse (and about the same size...), I'd had my nails done, a pedicure and the almighty necessary FULL FACIAL WAX! I was on a maintenance roll! Then came the Monday night back meltdown. Which meant my Tuesday was totally wrecked on many fronts. So welcome to my pity party - you bring the chips, I'll bring the dip...oh wait! I can't drive to the store even!!

After waking up at 4:41am not being able to breathe, I slowly pulled upright to make sure I wouldn't immediately spasm again only to realize that I was going to spasm anyway AND I had a full blown sinus infection. I could not breath, I could not stand, I could not get comfortable, Sam I AM! (have you ever sneezed with your back out? - it ranks right up there with transition in labor in my book) I watched TV for awhile and tried going back to sleep. I laid awake then with all the "night demons" that have possessed wives and mothers since the dawn of time ("I still haven't finished my shopping...those things I've ordered have not been delivered yet...I haven't booked tickets for our flights to Disney...nor our rental cars...Christmas is two weeks away...) and on and on and on. I finally fell asleep for about an hour but wish I hadn't because I had nightmares.

7:30am - finally drag my weary and painful bones out of bed and let the dogs out. Great - it's pouring rain. Drenching, wet, the-dogs-won't-stay-out-to-do-their-business kind of day. Also the muddy-paw-prints-everywhere kind of day followed by the oh-yea-my-back-hurts-so-can't-bend-over-and-clean-up-said-doggy-prints kind of day. So I call Mike in Kazakhstan (where it is getting close to bedtime for him 11 hours ahead of me). His day was belly-up too. So no inspiration there from me to him nor him to me. Batting zero.

Pain if standing, pain if sitting, pain if getting up, pain if getting down. Decide to call and see if any of my physicians in this area will give a poor girls some drugs! Nope - have to go into the doctor to get that since it's been a year since I've seen the orthopedist and I'm a new patient with the GP. Sigh...Advil it is then.

Decide if one position is as bad as another, might as well be productive so decide to tackle flights to Disney. Spent 6 hours - yes, SIX hours sorting 4 sets of tickets on a single day from 3 locations to arrive somewhere within an hour's time in Orlando and not spend our retirement. Finally get that sorted out and realize I've put Mirai down as an adult - call American to get her back to "Infant" status and through a misunderstanding (and I think major fault on American's part), end up changing one set of flights incurring an almost $300 change fee that I thought would be only $91. Can't change it or it will cost me another $300. Sigh...wishing my back pain on American...feeling guilty for wishing said back pain on them....sort of....

Jenny comes by with some over the counter meds for me, bless her. Chris offered to go by the pharmacy and pick up any RX's if they came but as previously groused about, none were in the offing.

More rain, doorbell rings 6 times. I'm in gown and am doing the yell through the door thing making everyone think I'm nuts (well, I am but does anyone have to KNOW?) Wet packages left on doorstep - but at least I can mark those items down as "delivered". But I notice that I'm getting up and down easier. Become cautious that maybe this back thing won't be a deal breaker for progress this week after all.

I ended up talking to all the kids today at one point or the other. Start getting excited about Disney now that everything is in place. Still can't get the dog prints off the wood floors. Still can't wrap Christmas gifts since that involves lifting and twisting. Still can't keep Mirai nor lift up Ben in a big bear hug nor Luke either. But I feel the mood lighten as the day closes and I've spoken with the kids, talked several times with Mike, have a chance to sort out my calendar and sort of catch up on a lot of things. So maybe my back was telling me it was time to SLOW DOWN and think about things for once! I'm not an advocate of pain for progress but I have to admit it does have it's uses. I just hope I can sleep tonight and only "twinge" tomorrow. I still have many packages to wrap, menus to plan, gifts to buy, and don't get me started on Quicken - that may well be my entire February. But it will get done eventually - it always does somehow.

But being a woman, I had to share. It's my duty. And you know you privately like to hear of other people's woes - kinda makes you feel better about your life. So I hope I made all of you feel REALLY good today! Ha! Oh, and don't go out to the mail box in 50's weather, barefoot, when it's raining. Not smart, not smart at all...especially after said pedicure...