The State of the Drow
Some week or more ago I needed a new pillow. I decided that I would actually drop some money on this under the assumption that "you get what you pay for" applied somehow. I found one for side sleepers which I am for the most part except for when I wake myself up from sleeping on my back and it got uncomfortable. It cost me $30 from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Well, the damn thing went squishy in under a week. I woke up with a neck ache. I grumbled some but it wasn't too bad so I decided to wait until my next paycheck to buy the $9 cheapo brand I typically buy at Target. The Friday I got paid I bought the pillow, handed the squishy one to my husband and figured all would be well.
WRONG! No, let's bold that. WRONG!! And add an additional exclamation point for emphasis.
The next morning (this past Saturday) I woke up thinking everything felt fine until I went into the bathroom and sat down. SHOOTING PAIN! SCREAMING PAIN! Now you have to understand that I'm one of those people who when I'm hurt/in pain I get pissed. I pity anyone who has to pop my dislocated shoulder back into the socket because I'm pretty sure I'll punch them in the face. This pain sent me right past pissed and into crying. I. Hurt!
I couldn't do anything. I couldn't think. I could barely breathe. I paced the living room holding on to my shoulder as if it might fall off, which in hindsight might have felt better. Ibebroken wouldn't touch it. There was a sharp stabbing pain between my shoulder blade and my spine that shot pain across and around the shoulder joint, and the muscles were spasming. When it finally calmed down enough I laid down on the couch flat, and the dogs decided they needed to help me feel better which consisted of Pete laying on my chest, and Scarlet draped over my legs. Of course they could have just been pinning me down for attention.
Trish came home from tennis, saw the state I was in and promptly handed me some hydrocodone because we had a babyshower to attend to that afternoon. Whee! Oh, hydrocodone! What can't you make better?! The shower went well, even if no one but us showed up, and I came home, went straight to bed and stayed there for the rest of the day and all day Sunday figuring rest should set things right.
WRONG!!!
Monday morning I was in that shooting pain again. I had already texted my team lead Sunday night to say I wouldn't be in, why and that I was going to try to see a doctor. At 6:45 in the morning no way was I going to get a doc's appointment so I went to the ER. Yes, I answered 10 on the pain scale, and I've had absessed teeth! They poked at me. Took some blood. Did an EKG (and I found out after the fact that they were probably scared I was having a heart attack!), took xrays, but everything came back okay, and unpregnant (apparently they needed to run a pregnancy test before giving me the pain med drip even though I told them Aunt Flo had just left the building and I had had a tubaligation). The ER doc's evaluation was Muscle Strain and Neuropathy. He gave me scripts for 600mg Ibebroken, my very own hydrocodone and something for muscle spasms. He gave me a two day Get Out of Work Free pass and sent me on my way.
Tuesday I made an appointment for a follow up with a doc at a center that has neurologists and physical therapists on site, but they couldn't see me until Friday. Meanwhile, I had to go back to work but the meds knock me out so Wednesday I was in GOBS of pain sitting at my desk. Tears. Literally crying at my desk from the pain. So today I took the damn hydrocodone and drifted my way through work since it was either that, go to the clinic to get yet another doctor to give me another two day pass or blow a vacation day (which was SO not happening, but that's another story of grr!).
As long as I have my meds in me I feel okay. There's still pain but it's doable. Off my meds and there's that solid screaming pain again, only now it's traveled down the back of my arm to my wrist, and makes my pinky and ring finger numb. Pressure of any kind on my back hurts even through the meds so sleeping is fun.
Meanwhile, some people at work have made it known that they think I'm blowing a pinched nerve out of proportion. I'm irritable from not enough sleep and being in pain as well as having my integrity questioned. Some other people have told me that when they or someone they knew had the same symptoms they had to have surgery. AND I CAN'T DRINK BEER! Grrr.
So that's where I am at the moment. *growls.*
WRONG! No, let's bold that. WRONG!! And add an additional exclamation point for emphasis.
The next morning (this past Saturday) I woke up thinking everything felt fine until I went into the bathroom and sat down. SHOOTING PAIN! SCREAMING PAIN! Now you have to understand that I'm one of those people who when I'm hurt/in pain I get pissed. I pity anyone who has to pop my dislocated shoulder back into the socket because I'm pretty sure I'll punch them in the face. This pain sent me right past pissed and into crying. I. Hurt!
I couldn't do anything. I couldn't think. I could barely breathe. I paced the living room holding on to my shoulder as if it might fall off, which in hindsight might have felt better. Ibebroken wouldn't touch it. There was a sharp stabbing pain between my shoulder blade and my spine that shot pain across and around the shoulder joint, and the muscles were spasming. When it finally calmed down enough I laid down on the couch flat, and the dogs decided they needed to help me feel better which consisted of Pete laying on my chest, and Scarlet draped over my legs. Of course they could have just been pinning me down for attention.
Trish came home from tennis, saw the state I was in and promptly handed me some hydrocodone because we had a babyshower to attend to that afternoon. Whee! Oh, hydrocodone! What can't you make better?! The shower went well, even if no one but us showed up, and I came home, went straight to bed and stayed there for the rest of the day and all day Sunday figuring rest should set things right.
WRONG!!!
Monday morning I was in that shooting pain again. I had already texted my team lead Sunday night to say I wouldn't be in, why and that I was going to try to see a doctor. At 6:45 in the morning no way was I going to get a doc's appointment so I went to the ER. Yes, I answered 10 on the pain scale, and I've had absessed teeth! They poked at me. Took some blood. Did an EKG (and I found out after the fact that they were probably scared I was having a heart attack!), took xrays, but everything came back okay, and unpregnant (apparently they needed to run a pregnancy test before giving me the pain med drip even though I told them Aunt Flo had just left the building and I had had a tubaligation). The ER doc's evaluation was Muscle Strain and Neuropathy. He gave me scripts for 600mg Ibebroken, my very own hydrocodone and something for muscle spasms. He gave me a two day Get Out of Work Free pass and sent me on my way.
Tuesday I made an appointment for a follow up with a doc at a center that has neurologists and physical therapists on site, but they couldn't see me until Friday. Meanwhile, I had to go back to work but the meds knock me out so Wednesday I was in GOBS of pain sitting at my desk. Tears. Literally crying at my desk from the pain. So today I took the damn hydrocodone and drifted my way through work since it was either that, go to the clinic to get yet another doctor to give me another two day pass or blow a vacation day (which was SO not happening, but that's another story of grr!).
As long as I have my meds in me I feel okay. There's still pain but it's doable. Off my meds and there's that solid screaming pain again, only now it's traveled down the back of my arm to my wrist, and makes my pinky and ring finger numb. Pressure of any kind on my back hurts even through the meds so sleeping is fun.
Meanwhile, some people at work have made it known that they think I'm blowing a pinched nerve out of proportion. I'm irritable from not enough sleep and being in pain as well as having my integrity questioned. Some other people have told me that when they or someone they knew had the same symptoms they had to have surgery. AND I CAN'T DRINK BEER! Grrr.
So that's where I am at the moment. *growls.*