In which I relate the tale of my recent back injury

I woke up Tuesday morning and rolled out of bed. I winced a little as I did it. There was a slight twinge of pain in my lower back. “That’s funny,” I thought. “I don’t remember hurting my back. I must just be a little stiff. It should go away soon.” Instead of going away, it got progressively worse throughout the day. By the time I got home, I could barely stay sitting without pain. So I laid on my stomach on the floor and watched TV for an hour or so.

Then I tried to get up. Big mistake. It was like two knives were jabbed into the base of my back. I dropped to the floor and stayed there. I wasn’t even able to sit up, stand, or even kneel. I eventually crawled off to bed and slept.

Wednesday morning I got up and, thankfully, was able to stand. For five minutes, anyway. I spent the day taking large amounts of aspirin, icing my back, and resting. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to sit or stand for more than about 5 minutes at a time before the pain became overwhelming.

I had decided that Thursday would either encompass running an errand for my Big Project or going to the doctor. After being awake for a couple of hours, I decided on the doctor. (I had also told my mom about my back pain at this point, and she did a lot of the convincing.) Since I don’t have a doctor and I wasn’t even sure who my insurance company was, I made some calls. Finally I figured it all out and arranged for Robin to give me a ride to the family clinic.

Robin picked me up and we headed to the clinic. I spent a fairly long time checking in since I wasn’t in their system. By the time they had everything they needed, all I wanted to do was lay down. The waiting room only had chairs except for one double-wide chair. I managed to lay down on the wide chair (head on one armrest, butt against the other) and I put my feet up in another chair. Robin and I chatted with some other people in the waiting room. (One recommended a good doctor for lower back pain. I can’t remember the exact name but it sounded like “Dr. Misery”, which doesn’t seem like a good doctor for back pain…) An older doctor in colorful scrubs came into the waiting room, He looked in my direction and started saying, “Sit up! Come on. Do you sit like that at home? Show some respect!” Robin replied, “He’s here for back pain,” while I said something like, “Umm, I’d sit up if I could…” The doctor immediately started backtracking, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Umm, is my face as red as my scrubs? Can we get you a cot or something?” I said, “A cot would mean that I would have to get up and lay down again and if it’s all the same I’d rather just lay here until they call my name.” He said it was perfectly fine and as he walked out he told the receptionists, “Well, I just made a total fool out of myself so I am taking off now. See you later.”

My name was called and I got the preliminary workup (weight: higher than I thought, temp: normal, bp: normal, pulse: high). (Why do they take your pules and blood pressure right after you have visibly struggled to get up on the examining table?) After while the nurse practitioner came in, asked some questions, poked around on my back, and had me demonstrate movement. She seemed to approve of most of my self-care except for the aspirin. (Turns out that 650 mg every two hours isn’t a good idea.) She gave me some prescriptions and a referral for a physical therapist if I didn’t improve in the next few days.

Robin took me through the Taco Bell drive through. (I hadn’t been eating much since I could only manage about five minutes on my feet.) We stopped at the bank and then at Walgreens to get my prescriptions filled. It took about 45 minutes for them to straighten out the insurance issues and get the prescriptions filled. (Insurance saved me a whopping $20. If they had told me that I could have gone home half an hour earlier, I would have gladly paid $20 more.) By the time I left, I was in quite a bit of pain. I slowly lowered myself into Robin’s car, swung my legs in, closed the door, and let out a long sigh. I looked up at the truck next to me. There was an old man in the driver’s seat watching me with a grin. “It’s hell gettin’ old, ain’t it?” he said to me. Yeah it is, old timer. Yeah, it is.

Robin dropped me off at home and helped me get settled. I took my new drugs (Naproxen for the pain and Flexeril as a muscle relaxant; I passed on the optional Vicodin) and they seemed to help me recover from my lengthy excursion.

Friday wasn’t much of an improvement. Not much happened. Brad dropped off Flight: Volume 2, I ordered pizza, and I finally watched Finding Nemo. The back felt better but I was still limited to 15 minutes or so without pain.

Saturday brought marked improvement. I was able to spend 20 minutes on my feet as soon as I got up (before I took drugs, even!) I stood and sat for up to an hour at a stretch. I also slept a lot. I’m not sure if that’s drugs or part of the healing process. But I am feeling much better. Tomorrow I think I am going to start on some back exercises, or at least get some walking in.