Sleepless again in Mississippi Mills

OK, not truly sleepless, but certainly going without a full night's sleep.

Yesterday was massage day, but before I went for massage, I had some errands that just had to get done (that old worry wheel is in high gear these days).

Since my mechanic had my car, John took me into Carleton Place right after breakfast so I could take care of business.  That took about an hour and a half.

And I had had the biscuit.

Done like dinner.

But when we got back, I had to shower, shave my legs (no letting my massage therapist touch my hairy legs -- oh no, not I), wash my hair , blow dry my hair, get beautiful ...

Then off we go to my 1:00pm appointment.

Massage is always therapeutic, for both of us.  We laugh and carry on like crazy fools (you'd think we were young school girls sometimes).  Laughter is good for the soul, and frankly, I have these sessions for her to work out the knots in my body; the giggles just add to the endorphin-releasing benefit.  At one point she told me that some of her clients actually lie still and go to sleep when she works on them (read:  shut up and let me work).  I replied that if she didn't want me to talk, she probably shouldn't ask me questions -- which just got us both laughing all the harder.  Sometimes, I think she should be paying me for these sessions.

Anyway, as she worked on my back, she noticed that my rib cage on the left side was sensitive.  She asked what I had done to it.

"Nothing, why?" I asked.

"Because usually, when I see this type of sensitivity, it is from trauma," she said.

"Well, I haven't been off the sofa or my bed in a month," I replied.

"But have you been coughing a lot?" she asked, "Because that can cause this type of injury."

"No, I haven't," I said, "but I spent a great deal of time shivering," I said.

"Hmmmm, I suppose that could do it," she said, "but it would have to have been some very serious shivering."

"It was, believe me, and it was for extended periods of time, over several days," I replied.

She explained that bone can retain trauma for a very long time so she often sees sensitivity long after an injury has occurred.  She wondered if I might have actually done something to my ribcage last October when I had my seizure and because there were so many other injuries at the time, the ribcage was missed (the area certainly wasn't examined at the time).  Since there were no witnesses to the event, we'll never know for sure but I did fall in a doorway ...

I told her that she'd better stop finding things wrong with me because my doctor was getting annoyed with her (she's a registered nurse and he cannot ignore her observations because they're based on medical fact; she hasn't been wrong yet).

Once the session was over, John delivered me back home and he had to go into Ottawa with a friend so I was left here alone to get into trouble (but I stayed put and rested, like the good little girl that I am).

My mechanic brought my car back, parked it in the garage, and unloaded the tires (I had called the shop to give him my Visa number so the bill could be paid).  And I had no idea he was here until he knocked on the door to give me my invoice and hand me my car key.  Now that's what I call service!

John got home just on time to catch the end of our favourite nightly political show (which was a bit of a bore this time).

We had dinner and he watched one of my canned television shows with me but I was falling asleep in my soup, literally.  So it was early to bed for me. 

I turned off my light at 8:30pm.

My first wake-up was at 10:00pm -- didn't even get my usual two hours this time (usually, after I've had a massage, I sleep quite well).  I made my usual pee stop and slapped on the TENs machine.

Next wake-up call came at 10:50pm.  A headache was trying to break through so I took some Tylenol #1 (it's amazing that such a low dose of codeine relieves these headaches ...).

The next wake-up was at 11:50pm -- a mere hour after the last.

Hence ... Sleepless again in Mississippi Mills.

Because if I'm going to wake up every hour, why bother going to sleep at all?  That's more trouble than it's worth as far as I'm concerned.