Sometimes I wonder
Yesterday when I was getting ready for work, I noticed something strange. Suddenly it was a little more painful to do the mundane - like iron my clothes, brush my teeth, bend over to tie my shoes. For some reason when I performed these tasks, I felt a sharp pain in my back like I was being stabbed repeatedly with a very sharp butcher’s knife. Throughout the day, I was constantly reminded of this pain whenever I turned around to talk to someone or work on my computer. So at lunch, I went and bought some Aleve.
I did as the instructions said. Take one, wait an hour, then take another one. I could then take one more 8 to 12 hours later, but I couldn’t exceed three pills in twenty-four hours. As the end of that 24-hour period approached, I seriously felt like exceeding that limit. Nothing seemed to help “aleve”-iate the pain.
So I took off work today to go to the doctor. As usual, I had to wait a while before I could see him. An hour after I arrive, I get called back. The nurse asks me, “So are we sick today?” I say, “Well, I have a little bit of back pain. It seems to have appeared out of nowhere.” She gives me the funniest look, does a little embarrassed chuckle, playfully punches me on the shoulder, and says, “What?!” I look at her, and wonder: What is up with her? I just said it appears to come out of nowhere. So I repeat myself, and then she laughs and says, “Oh! I thought you said ‘I started my period today!’” I just smile, laugh a little, and then I get to wondering about her hearing…Maybe she’s the one who needs to see a doctor! (Or maybe…Nah, I won’t think about that.)
Finally I get to the examination room. The hearing-impaired nurse takes my blood pressure, asks if I want an excuse, I say “Yeah”, then she walks out. Ten minutes later he walks in; we have the usual small talk. He asks me if I did anything that could have contributed to the pain. I told him, “Nothing out of the ordinary.” Meaning no real manual labor. I sit at a desk at work and plug away at computers. What about that could cause back pain? Well, he pokes around my back, asking me if it hurts. I say “nope”. He lifts my right arm and rotates it around a bit. “Does that hurt?” “Nope”, I say.
Then he proceeds to tell me, “Your back muscles are spasming. They are really, really tense.” I go, “Hmmm.” How in the world could they have been injured to the point of spasming?? I have not really done anything lately that could throw them into a frenzy.
Then I get to wondering. You see, back on the day before Thanksgiving in 2004, I was involved in a pretty serious wreck (for me, at least). I wasn’t really injured, per se, but ever since then I’ve noticed little things different with my body. My back hurts more often. If I put my arms on the back of a couch or up on a computer desk for too long, they start tingling something fierce. My neck gets stiffer and more often. So I’m just wondering if maybe this is the next thing in a line of minor inconveniences. Oh well. Such is life. I’ll just get my muscle relaxers and pain meds and be off to la-la-land.
Oh, and as a P.S. to this post (not that it really relates or anything), I just finished the second book in the Odd Thomas series - Forever Odd by Dean Koontz. Very entertaining. Just need to get the next one now.
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