Heal my back

As long as I’m careful and take good care of it. I’m definitely motivated, that was awful.
I think it’s improved as much as it’s going to for the next month or so, I seem to be back in relatively normal 9th month aches & pains land now. I’ll keep up with the heat, the TENS, the post warm bath stretches, and not overextending myself plan. I’ll also work on keeping better posture when I’m sitting and… waddling. Fingers gently crossed.

Well, it isn’t worse, which is what I was dreading. Sometimes it’s a bit better, and sometimes it’s right back in teeth gritting immobility land. Late night is still bad, I wake up hurting and a comfortable sleeping position is impossible. I gave up and got up at 3AM this morning, but found I could nap later in the afternoon.

I’m trying to be very, very, very careful, and although I’ve nudged the line a few times, I’m doing my best to listen to my body respond and gauge where a safe border is. I’ll think I’m better and then do the tiniest thing or turn just the wrong way and then the pain is blinding. At least it seems to have shrunk a bit area wise – my leg is in retreat for the most part.

I managed to walk Isak to school and back today (something I’d been worried about), though to be fair I was hooked to jacked-up electrodes that overrode the pain and then had to lay on the couch for quite some time when I got home. SO grateful for the TENS, that particular technology is magic.

I spoke with my GP today, who faxed in a safe prescription for me and insisted I lay as low as humanly possible until there’s an obvious improvement. She’s going to try to get me into the Women’s Hospital back clinic (which is specifically for different back therapies in pregnancy and covered by MSP, which is great!) if I’m not better this week. Hopefully I will be.

Tomorrow my folks are driving out for the day to help me with a few things around the house – have lunch and a visit, pick up Isak from school, shopping, sorting & washing baby stuff etc. Hopefully with their help I’ll feel like things are still getting done. It’s so hard to fight the nest-o-rama urge, pain or no pain. My gestational instinct has a big old whip that makes me feel like I’m wasting time, I just need to let the common sense head run the show here.

Thank-you for all the kind messages/comments. I think recent news stories contribute greatly to my feeling like a whiner – I’ll see if I can transfer a few repaid loans from Kiva to Red Cross… I really am extra grateful for my life and everything in it right now.

In fact, I think I’ll post this here, on-topic or no.

Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami

^{Canadians wishing to help support relief efforts underway are encouraged to contribute by:}

- Donating online
- Calling 1-800-418-1111
- By texting the word ASIA to 30333 to make a one-time donation of $5*
- By contacting their local Red Cross office. Cheques should be made payable to the Canadian Red Cross, earmarked “Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami” and mailed to the Canadian Red Cross National Office, 170 Metcalfe Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2P2.

- A one-time donation of $5 will be added to your mobile phone bill. Standard messaging rates and additional fees may apply to donation texts. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. This service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of the Canadian Red Cross by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at www.mobilegiving.ca. You can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to 30333.

Oh, I’m broken. This capped off the week nicely, and I just need to whine a bit.

Last night I had trouble sleeping and got up to have a glass of juice and futz about online for a bit (hence the 4AM posts), then when I tried to stand up my back completely refused. It seized up into some kind of horrible spasm and I sat there struggling in the dark for close to 45 minutes before I could finally drag myself up and to the living room couch (I don’t know how long that took, it was an inch-by-inch thing) where I had a heating pad. I somehow positioned myself so the pain faded, but I couldn’t move without it returning, shooting through my lower back with black flowers blooming across my vision.

Eventually I had to either get up or ruin the couch, which again, was really difficult and horribly painful – it was hard not to shriek, but I didn’t want to wake everyone up. I slowly made my way to the bathroom and then the bedroom. Markus woke up to my gasping, hobbling self and helped me into bed where I hooked up the TENS (I’m beyond grateful it was there) and cranked it up. It helped a lot, but only in the sense that the pain stopped when I got into just the right position and then didn’t move.

Today it was the same thing – unbearable pain when I try to get up or move anywhere. I took some T1s, which did nothing, then a T3 which dulled things a touch but not much, and the pain had started to spread down my left leg. Normally I’d hit the muscle relaxants, but for obvious reasons I can’t right now (I called the nurse line, a pharmacist, then paged my doctor who says T3’s are okay, even a double dose, but muscle relaxants etc. aren’t advisable). I wouldn’t have even considered it except that I don’t want things to spread further or linger for the final month of my pregnancy – I can’t remain this completely useless.

So… I’m trying to heed the doctor: apply heat, take warm baths if someone else is home (that really helped), use the TENS, pop the odd T3, and pretty much do absolutely nothing, which is extremely hard for me right now, I’m in über nesting mode and want to get a million things done, plus keep up with my exercise routine.

I didn’t even DO anything stupid to cause this – I’ve been cleaning and sorting a lot, and I moved a few boxes, but I guess between that, the stress of this week (some of which I haven’t been able to talk about), and having a heavier-by-the-day bowling ball strapped to my frontage is finally taking its toll.

So… I did nothing today. I suppose I read some and played games with the family and studied some of the hospital & birth information and watched the introduction with Isak… but I’m really frustrated and hurting like hell and hoping I can nip this in the bud and be on the mend as soon as possible.

^{Pardon the long, pathetic post – I know there are so many awful things going on in the real world right now, I should be grateful I’m just dealing with a shitty back. I’m not sure it’s going to make my happy list of the day though… :(}

5 days ago I did too much. Between cleaning my floors and a friend’s apartment I blew out my back. What had been a little sore turned into unbelievable searing pain, like a crudely stripped piano leg being jammed into the left side of my back.

I’ve been busy with other things, so I tried to ignore it, because “at least it isn’t my skull being cut open” but every day at 5am I was waking up in tears it was so bad. I kept thinking it would get better, but it seemed to spread up my neck and make my left arm numb. Pain killers & muscle relaxants did diddlysquat. My mom’s TENS unit helped a bit, but I still couldn’t even breathe deeply.

I finally made a Doctor’s appointment for Monday. I wasn’t looking forward to the weekend.

Then my friend Sherry called and I ended up mentioning it. She said to come right over & she could fix it. Sure. Sprinkle the magic pixie dust. But the thing is… she did.

When I got there I could barely move. She did this… thing to my back.

1. She picked me up from behind while my arms were bent in front of me against my forehead. I felt (and we all heard) my spine open up “pop! pop! pop!” like a ripcord. The intense pain stopped and I felt 3 inches taller.

2. She worked on the pressure points in my back for several minutes.

Amazing. Then she put an ice pack on my back & brought me a glass of wine. Today I am a new person. I can move. There is a very mild stiffness, but no pain. I am utterly blown away. Thank-you so much Sherry… if you were on here I’d cheer you a million times.

I will get you a very nice bottle of red wine instead.