Keeping A Good Man Down

I've been avoiding this topic for quite a while now but I feel it's time for me to bring it up.  Before I left Virginia, I had somehow injured a tendon behind my left knee.  It KICKED, if you know what I mean.  I could no longer stoop down and get up with my usual bounce.  And who the heck had time to nurse an injury?   

We arrived here, unpacked, put all our crap treasures away, and decorated inside and out.  I still couldn't put a lot of weight on that knee and couldn't get my heel to touch my butt unless I felt excruciating pain.  Before I know it we had a Christening, then Thanksgiving, then it was time to decorate for Christmas, inside and out (yes, with those damn swags that I really do love!!), then it was the little one's birthday.  During that whole time I was making a zillion cookies and was on my feet all day.  Well, sad to say, but I guess with all that walking and being on my feet twelve to fifteen hours a day, I injured my something again.

Meanwhile, the Prez who had gone to cut some of the trees in his Mom's yard right before Thanksgiving, caught her cold.  Well, you know men and how they are when they get sick.  And so it was.  The Prez remained in the house, in his chair, in his sweats, taking heed whenever I told him to take his medicine.  Whatever he caught lasted three weeks and then he was back to normal.

Now bear in mind that in the midst of all of the above, I joined the gym and exercised at least twice a week every week, in addition to walking our small gravel road each morning with the dogs because I thought after doing my morning stretches that the walk would limber me up a tad.  WRONG.

  Yep, I guess I over did it because I Christmas Eve, when I picked up Tess (the second to the youngest grand daughter) I felt this small "pop" in my left glut.  But, it wasn't until about a half hour later, while I standing chatting with the Prez' ex, that I got this horrible burning sensation on my outer thigh that made me want to cry.  Drawing in a deep breath, I slowly walked around the front of the sofa and motioned the girls to push over.  I sat smiling and nodding and never uttered a word to anyone, including the Prez.  I mean...come on...who wants to ruin any one's Christmas????

I made it through the rest of the evening visiting at my daughter's (looking like Hallie Berry, of course!) and before long it was time to head home.  However, rather than climbing in the Prez' Dodge diesel, I climbed in the Wrangler, which we had picked up early that afternoon from my son, who had borrowed it while his car was in the shop.  I followed the Prez home and with each and every clutch movement, I grimaced.  I hit the sheets as soon as we got home and then rested for nearly two full days after Christmas and was finally able to walk around without grimacing and wincing in pain. 

I skipped the gym the week after Christmas...intentionally.  But then more frivolity was on the horizon as it was my birthday Wednesday, the 28th.  You what I got from Mother Nature...a whole tree on the roof!    We always made a good team, I thought, working side by side with the Prez.  We had started right after breakfast and didn't stop until 2:30pm until my BIL and SIL left.  Meanwhile whatever I had injured was once again killing me as I dragged branches and lifted pieces of the trunk, dragging it away from the house.

At first I thought my injury was muscular but as the days passed, I began to think about a pinched nerve...sciatic.  Now I'm leaning towards an injury to my iliotibial band which apparently runs from the upper thigh down to the lower leg (of course, that a self dianosis).  However, after treating the pain with RICE (rest, ice, compression & elevation) and focusing on stretches and exercises to rebound, I have felt an improvement.

And so the morning of the 2nd, I felt good enough to walk the road with the kids.  WRONG.  Oh, I made it down and back and have been walking around doing laundry, which requires stair climbing and a few other things.  I WILL HEAL...I just have to do what the Prez does...stay put and cool it in order to rebound.

I do not do drugs other than Aleve.  I have had bad experiences with pain medications and muscle relaxers so I, my friends, am laying low while the Prez was in Virginia.  I am applying Arniflora Arnica Gel and the Eco Natural Arthritis Joint Relief Balm frequently.  After all, there are a lot of gravel roads for me to climb!

Yep...there's a lesson here:
It's hard to keep a good man down...let alone when it's yourself!