Busy group today... very nice to hear from you all!

Most of my day was pretty good. Visit from a friend, then a quick visit from Skippy McGrape, who just returned from camping. I put two hours into my Bigfoot writing. Did some paddling around with Skippy and heard all about his trip. Stayed within my calorie range.

Things got dicey when I decided to get back into the lake for a "real" swim and forgot that my cell phone was in between my boobs in my swimsuit. Yeah, you guessed it. SOAKED the phone. I stuck it into a baggie full of rice. Sadly, this isn't the first time I've done that. Twice I've jumped into the pool at the Y with my phone in my suit. You'd think I'd learn, right? I'm not due for a new phone contract/phone until December, so fingers crossed it will work tomorrow. After bagging the phone, I tried a swim but the water was pretty choppy. Swam anyway, and about halfway to the first point, BAM, every time I rotated to breathe, that freaking god awful sciatic nerve just screamed at me. I tried rotating to the other side, but no dice. I tried doing a crawl into the breast stroke and breathing to the front, but BAM BAM BAM, nerve pain. I finally settled on a very lame side stroke, but by the time I swam to the point and back, I was in pretty horrible pain, could barely get out of the water and back into the house on my crutches. I had a mental meltdown and just sobbed like a lunatic on the couch while waiting for the ice packs to do their work. Finally gave up and took three vicodin, which barely did anything. Once the nerve starts firing, it just takes a long time to settle down again. The only way I can describe it is that it's like someone stabbing me over and over in my right hip, down my leg, and ending in my right ankle. I've actually fractured my ankle and it didn't hurt this badly. And had gallstone attacks that didn't make me cry like this.

Tomorrow is physical therapy day, thank god. My plan is to get some exercise/stretching tips, then talk to the physical therapist about this pain, get suggestions, then make my phone calls to the neuro for a stronger pain med, my gp about possibly increasing the dose of amitryptiline, maybe an acupuncturist? I'm at my wit's end here. If I do NOTHING, just lie around and ice, then it's bearable, but I know that's the last thing I should do. I would have thought being in the water is the best I can do, but even if I just paddle around a bit, I'm hit with the nerve pain when I try to get out.

Aaarrgghhhhh!!!!! GAH!!!!!

Okay, I think I'm done bitching now.

If you don't hear much from me this week, it's not because I've amputated my right leg; it's because my phone is still in the bag of rice.

K.