I just realized something. Today is Wednesday (that was not my big revelation). The last time I took a shower was Sunday. Um. Ew.
This is not normal for me at all. I�m definitely a daily shower-taker. Saturday, I had some lower back pain. It was severe enough for me to miss out on my sister�s concert, but not so horrible that I was immobilized or anything like that. Sunday, still some lower back pain, but manageable. I had seen my doctor again last week (and she did not give me any weird advice about lamb shanks or lizard eyeballs or weird oddities). She put me on xanax. It�s apparently actually a very strong muscle relaxer and one side effect is that it calms anxiety so that is what it usually gets prescribed for. She also recommended a zinc ointment.
So, she prescribed 3 MG of xanax taken in 1 MG pills (so I take 3 of them at night). I�m not insane (well, I am, but try to keep it under check) so decided to start with � a pill (.5 MG) to see how I do. Well, that .5 MG seems to do quiet nicely. I take between .5 and 1 MG at night before going to bed, maybe during the day if I�m in a lot of pain and I don�t have to drive. (Funny thing about this pill � my brain works. My body works. They just don�t talk to each other. The brain says �Leg, lift up and begin walking�. My leg says �I would rather crumble in a pile on the floor TYVM�)
So by Monday, my pain is worse and saying, okay, I�m not going to kill you but you are sure not sitting at a desk all day today. No way. No how. So I took my xanax, taking about .5 mg every 4 hours. Which made me walk like a drunkard. I swear, navigation was a challenge. Went to bed Monday night, tried to cut down as I had a 2-3 hour drive to an audit the next morning. 2 AM, wake up in so much pain, cannot even roll over. Take my milder muscle relaxer (the one that actually allows me to function and drive and all of that), put on the heating pad and try to go back to sleep. 1 hour later, no relief and now even just laying still hurts. By 4 AM I was like F*ck it. Left messages for a co-worker to pleasepleaseplease contact the people for my audit and reschedule. Took my xanax and went back to bed.
When I woke up at 9ish, I called my doctor and got in right away, had to have my mom drive me because I was an accident waiting to happen. She ordered an xray just to rule out anything and is sending me to a back/spine care specialist.
I full expected to be back to work today and had another audit to go to� but luckily, my co-worker who helped yesterday, scanned my calendar and let me know that if I needed her to, she could cover my audit today as well. So though the excruciating pain was gone, I woke up with enough pain that I realized that I needed one more day of bed rest and medication (because tomorrow � Thursday), I HAVETOHAVETOHAVETO go to my audit. No one can cover me and my boss is actually going with me for my final review. I am feeling better today (though quite groggy because in addition to the xanax, my doctor has added vicodin to my regime). But hey, look at me, I�m sitting at a desk! And when I tell my leg to walk, it does!
I was about to switch doctors for July 1st, but now I�m going to call and cancel that. Though my doctor gave me a few wacky suggestions, when I go back and tell her they don�t work, she�s not so married to them that she can�t change midstream. Plus, I always feel like she genuinely cares about me, like she really wants to figure out how to get me out of pain. And, she�ll always fit me in, even when she has a busy calendar. And no matter how full her waiting room is or isn�t, she stays with you until she is done� my visits are frequently 30 minutes long. Plus, one of the reasons I was switching to a different doctor is so that I could access my favorite OB/GYN but when I called to make an appointment, he�s not in practice anymore� so there you have it.
And being in back pain, with muscles that don�t listen to brain signals, I just haven�t felt it was wise to take a shower. Hence the realization that I am disgustingly unshowered. No booty calls for me tonight!
