As I bent over to look into a cabinet on Monday morning all of a sudden a I felt a sharp pain in my lower back and I dropped to my knees.  Tears began to stream down my face as my back involuntarily contorted from muscle spasms.  I tried to get up from the floor with no success.  I then crawled over to the couch and called out for Donna to come help me up.  We failed to get me upright so with a combined effort we were able to get me up on the couch, facing the opposite direction of the t.v. of course.  So as I lie there, watching the Andy Griffith show upside down, I can’t believe this happened….again.  I come from a family of bad backs.  My dad, sister, mom all have had their backs go out on more than one occasion.  The last time my back went out I was flipping my hair to wrap it in a towel after getting out of the shower.  This was of course back when I had long hair.  As soon as I flipped my toweled head upright my upper back went into horrific muscle spasms and I could hardly walk to the bed to lay down.  I was out of work for days with that one too.  This time I wasn’t doing anything strenuous either.  I wasn’t lifting anything heavy, not running, pushing or pulling.  I just bent over to look in a cabinet!  The body truly is an enigma.

Being I couldn’t walk I needed to think of something to use to get me from the couch to the bathroom.  Ah ha, just call me MacGyver!

I decided to use my trusty shopping cart as a makeshift walker. The blue stuff on the wheels is painters tape, which prevents the carpet from getting dirty.  Not bad, huh?  I was quite the site shuffling across the apartment with my “DIY” contraption.  After posting on Facebook about my injury many friends reached out to let me know if I needed anything they were there.  Our friend Millie told us about Palmetto Health Orthopedics, who conveniently has a walk in clinic that you don’t need an appointment for.  We decided to take her suggestion and go there to get me checked out.  There was no way we could use my shopping cart to steady me for the trip to the doctor.  So leave it to my good friend Jennifer to come to the rescue.  She borrowed a walker from her mom and brought it to us Wednesday morning before she went to work.

The doctor took an x-ray which showed I had very bad muscle spasms and prescribed me steroids, muscle relaxers, pain pills, ice, heat, some exercises as the pain allows and lots of rest.  As I am sitting there in the doctor’s office, I felt as if I was in the middle of a Seinfeld episode.  Donna, being the chatty person she is struck up a conversation with the doctor and ended up finding out that he is auditioning to play Daddy Warbucks in Annie at Town Theatre while I am sitting there in pain.  Hello.  Remember me?  The patient.  Go figure…

So after being off for a mini vacation from work now I am off for another 7 days as per doctor’s orders to heal my back.  There is nothing worse than your back going out, maybe a toothache, and just having to be still and wait for it to heal.  No running, no walking, no fitbit challenges, no weights.  I am sure I will go stir crazy just sitting around.  I am just grateful I have a wonderful other half to care for me while I am at home.  Maybe this will push me to post a couple of blogs while I am at home.  We’ll see.  And for all of my readers out there, be sure to bend at the knees…