State of the Steff and Her Gimp Back

Let's preface this with: I'm still on painkillers. But...

Things are starting to settle down a little. Finally. Fucking finally. I'm able to do all the more intense stretches now for the low back. Holy FUCK have I been tight.

I'm still tight. I still keep slipping out of joint in the low back. But it's really starting to improve. I'm stable more frequently and for longer, and getting stable is easier than it has been.

I really want to get back to work Tuesday so I've got one remaining sick day as insurance. But given the last couple months I'd REALLY like to see that one go to waste. Seriously. Fuck, man. I'm DONE. I WON. You HAVE NOT BEAT ME, universe. Now fuck off and take the beating like a man. 'Cause I have survived.

I swear, I hear Gloria Gaynor. Take that!

In good news, I'm sitting up a little more, often an hour or more, then I retreat to the floor again. Sitting I need to obviously be able to do by Tuesday.

I'm now stretching my hamstrings and quads a lot because they're now the problem. But that's okay... I expected this. I just wasn't ABLE to do these stretches. I was so tight I was at risk of doing something very, very bad to my back, I had to let it settle down naturally. I know that much about my body at least. Never have I had "DON'T GO THERE" screaming at me as I have this past week.

Definitely the most debilitating pain of my life. I would be quite, quite happy to never experience that again.

During the lay-down, off-time period, one major accomplishment has happened. Someone has been monkeying with my other site for me for the last week, and things are now all hung up on chaos at the hosting companies. Frankly, it's a "telescopic rifle from the bell tower" moment, but I'm chilling nicely as I just wait it the fuck out. It's probably the addictive painkillers my doc hurtled at me. They're keeping me mellow.

But it's also completely out of my hand. Instead, while I'm lying on my back in boring TV shows, I tinker with the archives as I clean up all the postings brought over to Word Press sans tags and categories and with different URLs. It's slow mindless work, better than surfing the web, and I take lots of breaks. I think it took me maybe two hours over the course of an afternoon and evening to tweak the template. The new banner took 15 minutes. It's been very easy, surprisingly.

I've improved the look of my blog by a thousand percent. It's also a far more sophisticated archival system, and with 900 posts and more than 5,000 comments, I can use that!

There's my lay-me-down signal from the back again, so this spell of sitting's over. Ha, settled down again already.

But know this, people: Things are looking up. Heck, I'm getting vertical sometimes! Wahoo. And I don't waddle much when I walk anymore. Snap!

Um, okay. Yes, well, looking good, but a ways to go just yet. Now my feet are asleep. Fuck I want to exercise and get out of my house!

INSANITY. Like I say, mellow about it. Weird. And a little too well-fed on convenience foods of late, too. Sigh. Heh. That's okay. YOU try getting through a week like mine, on your back, bored out of your fucking mind, without a little emotional eating.

Mm. Emotional snacks are the tastiest. You know it!

[OH! Doctor says DO NOT STOP doing the stairs. Just do them better and stretch more. I think the problem was a weight-lifting repetition I was doing, though, now that I've got hindsight and know exactly where all the problem stemmed from. It's the weights, but was exacerbated by stairs and bike. Have no fear. I shall overcome! By the end of the week, right as rain. Fingers crossed. I've bought the Advil and Robaxacet. Heh.]