Yesterday I stopped taking the daily dose of NSAIDs that I've been using to tolerate the discomfort from my sciatica. For weeks my sciatica would wake me at 4 AM because my leg and glute ached from being in bed. I'd pop several ibuprofens and go back to sleep for a few hours until I had to walk the dogs. Then I decided to take the meds before bed as a prophylactic, hoping to not wake up at 4 AM every night. That worked for a while. Then I read that taking a combo of acetaminophen and ibuprofen worked better for lasting pain relief: one drug affects the brain pain center and the other reduces the inflammation causing the nerves to be triggered.
That worked for a while. Not well, but well enough to proceed with daily life. The only problem was that eventually, my stomach started to complain. And in response, I started to snack more. A lot more. My stomach still complained. It would gurgle and ache to feign hunger and I would comply with snacks. That worked at first, but then my stomach would complain even louder and angrier. I kept searching for the perfect food to appease it... something soothing and creamy? Or chewy and dense. Yogurt, buttered bread, cheese and crackers? Hours later it would gurgle and I'd be surprised. I'd speak to it like it was a wayward pet, "you can't possibly be hungry again!"
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| garter snake |
It's the first day of Fall, the Autumnal Equinox. After the park, dogs and I stumbled across a large garter snake traversing the yard. They didn't know what to make of it. There's a lot of yard stuff to do. Like fixing the tarp on the basement doors before I left for the gym, and while I was doing that, my phone fell out of my hoodie pocket and I didn't notice. I also wasn't wearing my FitBit watch because it desperately needed to be charged and kept buzzing me angrily. Which meant I arrived at the gym feeling a bit disoriented because I had no phone and no watch, no camera, no notes, no weather update, no shopping list, no texting or emails... I'm glad my earbuds and iPod worked!
It was weird pedaling the elliptical without being able to log anything. Instead of the usual 3 programs, I decided to choose the manual option and change the elevations myself. I cut the time down to 30 minutes and changed direction every 5 minutes, forward then backward. Some elevations loosened my muscles and others aggravated the sciatica. When I got off, my foot was numb and my right glute ached. The Stretch Cage was daunting and I initially tried to start with the left foot but that felt so unnatural that I switched back to the right leg to push off the platform so I could grab the overhead bars. Pull-ups were ugly.
The free weight area was already full of kids and I had no desire to plant myself in the middle of them. Plus, I felt disoriented without my phone. Weird, right? Instead, I just limped off to the Aerobics Room and did basic movements to make my sciatica feel better. The tech at my glaucoma doc's office suggested knee pushups when I was complaining about all the exercises I had given up. He's in his early 30s and already has disc degeneration. I looked at him and said, "High school and college sports?" and he nodded. I've never done knee-push ups without feeling dissatisfaction with the movements, and pain on my knees. I have bony sensitive joints and I'm basically a princess in that I can feel that pea even under 20 mattresses.
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| Monarch chrysalis |
The chrysalis is now in its 8th day and looks good. Temps have cooled so the timing for the butterfly to emerge (eclosure) might be longer. If temps had remained in the 80s, this monarch might already have been born. Now I worry about the nor'easter forecast for this weekend. Not sure if I should bring my outdoor flytraps indoors or let them weather this storm. Maybe I'll just take them off the planter full of water inside wire cages (to keep the cats and squirrels away) and put them on the ground?
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| fleabane |
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