Sorry for the absence

I must apologize to my readers for my recent failure to post here.

No excuses to offer; I have none.  Simply been busy I guess.

Let's see, since my last post on Tuesday, the 11th of January, with what have I been occupying my time?

On the Wednesday, I went into the big city for my physiotherapy appointment.  And left there a tad worse for wear because my esteemed therapist felt it would be prudent to "assess" my hips one more time just before I left her premises.  She confirmed precisely what she expected to confirm:  my problem rests with my hip joints.

Let's back up a wee bit.

Earlier that day, I had watched the Dr. Oz episode from the day before.  And he had been discussing sciatica.  During that discussion he made reference to the fact that sciatica can cause pain in the groin -- something I had not previosly heard.  I had been of the impression that groin pain was clearly indicative of degeneration of the hip joint.  I wondered, "Am I going to see an ortho surgeon for naught?" 

Anyway, Dr. Oz demonstrated an easy test that can be done at home to determine if your lower back pain is in fact sciatica (lie on your back, and have someone passively raise each leg in turn to see how high it will go before pain stops you from allowing it).  I had John do the test on me and each of my legs can be raised fully perpendicular to my body with little difficulty:  obviously, I don't have sciatica.  I guess that's why neither my doctor nor my physiotherapist has ever suggested sciatica as the origin of my pain.

When I mentioned this scenario to my physiotherapist, she very patiently explained where my pain would be if it were sciatica.  She also stated quite emphatically that I have never presented with anything that would suggest sciatica, in spite of my many other "issues," as she calls them.

So that is why, by the end of my treatment that day, she wanted to perform another "test" to demonstrate to me that my pain is absolutely caused by the hip joint.

She proved her point and then some.  It took well into the next day before the pain subsided!

Later that evening, I had my hair cut and spent the night at my little chickadee's place, collecting many kisses and hugs from my beautiful boy in the process.

The next morning, after a few more kisses and hugs, I went to meet my good friend, RLR, for breakfast.  We sat and talked for two and half hours; the servers at the restaurant and getting used to us and they just keep the coffee cups filled.

I got home around 11:30am and had to leave before 1:00pm to go for my massage therapy.  In spite of the hit to my pocketbook, I've determined that I must have that weekly session to help manage my pain.  This new therapist is doing a fabulous job of working the specific muscles that need extra attention each week, while still providing a full massage within the prescribed timeframe.  And I'm definitely aware of the benefit to my overall wellbeing so the cost, while significant, is very well worth it.

On Friday, we attempted to install the new blinds in my sanctuary.  We managed to get one up and I didn't like it.  We left it in place for a few hours, while I decided if I wanted the others installed or it taken down.  Eventually, the decision was made to take it down, package it up and return all three.  The quality simply did not do the room justice.  I don't want to break the bank covering these windows but I don't want junk either.  And these were junk, as far as I'm concerned.  So, back to the drawing board on window coverings and in the meantime, the windows will remain naked.

Fortunately, there is no real need to cover the windows so there is no real  urgency to solving the problem.  It's really a matter of providing overnight guests the opportunity of closing up the room .  They might want privacy, although it would only be from the wildlife.

Yesterday, I simply felt like vegging.

I just didn't want to do anything.

So I sat around and watched my canned television shows that had collected all week (thank God new episodes are finally airing!).

And by mid-afternoon the sneezing started.

And then the coughing and wheezing started.

And my eyes were watering profusely.

I felt miserable.

But at least I managed to eat dinner.

And then I took a non-aspirin neo-citran (I have no idea what it's called, but it's a lemon-flavoured drink that uses acetaminophen rather than aspirin) and went to bed.

I actually had a rather lousy night though, waking at about 12:30am and then sleeping very fitfully from that point on.

Finally, 5:30am hit and it was OK to be up and about.

I'm feeling much better this morning but my nose is still quite runny, although I'm no longer sneezing or coughing.

Hopefully, the nonsense of yesterday will not start up again later today.

I plan to take it easy again today because I have a rather busy week ahead of me, with appointments on three of the five days (yucko!).

Later, gotta go veg.