Distractions

I meant to go to the gym yesterday but got distracted by my cupboard. I'd noticed that all my boxes of pasta were infested with tiny bugs and their larvae. Ugh. Weevils! Which meant I was at once consumed with the task of thoroughly cleaning out the three shelves in the corner cabinet over the counter. 

I don't have long limbs so even climbing up on a chair left me short. Several pounds of dried pasta got tossed as well as compromised bags of dried beans. Unaffected packages still had to be dunked to be rid of larvae, casings, weevils, and everything in between. Needless to say, this took all afternoon. 

I'm happy that at least the boxes of mac & cheese are thoroughly sealed and thus apparently spared. Regular pasta boxes are closed with a tiny dab of glue, leaving their ends open. The only pasta I have now are freezer raviolis and the squid ink spaghetti I got a few years back because it's sealed in a ziplock although I've read that weevils will chew through plastic as well! Even freezer bags! Weevils aren't toxic but my family isn't going to eat pasta with little grubs and dark spots with legs. We're all tick-conscious so no tiny spots of anything with legs! 

I went to bed and for the first time in weeks slept somewhere in-between on my side and on my back. And although my glute hurt and my foot was partly numb when I awoke, it wasn't crippling. Which meant all that climbing up and down from my cabinets and reaching and stretching didn't adversely affect my sciatica. Whoopee! I am, however, still taking ibuprofen and gabapentin an hour before bed because not sleeping is excruciating and makes any pain so much worse. 

My son went back to school today and the bus now comes 20 minutes earlier than last year. Since I'm in the car already, I decided to go to the gym before taking pups to the park. Officially, the Bark Park doesn't open until 8 am and there's never anyone there until 10. So I take them around 9:30 and we leave before 11. Plenty of outdoor run-around time with at least one canine pal. A lot of people have gone back to work and their pups are at doggy daycares instead of coming to the park.

I'm at the gym before 7 am now but I didn't get the chance to hang from the Smith because it was occupied. I did climb back onto the elliptical, but only at a moderate pace at a moderate incline. I wasn't breathless but I definitely felt out of shape cardio-wise. Toward the end of the 35 minutes, my right calf started to ache inside the knee. It's happened to me before when I went on a 5-mile hike with our Scouts and I'm not sure why or what it is. 

I completely avoided doing any backward pedaling because I can still feel the achy glute when I walk or sit, but again, it's not crippling. The orthopedics office still hasn't called me back to set up an appointment. (I guess they're not at any loss for patients.) It's been fully over 4 weeks since the initial injury and I don't want to re-injure myself, but it'd really help to know exactly what I should or shouldn't be doing, instead of this trial-by-error. Is the disk herniated or something else? A proper picture of the damage would be so helpful, but some feel that MRIs actually make back pain worse. What? An MRI won't actually detail nerve damage, just the structures surrounding the nerve tissue. A British site offers MR Neurography for sciatica patients. I'm not exactly sure how that works... 

Will I aggravate the injury if I resume the elliptical programs I used to do with backward and forward pedaling over varying inclines? Will doing pull-ups hurt me? What weight lifting movements can I still do since rowing of any sort seems to be off the list? I haven't put crunches or dead bugs back in my routine yet although today I did some push-ups and that felt okay. I'll try air squats next time and see how that feels. The cat/camel stretches are definitely uncomfortable but they haven't crippled me so does that mean they're good? I'm only doing them because my chiropractor recommended them. I have an appointment to see him this afternoon... 

10 Sept 2021
Sciatic Sunny Friday

Precor elliptical
Program: Manual, incline 7
Time: 30 min + 5 min cd
Distance: 2.63
Cal: 279
HR: 150-110, 122 av

Skip Crunches 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
Skip 60 Dead Bugs
Elbow Plank 60s
Child’s Pose
Cat/Camel stretch 10x
Fire Hydrants 15 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Child’s Pose
Cat/Camel stretch 10x
Push-Ups 25
Mild Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Skip Air Squats 25