A Long Time My Friend

Well for a very good reason I haven't written in a quite some time. It's a long story and technically I'm not supposed to be typing away on the computer but hey, I have a good dose of cabin fever and the pills haven't quite kicked in yet!

It all started with a planned surprise party for Hubby, his big 30th birthday. Months went into planning all the details and getting people to attend. On the actual day I was navigating my e-mail account (while he sat beside me) and realized that the risky routine was perhaps a bit too daring since it was the actual day of the shindig. I had all sorts of updates and cancellations from his friends which I obviously didn't want him to see. I turned with the laptop in my arms to face him (so he couldn't see the screen) and all of a sudden something felt a little... odd. Then this searing pain in my neck and I realized I couldn't turn it to the left or to the right. Uh oh. I have to admit I kind of freaked out because I didn't want to be sitting at his surprise birthday dinner not being able to turn my neck. No problem. I found a local massage therapist and went for a therapeutic massage (which was so painful!) only to find my neck in no better shape than before. Oh well, I'd just have to live with it. So the birthday party went really well. Everyone showed up, the food was good, he got birthday money to go towards a new tattoo and we partied till the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday comes. I wake up and I'm having more pain than the day before and my shoulder is aching. Finally by Sunday night Hubby decides that I should go get some help since I can barely move and he has to work the next day. Kids get shipped off to Grandma's and off we go to the hospital to get a little TLC. TLC came in the form of having to wait till almost five the next morning to return home! With a bottle of anti inflammatory drugs I was sure my problem was over. This brings us to Monday. Hubby's at work. The kids are still at Grandma's. I wake up around 9 (the one day I actually get to sleep in!) and the pain is ten times worse and it's shooting down my arms and into my hands. My head is pounding and I cannot even come close to moving my neck or my shoulder. The waves of nausea start. I decide to call 911 and they promptly arrive to bring me back to the hospital that I had just come back from not so many hours ago. As soon as I arrived I knew it wasn't good news. There were ambulances coming in left right and center from car accidents and heart attacks and the waiting room had about forty or so people waiting to be seen. Seeing that I wasn't dying (oh but the pain...) they plopped me into a wheelchair and deposited me in the waiting room. All I could see was a repeat of the day before.

I had no intention of waiting twelve plus hours to see a doctor so I tested my sea legs (I didn't faint, that was a good sign right?) and decided to step out and use my cell phone for some advice. Hubby came first. "Do whatever you want to. Just make sure you call me and tell me where you are." Thanks. Then I figure my Dad may be a little more understanding..., "Dad I took an ambulance to the hospital and the waiting time is huge, I'm in so much pain and I don't know what to do..." The tears threaten to spill. "Well I guess you'll just have to wait!" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Well forget everyone and their lack of support, I, the mother of two boys, the super hero, would find a way. So I staggered to a Pharmacy to pick up a neck brace (which is a story in itself...) and made my way down the very big hill to another hospital! Okay I can't not write about my neck brace story, it just adds so much humour in an already, interesting situation! From the moment I told my Dad I had neck pain, way before any of this really serious neck pain started, he advised me to purchase a neck brace. He absolutely insisted they worked and worked like no other drug, etc... could possibly work. By the time I was limping down the hill to go to the other hospital his words kept resounding in my head, "buy a brace, buy a brace, BUY A BRACE." I did. When I got to hospital number two I was received with open arms but was told that stretchers weren't available at that moment and I would have to try to sit. I did. I sat for a total of five hours before the pain became so excruciating I thought I was going to pass out or puke. I re-triaged myself and the so very nice nurse found me a bed to lie down in so I could wait the rest of my time. Hubby had to leave to go pick up the kids and bring them home so I drifted in and out on my lonely stretcher waiting for a doctor to come and tell me what was wrong. Finally at about eleven o'clock at night I was wheeled into a room and the do you know what was the first thing that doctor said to me? "Who told you to wear a neck brace?" (I appeared as a dog with its tail between its legs and couldn't quite manage to get the words out.) She continued, "Well they don't work so take it off, they're absolutely useless." Gulp. I ripped the sucker off half expecting my neck to break in two but instead I actually felt some relief! That is the last time I listen to my Dad's medical advice! This comes from the man who insists that a shot (or two or three) of Vodka before bed will prevent all ailments, from colds to cancer! Anyway all of this to say that I was diagnosed with a pinched nerve, muscle inflammation and a "frozen" neck and shoulder. They sent me home with painkillers, sleeping pills, anti inflammatory drugs an a laxative in case they block me up!

The pain is getting less and less and my mobility is getting better every day. I'm supposed to be on bed rest for two weeks which is never, ever going to happen but I will listen to one thing that the doctor told me and that is I will try not to lift for that two week period. I made the mistake of doing lifting this afternoon and instantly realized that it was not a good idea. So aside from feeling entirely stoned twenty-four hours a day from the drugs I am on my way to a smooth recovery. Lesson that I learned in this whole process ... be very careful doing absolutely nothing!