Away

After posting several times a day when I first started this thing, I've noticed that I haven't touched it for a week. The thing is, I mostly created this as a way to make contact with the world outside my bedroom -- to keep in touch with the folks I was away from, and now I'm back home. So suddenly the urge to write has fizzled. ("Why do I need to write about what I'm doing? I've been rescued! Mom and Dad are sitting on the other side of the room...") Of course, everyone I left behind in DC (or Baltimore or Boonsboro) is now "away", and there are still those who are always "away" from me. So I will try to haul myself up by my bootstraps and get back to writing!

I'm spending most of my time now lying on the couch in the sunroom, surrounded by large windows looking out over the sunny, leafy backyard, listening to the potted ficus plants whispering in the breeze from the air conditioning, drinking coffee, and reading blogs. It's all very peaceful and cheery. Dad picked up a few books from the library for me that I've been wanting to read; they're stacked on the end table on top of the books I brought home for my dissertation, ready to hand and conveniently blocking the others from view.

Mom has been very busy with errands and appointments since we got home, so Dad and I usually spend the day lolling about together. Periodically I'll pull him away from his computer in the den for a game of backgammon or go lie on my back on the carpet by his chair to chat about this and that. The cat seems to approve of all this lying about; she occasionally leaves her hiding spot under a couch or in the sunbeam by a window to rub against a leg and be petted before disappearing again.

I have also rediscovered food, as you will all be happy to learn, thanks mostly to Dad's amazing cooking and my steroid medication. I get three ready-prepared meals handed to me every day, and Dad fills the plates himself -- with about three times what I would normally eat, and I'm surprised to see how quickly it all disappears. If I do not go back to DC at least 15 pounds heavier, it will not be his fault.

...which gets me to the more technical part of this update. The day before I left DC, Mom went with me all over town, meeting with doctors, picking up X-ray films, and filling prescriptions. We were able to meet with my GP, who explained the MRI results better than the back specialist had (thus reinforcing my perception of specialists: if the tests don't show anything terribly out of the ordinary, it's hard to get them invested in your case. Eight weeks of debilitating pain? "Meh. Cry me a river. Tests say you're fine.")

My doctor explained that there's a tear in one of the disks in my spine, which means that spinal fluid seeps into the sac (...or, out of it ...or something), causing all kinds of intense inflammation and irritation. It can't heal until the inflammation goes down, which (I think) explains why my pain has continually gotten worse rather than better. So he put me on steroids to reduce the inflammation and help it to heal, along with two kinds of pain medication. So far I haven't felt any improvement, but I am so pepped at the thought of actually treating the problem, I expect relief right around the corner! Once things calm down a bit, I'll go back into physical therapy.

I will also be meeting with a neurosurgeon next week to cover all my bases, but I don't expect much more interest from him. (Let's hope so, anyway. "Interest" from him would mean surgery, which I am decidedly NOT interested in.) Meanwhile, the pain medication makes me almost perpetually happy and sentimental; if you have a sob story you'd like someone to listen to with rapt attention and a few gratifying tears of sympathy, I'm your woman!