Alastor's Reflection

A Real Pain in the Neck…

Ξ May 17th, 2008 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Slice of (Real) Life |

Well, I actually had to go to the hospital emergency room yesterday to see to this neck problem, as it simply wasn’t getting better, but worse. I found myself unable to sleep a wink, settling for two-and-three hour “naps” which led to an increasingly less-stable frame of mind and a constant awful pain in my right arm and hand. Needing to be figuring on (a) getting the employment issue resolved, and (b) fixing my truck so that I could actually GO to the interviews, and (c) needing to be reasonably healthy, physically AND mentally, for said interviews, and (d) alertly keeping up with publication/submission/querying procedures, I arrived at the conclusion that the medical issue needed tending to first.

So, I dropped off my truck to a repair shop which was two blocks from the hospital and ventured back into the Health Care System after not having even seen a doctor since 2002. *knocks wood* -been fairly healthy for the most part.  Compared to Kaiser, this hospital was a blessing… ONE person in the waiting room, and as streamlined a process as possible. Shortly after being led into the room a doctor came in and after the Q&A prescribed me some 800 Motrins and Vicodins. It’s been so long since I had Vicodin I’d forgotten how they were… and for good measure he also gave me an injection of Vicodin …WITH STEROIDS!!! WTF?

Oh well, he’s the doc, right? Injections don’t bother me (unless they’re in my mouth lol) so I rolled up my sleeve. He said,  “We can either give it to you in your arm or in your butt.” I thought “oh please don’t put it that way.” But images of Roger Clemens entered my mind (well, sort-of) and I figured if he can take it that way then I can. Except for the cheating aspect and if he actually did. But I think the last time I got a shot in my ass was sometime in the ’60s or thereabouts, and whatever it was made me so sore I couldn’t sit afterwards. The doc said that it would take a day to kick in but it’s generally better there than in the arm, since a lot of fluid had to be injected. Again, I had to (silently) question the doc’s choice of words. So, manning it up (I suppose) I dropped my drawers. He cleared his throat and said, “Actually, we just inject it in the hip.” WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?” Hastily I pulled my pants back up and he nipped me in the hip; I barely felt it. 

Now, I’m feeling it, but definitely not any pain. That is for sure. So, all things considered, Motrin 800 + Vicodin tablet + delayed reaction from Vicodin shot PLUS Steroidal juice = pretty-much diminished pain, at last. Yay, (legal) bliss!

I’ve had to reduce my time at the PC since that’s probably what kicked off the pinched nerve in the first place (likely due to marathoning Sayonara Zetsobou Sensei for 6 hours while keeping my arm poised over the spacebar to pause the video in order to read the numerous and constantly-changing blackboard quotations -don’t ask lol). So that means sporadic Blog-updating until this condition clears; in the meantime I’ll be doing some serious relaxing, which is something I rarely get a chance to do. Anime-watching is not relaxing but involving for me, so instead I’ve been catching up on movies I’ve missed, like Lars and the Real Girl, which I hope to review here next; a wonderful quirky little film, excellently acted and written/directed. And, you might say that I do have a vested interest, as does Lily (and by extension, Eden too).

 Thanks for reading, and until next time it’s Sayonara Zetsobou Sensei (aka “Goodbye Mister Despair” LOL!)…