Debilitating

There’s an active competition going on between my spine and my sacroiliac joint as to which can cause me the most pain at the moment. Sadly, it’s a close run race, and thus neither side is willing to give up, end this ridiculous charade and allow me to get on with life.

My lower back is a battleground, and it’s properly messy right now.

I was fine for a lot of today, and then absolutely nothing happened and I was in agony again. Experience has shown that sitting down for any length of time is clearly not a good thing and so I have been spending a lot of time standing up. But then standing still is also not a good thing, so a degree of gentle mobilisation seems to be the best way to keep the pain away. Sounds straightforward, but then, have you ever considered why you stand still or why you sit down every now and again?

You need that rest.

And yes, those breaks are nice, because they take the strain off your body for a while and allow you to relax. When you can’t do that, it’s exhausting. Add to that the fact that everything takes longer than it should, stuff dropped on the floor just has to bloody stay there and we’ve got a whole summer holiday coming up which looks like it’s going to be ruined unless there’s a Christmas miracle, and you might just begin to see how debilitating this whole thing is.

On the plus side, I’m getting lots done (slowly), because there’s not much joy in lying down either, so I’ve just been plodding on through my neverending list of jobs. Even this post is being written standing at the kitchen counter, because I’m actually too scared to try and sit down at my desk.

It’s a complete pain. Literally. It’s been more than two weeks since I did nothing to injure myself, and I really thought that I would be mended by now.

Bit of a moany post? Well sure. But well deserved. I am so tired and so f[lip]ing frustrated at the moment.

Backing up

I’m still not quite sure what happened to my back. I know what’s wrong with it and I know what I did that day, but I can’t quite put my finger on any given incident that caused it. It’s sore. I’m pissed off and tired. I can still do most things, but it just takes three times as long and leaves me exhausted by mid-afternoon. That said, I’m not able to do everything: I had plans to dump a quarter of a ton of topsoil on the lawn this week, but I’ve decided to give that a miss. I didn’t play football this evening.

My L5/S1 disc is prolapsed, but it’s not a bad one – just a really annoying one. This will be the billionth time it’s happened since I first damaged it when I was 16. I’ve got some wonderful MRI images from over the years.

I once used a physio who told me that it was me that knew best how to deal with my crappy back, and he was right. I’ve tried most things over the years to make it feel better. The best remedy I ever had was pethidine, but sadly, that’s not readily available right now, so I’m using my fallback (no pun intended) methods of gentle mobilisation, lying flat whenever possible, and heat. Nowhere near as much fun.

Recovery is happening, but at a very slow pace. But then, as I said earlier, everything is happening at a very slow pace right now.

Grr.

Back and foot

It’s like foot and mouth, except more less serious.

Meh. I’ve hurt my back shifting furniture around. I’ve always had back problems, but I thought they were behind me (no pun intended), because I’ve been working really hard on my core muscles and I feel fitter and more protected than ever.

Not so, it seems.

Add to that the f****** bee sting from the weekend, which has now swelled up like a swollen thing on my foot. Itchy, hot. Irritating.

Have some Iggy Pop. His recent Maida Vale BBC Radio 6 Music session.

I love this, and I am dying to find it on Spotify.
Also, I hope I am still rocking at 72 years old.
Just being able to walk again in 72 hours would be a start.

And: Leron Thomas on trumpet. Beautifully understated, but hugely important.

Tramadol? I’m tempted…