Time for some changes

Wanted to give some eye candy before I started chatted away about some issues I'm dealing with.

We're taking care of the neighbor's two kittens while he's out of town. I'm falling in love with the white one. :D

I have no idea of their gender, but she's very friendly and runs up to me all the time. She'll even scratch on our front door when she wants attention. Purrs like crazy, loves her ears rubbed and tries to bite my hair when it's really curly. :)

The other kitten looks like a panther. (And stalks like one! Saw him going after a bird the other day).

Very much a scaredy cat, I haven't been able to pet him at all. Any sudden movements has him running in fear. But he's learning that I'm a nice person, I feed him. :)

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I hurt my lower back again. I did it back in May, as you can read in the beginning of this post. Babying it, being careful how I lift things and avoiding stuff that I knew would make it worse helped. In about a month, the pain was all gone.

This time is waaaaaaaaay worse. I don't think any one specific thing triggered it, but that it finally "gave out" after all the little things added up. The little things would be like leaning close to the monitor when I didn't have my contacts on; sitting on the porch floor to play with the kitties; perhaps the angles I twisted my leg to shave it while standing; maybe using my right leg for both the sewing machine pedal and knee lift; could be that I sleep on my right side way more than the left; or even how I would cross my legs while sitting at the computer... the bottom line is that my lower back and right pelvis have been in extreme pain for the last 3 days.

How bad? Let's put it this way, in a period of 36 hours (2 nights and 1 day) I was out of bed for 7 of those hours, slept for 13 and that leaves 16 hours of being awake, unable to do a darn thing because it hurts too much.

Today I was feeling better, my hip wasn't screaming. I get up (very slowly and carefully, mind you) and get my contacts on and was just about to take some more medicine when some how my hip gives out and I take one collapsing step to the bed. After recovering, I get up and get the kitty food (they really needed it because I didn't feed them at all on Monday), take two steps to the door and completely collapsed.

The carpet needs to be vacuumed. :)

I ended up dragging myself to the door, dumping some food right out on the floor and crawling to my room. And that's when I finally acknowledge that yes, I do have a problem.

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So some changes are being made. I've gone special notice on a bunch of my email groups. I'm way behind on email, I can't sit at the computer for long periods of time. Some have to go.

I'll probably be unsubscribing from some blogs. Don't worry, chances are that if you read my blog and have one of your own... it's not you. :) But there's some like the bank interest rates currently like... well, they're not gonna miss me. :) There's some food-related blogs that will go too. The fact is that I have over 400 blogs in my Google reader, some have to go.

I'm gonna have to ditch some forums for the time being. I'm not an active poster on them, nobody will miss me. Again, financial forums. There's 2 forums that I intend to remain active on - and I do post a few times a day there. And there's 2 others that will get my attention if I have the time or the strength to.

I still intend to be quilting and blogging. No worries there. :) They would be among the last to go.

I'm cutting back on my computer time not because it bothers me how much time I spend, but how much I don't pay attention to my posture and positions.

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As for my back, I have a plan prepared.

-I will be popping meds as needed. Currently Excedrin has been easing the pain the most. Even though it has caffeine, I'm able to fall asleep shortly after taking them. :)

-I will see if my apartment's spa is open tomorrow. A friend and nurse told me that "poor man's chiropractor" is to pop some meds and then go swimming for a few laps. Helps works out kinks without weight pressure. The pool isn't open, so I'm gonna try the spa for some stretches and movements.

-Thursday through Saturday I'll be going to Phoenix with my husband for his conference. There's supposed to be a pool at the hotel, so I hope to try the lap swimming for my back and hip.

-On the weekends the Cove has "open swim" to the general public for $5. I'll go there Sunday if I'm not seeing an improvement.

-Finally, if that doesn't help, then I'll be going to a chiropractor on Monday. I have either some pelvic misalignment or lower spine issues. I don't know if it's just a little kink or if something is really twisted. I've put a request on my local Freecycle list for chiropractor information. One guy is getting a lot of recommendations and charges about $30 a visit, so that's probably who I'll end up going to.

Not fun to deal with this, but I think the thing that's getting affected the most is the apartment. Stuff strewn around, dishes piled high (I'm so scared of leaning over to the dishwasher). It's a big deal when I am able to throw something together for my husband's lunch and when I get his clothes out for work. Everything else? Fergitaboutit. :P

I'm really hopeful that tomorrow will be better. Despite collapsing twice today, I haven't been groaning every time I move, unlike last night. And I will take the meds BEFORE getting out of bed in the morning! :)

Leah