12 days of...back pain

So much for the 12 days of Christmas. I have had the 12 worst days of back pain of my life. I am getting better but it is such a slow process. We still don't know what caused the sacrum/tailbone pain, but let's just say at it's worst, I walked an awful lot like my 90-something uncle when he was alive.

I know I'm improving because the drugs are finally having an effect. For the first two days, they didn't even touch the pain. Case in point: I confused my meds and took a double dose of the painkiller three times instead of the muscle relaxant and I was still in horrible pain. Now it's just much more nagging pain but it can still take my breath away every once in a while. I can, occasionally, sit or stand for a few minutes without much discomfort. So we're making progress.

When this first happened, all I could think of was when would I be able to run again? Maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow became my mantra. After that, it was maybe next week. Now I'm at maybe at the beginning of the year. It would be a good way to begin 2009 being able to run again. Here's hoping -- and no more whining.

I'm still home from work (6 days and counting). Looks like I'll be out most if not all of the rest of the week and then head back half-days for a bit. I wasn't looking forward to running in the cold after our two weeks in CA, but now I'd welcome a cold-weather run.

A real pain in the neck

My runs lately have been going great and I was really looking forward to a short run on Friday followed by a longer run on Sunday. Until I woke up on Friday morning. I couldn't turn my head to the right. It felt like I had a giant knot in the right side and someone was stabbing me with a knife. The pain then radiates dhown into my shoulder and back.

I've seen the chiropractor and the massage therapist and still I can only turn my neck about 25 percent before the pain comes firing back. It hurts to write this post.

And why is it when I don't run -- or when I know I'm not going to run -- I eat so much worse? So on top of not getting my endorphin fix, I'm feeling hyped up on homemade choc chip cookies and Diet Coke. Not good.

Back to the chiropractor tomorrow.