Hurtin' for certain

Nurse Franklin looking after me.

Well, I've taken another step backwards, instead of forwards towards healing.  After injuring my right hip while skiing last Tuesday, I was feeling good enough on the weekend to start running again.  I did my 5 mile interval run in the park on Saturday and another 5 mile easy run on Sunday.  By Monday, when I got to work, my lower back was feeling a bit stiff.  I decided to go out on my lunch hour and walk around a bit, to loosen it up, and returned to work in the afternoon with back spasms and pain that had me lying on the floor of my office with my knees to my chest.

By the time I got to the last couple of patients of the day, I couldn't even sit on the rolling exam stool in the exam rooms.  A couple of patients asked me if I was ok.  My nurse and medical assistant also asked if I was ok, as I had taken on quite a green hue in my face, I am quite sure because of the amount of pain I was in.  I was not ok, but I smiled and told my patients I would be fine.  I got a prescription for a muscle relaxant from a coworker and could barely stand at the pharmacy counter to pick it up.

What a mess I have become.  I don't remember ever being in this much pain, except for when I had my ACL surgery 5 years ago.  I wonder what has happened to my connective tissue and why it is all of a sudden turning into steel cable.

First day of Spring.

I remember about 14 years ago when I was working as a ski instructor and I had taken an awful fall.  A day or so later, I was complaining about how stiff I was and that I wasn't bouncing back like I used to (I was about 26 at the time).  All of the other instructors just looked at me and smirked, "Just wait a few more years.  It only gets worse."

And they were right.  I mustered the strength to take the dogs for a 30 minute walk today.  I felt as if I was barely shuffling along in the park.  I kept the dogs off-leash, because I didn't want them to yank me and disturb my already irritable back.  The consequence was that they both decided to go swimming with the ducks in the pond.  I didn't have the heart or the energy to yell at them to leave the ducks alone (no ducks were harmed).

Oh, gosh.  I just want to feel better.  I missed arguably the best powder day of the year this year and couldn't go skiing.  It's hard for me not to feel a bit sorry for myself.  Hopefully if I rest the next few days, I will be able to fully partake in the volunteering that I am signed up for at the 50- and 100-mile events out at Antelope Island this weekend.  I really want to be able to enjoy it and not be in a lot of pain out there, or have to go home early.  I was actually hoping to get a short run in while I was there.