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Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

This blog is my place to sit and toss pebbles into the stream. The stream of Life relentlessly passing before us. We can affect it little. For the most part I just watch it passing and follow the flow. Occasionally, I need to comment on its passing, tossing a pebble at it to enjoy the ripple affect upon Life's surface.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Life is a Pain

I am in pain!!!!!! The only good thing you can say about lower back pain is that it reassures you that you are still alive. . . . . . .you only wish you were dead.






















It seems I am not alone in suffering from back pain. Just google images on Google! There are endless depictions of back pain and cures for back pain and care of the back etc.






















I know and understand my back pain. I have lived with it since my teenage years. I have visited the doctor and the hospital and seen the X rays years ago. No need to now. It is just time to tough it out. I know it is bad when I give in and take pills for pain. (I generally refuse to join the pill taking crowd). When a double dose of aspirin offered no relief this time, I got something stronger from June which decreased the pain by half. All I can think of is the Bill Cosby standup routine he used to do about being an man an go to the drugstore for some Mydol. (I used to find this terribly funny) I might be tempted to try it if I knew someone who used it. At my age you have no female friends young enough that they would use Mydol.



























I have had all the advice of how to care for my back . As much as I have spent a lot of my life doing heavy work, (out of choice) and enjoying it, I have managed to protect my back with careful lifting technique.

There was a time I could swing my 70 pound canoe onto my shoulders while wearing a 50 pound packsack and carry both across a fairly long portage. (The longest was 3 km which is another story and a unique kind of self inflicted pain.)


My current back pain seemed to have flaired up without cause. Friday night, I did take a tumble on the ice on one of my mid-night treks to the shed. I fell in such a way I thought I dislocated my shoulder. That was painful and I thought I might just stay down and freeze to death rather than try to move. I mustered the courage and got up and made it to the house. It turned out something was torn in my upper left back and shoulder. I moved gingerly the next day and it largely went away. I don't think this fall triggered my lower back pain.

The next day, Sunday, I woke up with the kind of lower back pain, with which I am very familiar . I have one leg shorter than the other and this can cause a stress fracture in a bone in my back. (On the X ray the bone looks like a scotty dog and their is a crack in it's neck.) I learned all this when I was 17 and an orthopaedic surgeon diagnosed it. It apparently is just one of those things and not related to my suffering polio when I was 5 years old. I have learned to live with it. For many years, I wore special orthopaedic shoes that made the difference in my leg length more tolerable. I abandonned them years ago. Mainly careful lifting and proper rest when it occured managed the pain for me. So this pain in the back is just something with which I am occasionally inflicted.

It is very inconvenient to live with back pain the way I live. While I have two other people in the house , I am the only one able to do the more physical tasks. (keeping the three wood stoves supplied with wood, shovelling up manure after the cows, hauling feed bags, etc.) So I am moving in slow motion today. Unable to pull my own socks on (June did it or me before she went to town). I am managing although it is painful to stand, to lift, to sit, to lie down. . . . . . .TO LIVE!

In a day or two I should be better. In the mean time say a BOO HOO for me.

11 Comments:

At 3:29 p.m., Blogger Tom said...

Hi Philip
I hope with rest it will ease, I get a lower back [pain that takes one of my legs away from me now and then... my brother as the same injury caused by working with flag and curb stones. Luckerly I don't suffer that often, but when I do it hurts to hell and back.

I wish you well with it, your life must be a tough one at these times, you still have the chores that need doing, the heating needs to be kept going and I suppose the water too. Those Pig and Piglets and the rest of the stock need caring for as well... resting must be hard to do with all that on your plate.

You used humour in your post and that's a great bonus at these times so keep a smile on your lips and curse under your breath.

All the best
Tom

 
At 3:29 p.m., Blogger Tom said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 6:35 p.m., Blogger Anvilcloud said...

I do know about back problems and that they recur with no warning and for no apparent reason. I admire you for getting on with your stuff as best as you can because I know it's now easy. In fact, I don't think I could, especially that time when I spent two months on the floor.

 
At 6:19 a.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello, I saw you over at Anvilclouds' place and so I thought I would be nosey. :o)

My husband and my dad both suffer from a bad back and they use the 'ignore it' treatment. I really feel for them and yourself as it is one of those things that as no one can actually see anythng weong then it is almost impossible to put right.
Light excercise to flex the muscles?
I loved the cartoons though and I loved that cute lookin' dog on the earlier post.

 
At 6:52 a.m., Blogger Gattina said...

So sorry for you I know what it is ! The only thing to do is wait until it goes by and rest as much as you can.

 
At 6:59 a.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello,

I dug out a plugged up field tile drain in 1957. And it was pouring rain. I was straddling the trench and got down to the tile and unplugged it one tile at a time. Tree roots.

The next morning I could not stand up much less go to work. Went to a doctor who sent me to a back specialist who told me I had messed up this one bone but they were not able to operate. It was something they can do now but then they were not able to. So this specialist prescribed a back brace and I wore it for three years and took it off.

Now. 50 years later, I still get back pain, but only sometimes. I have 800mg of Motrin in case and I can take them four times a day with meals.

Sometimes I can bend over the pick up a feather from the kitchen floor and out it goes. I spend several days walking like an adult letter "S" and I take Motrin four times a day, with meals, and the pain eventaully leaves me.

 
At 9:05 a.m., Blogger lv2scpbk said...

Sorry to hear about your back pain. Hope you feel better soon.

 
At 5:01 p.m., Blogger KGMom said...

Others have commisserated with you, and even given you suggestions.
I give you my sympathy--such as it is.
May you heal quickly, and be pain free and able to move more easily.

 
At 8:17 a.m., Blogger Peggy said...

Ouch! William has bad back pains and like you doesn't want to take anything for it. Hope you don't get grouchy. LOL

 
At 10:24 a.m., Blogger possum said...

I am so glad you are enjoying your dog – he is obviously enjoying you!
What a load of little piglets! It does seem to me that most births take place in the wee small hours of the morning… wonder why that is! ? ! Even for human babies, it seems.
It is 72 degrees here at 10 AM so I am rushing (as much as my old body will rush) to get a few things done outside… The windows are open… ahhhhh. They say we might have snow for Sunday morning. I can’t imagine the frigid temps you have. Our hit and miss winters are enough for me, especially as I get older. But, my chiropractor keeps me out of the wheelchair most of the time. It hurts but we keep going, right? Hang in there!

 
At 11:32 a.m., Blogger Mary said...

Philip,

I have an idea of the pain you are going through. In 1988, I was in a car accident that shoved my hip up and in toward my spine. I have to be very careful and am often in chronic pain. Not a pleasant way to live but like you said, we know we're alive.

Take care. Rest as much as you can and feel better.

Blessings,
Mary

 

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