SSDD

Well, wish I had a miracle to report, but no such luck. I worked a full shift, but was miserable the whole time. In addition to the back problem, I was also not feeling well and battled nausea and other fun stuff all day. Not sure if its because I’ve added a whole new handful of pills to my medication regimen. I’m feeling better now and was able to eat a salad this evening (I stuck mostly to toast and bananas earlier) so I’m hoping whatever was wrong with my stomach is working itself out.

I’m about a week into the back trouble. Good news is it isn’t getting worse, but it isn’t getting better either. Every day that I struggle with the back pain I obsess about how much LESS activity I’m getting because of it. Every time I get up from bed or out of my chair, it seems more and more difficult and it scares me. I find myself wondering if this is it…the injury that is going to slowly erode every last bit of muscle strength I have and leave me bedridden. I think that and then my next thought is “Michelle, don’t let your drama queen out, its only been a week!” Of course after chalking my fears up to being overly dramatic, I then begin to wonder if I’m allowing myself to steep in denial and maybe I SHOULD be scared that I may be slowly approaching the day when I won’t be able to get out of bed.

I’m also concerned because I know that this is going to delay my surgery. I found some really good exercises and I thank those of you who gave me some suggestions for other things I can do right now to strengthen my back. I started the back exercises today. One of the exercises is basically a squat where you have your back up against the wall. You squat, hold it for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times. By the 10th, my thighs were screaming. I’m going to do the initial exercises once a day for now and maybe try to work my way up to twice a day next week. If I can manage, I’m going to get back on the treadmill tomorrow. I’ll just walk until my back starts to feel tired and stop. I’m just bound and determined that this is NOT going to sideline me. Here’s hoping I can tread water until my back is better.