(no subject)
Team Back Spasm
Think I have enough drugs here?
I have been having back issues for the last two weeks.
When we started dress rehearsals for Haunt, it started. At first I thought, no big deal... just a little backache. Perfectly normal for what was going on, and I didn't think much of it. Figured it would stop in a week. But no. One night, I woke up in the middle unable to roll over in bed. Then I thought, 'Okay.. back spasm. No problem, I have had them before. I will take the muscle relaxants I have left, and a couple of days... I'll be fine."
Well, a couple of days later, and I am no better. So I think, "Okay, fine. Its like the spasm I had two years ago. I was able to work through it. Working was good, it loosened me up, I was in less pain when I was moving around."
Well, a couple of days after and suddenly I cannot stand up straight anymore. I am all crooked. S-shaped. The pain is awful, the stiffness is overwhelming. After a couple of days of that, Karen said, "Even your footsteps sound crooked!" And it was true. I was getting more and more bent and twisted. It was harder to walk. Harder to move, harder to bend. I went to Urgent Care on my day off, and got prescribed with some painkillers and a regime of anti-inflammatories, which was much the same as I had been taking before. The doctor was convinced that my sacral tendon was inflamed, since I didn't have any pain shooting down my leg.
Well, a few days after that, I DID have pain shooting down my leg. Not down the back of it, which is apparently more usual, but down the top of it. I worked through two days like that, but there were so many more things that were difficult to me. Didn't help that Friday night, they had re-coreographed one of the fights, and so when I was making was normally a safe crossing to my next change, this time two stunt guys came flying through the door and put me into a wall. Major, major pain. Then later that night, as I was walking to the main gate to buy some tickets for lyssabits and careg a street monster decided to scare me. I involuntarily recoiled and it again caused major, major pain. Then on my way to clock for lunch, a guest hip checked me, and caused major, major pain. The next night I was so stiff and so sore that standing for very long was getting more and more problematic. And my back was locking up in major pain at the smallest little thing. Its hard to describe really, but it was bad, bad, bad. So Tim sent me home two hours early. He wanted to send me home for a week, but I kept stubbornly refusing. Though I did agree to skip laundry on Tuesday. He kept giving me the Tough Face and the Long Stare. It was uncomfortable at best, but I hate skipping work. Especially during a show. Especially during Haunt, which is my favorite time of year. But he wants me to get better, kept insisting that I could face Dire Circumstances if I didn't take care of myself. Insisted that he would figure out a way to cover me. Which is kind of the worst part. The arrogant part of me likes to think that no matter how easy I find my job this Haunt, that it would be difficult to cover for me. That they need me. Despite the fact that I have already given away most of my duties that require lifting of any kind. Wendy has been extremely helpful in that regard, and I am grateful for that. I hope that she is whom Tim has taking over for me on the show. I'd almost feel better about that. Especially since I don't like think of HIM taking over for me. He's got enough to do. Plus, he doesn't like the girl I have most of my changes with. And I do like her, and do more for her than Tim would approve of.
After he sent me home, I was depressed and humiliated and frustrated, so I decided I had to do SOMETHING. So I went back to Urgent Care. My mother came with me, and for that I am glad. It was a very sad affair. They told me on the phone that it would be a 2 hour wait. I figured 2 hours, that would get me through there in about the time I am usually off of work, so it would be a good use of my time. It turned into a 4 and a half hour wait until I saw the doctor. It may have been longer if she hadn't gotten all cranky in their face about it. I had been sitting in an uncomfortable chair for hours, unable to find any position where I wasn't in pain for too long. I had been "next in line" for an hour and a half. It was pretty awful. There were only about six patients in the waiting room at that time of the morning.
At least at the end of it, I saw a doctor I liked better than the first one. He was more thorough, and more personable. I felt like he listened to me more, and explained things better. He said I had a "really impressive spasm". He didn't know what caused it, but didn't think it was a herniated disc, since he couldn't feel anything... despite the fact that I have the classic posture bend of someone with a herniated lumbar disc (according to my mother's anatomy textbook). He had them run and IV, and pushed more Tordal, an anti-inflammatory, and some Robaxin, a muscle relaxant. And he gave me a prescription for more Robaxin and a Medrol pack, at my mother's suggestion. The latter being a steroid, to help with the inflammation. He wants me confined to bed for a week. I have secretly agreed to remain so until Wed, when I will consider going back to work, which is what I told Tim Sunday afternoon when I called to tell him I wouldn't be in. He was very reassuring that all would be well, and it was no problem to cover for me. And while I am sure he meant to make me feel better, and I do in a way, I am also still incredibly frustrated about all of this.
I got a message from Kelli, the girl I do most of the changes with, saying that they all missed me and hoped I'd be back soon. And that was nice. And I hope I don't have to be out the whole week. But I have spent nearly two frustrating days in bed so far, and am no better as far as I can tell. Even *I* can feel the spasm in my back. The muscles, when I palpate them with my fingers, are almost hard as a rock. I hope I get better soon. This is annoying and very, very painful. I am no straighter, and even just being standing up long enough to take a shower and brush my teeth is painful. Time to go back to bed and sulk.