4 months

Ok, wow... I'm sorry. A lot has happened in the last 4 months, and I kept wanting to write about it, and for whatever reasons, never did. But the like 4 people who read this know I'm still alive, so I think we'll get through this. ; )

Let's see, well, in March I started feeling pain and soreness in my upper back and shoulders, but didn't know why. I figured it was sore muscles and waited it out. 2 weeks later when it hadn't improved, I went to my Dr, paranoid that I had some awful spinal disease. Sure enough... it IS a spinal issue. She scared the beegeesus out of me by asking if there was Lupus in the family (no)... and then mentioned diseases like Fibromyalgia and Cervical Spine Spondylosis. She sent me for bloodwork and then X-rays... all 40+ of them, and I went home to build my paranoia with web searches and accounts of horrible lifelong pain. What fun. Thankfully, the results weren't quite so dire, though it wasn't "nothing" as I had expected her to tell me. It doesn't seem to have an official name... but it's a degenerating disc disease in my thorasic spine. Kind of an arthritis. So, I've been doing exercises, and spent a couple of weeks going to a physical therapist to learn the right stretches, exercises, and posture to help alleviate the pain and prevent it from getting worse. It's about 7 weeks later now, and I think it's starting to get better.... let's hope.

And then... in the middle of that... I broke my tailbone (the coccyx) in April. I had a bad meeting at work (got yelled at for no reason), and left to get lunch early... and promtly FELL DOWN THE STAIRCASE. Bam, Bam, Bam... down 3-4 concrete steps. I was shaking and crying by the time I got to my car... and in pretty severe pain. The next morning I went to the Dr again... and more X-rays, which was a very painful process because they made me lie on the hard surface on my back... and that's not something I could do without pain. Okay, so officially, it's not fractured, but pretty much the same thing in terms of pain. I have my special cushion to sit on (if you EVER hurt your bum, by this from Brookstone!!). Don't let anyone talk you into a "donut" pillow... those things are weird and uncomfortable. So, I carry this pillow with me everywhere.... in the car, into work, back to the car at lunch, etc. It's getting a little old. The most fun was taking it on a trip to NY at the end of April for a wedding... and using it on airplanes and in the airport, when I had to sit at JFK for EIGHT HORRID HOURS. I kept bursting into tears; I'm sure people had no idea what the hell my problem was. Ah well, that seems like a long time ago now. At work, people are calling me "Broken Butt", and asking me daily, "hey, how's your Ass?" *sigh* This too shall pass.

The other lovely bit of fallout from my fall, aside from the name-calling and my new pillow, was that I had to cancel our vacation home to California and to my beloved Ranch. I shed a few tears over that, because I was really looking forward to a break from work, seeing friends and family I haven't seen for 2 1/2 years (!!), and getting to my ranch for the first time in 5 years. Damn. But luckily, we were able to reschedule for September, so.... I have that to look forward to!

Until then, we have a lot to keep us busy this Summer... visits from family and friends... a little trip to the Hamptons, which should be very interesting and hopefully relaxing. More on all that as it happens... if I can keep up now... ; )