Remember, how we always say 'helk' at our house because 'hell' is a bad word? Naw, this time I'm going for the real thing....Hell! I've just been diagnosed with scoliosis and a little arthritis in my lower back. NO WONDER my back hurts like hell! My backbone is shaped like a capitol S. Oh, Mama. I have had to sleep in my Lazyboy for the last 5 nights. And I have discovered that there is nothing good on TV between 2 and 5 AM. The hydrocodone doesn't do much, either. I walk like Quasimodo. So, there it is!
This is something I have apparently had for forty years...hence, (don't you love that word?) hence, I am sharing a poem I wrote a long time ago--some of you might remember it from a Poetry Thursday post:
backache
flattens me
gin in the veins
might help
tonight I fly on brittle bones
out of this skin
this old pain
disconnects
my top and bottom
halves
sleep waivers like mirages
in a white fossil sea of aspirin
that dulls the saw
between deeper jacknifed vertebrae
this great grey sleep of bone
sucks me dry
.
8 comments:
Oh no, that sucks, I have a bad back too and it is really draining. Hope you find a way of managing it all. Very good poem, I relate. Happy mother's day to you.
I've had arthritis up and down my spine for years now but it seems at bay!!!!! HOPE yours decides to too!!!My Mario has scoliosis(sp?) but not real bad! Love and prayers for YOU, Cinda lol the word verification is "bckla"
i can relate. "I ache in the places where I used to play."
the narcotics are notoriously sneaky. be careful.amazing what aspirin can handle.
Ouch. I don't have this problem, but often have a back out of wack. Hope there is a solution.
I was diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager and had my first major episodes of back pain in my 20s. I started chiropractic treatment when I was 26 and have been going ever since. Obviously, it's not a cure but it helps release tension, keep the vertebrae mobile and the nerves unencumbered.
Natural anti-inflammatories like Omega-3 supplements and B vitamins can also minimize (not eliminate) pain.
Yoga is very good. You want to keep your joints "open" and your muscles stretching because once one thing tightens, it pulls everything else out.
Good luck. And if you decide to try Omega 3s, which are good for the heart and brain too, go for a high quality supplement. I like Omega Brite.
I remember this poem very well. There were some interesting comments and other submissions too, that time.
I'm torn between feeling so bad you have this, and glad you've found out what's really going on. Now that the docs know, perhaps they can help.
Good luck to you with it. --NO! Excuse me. Break a leg? ;-)
:) k, wherever did you hear that? Break a leg, indeed....where have you BEEN, lady? To the theater????
wut, ME?!? heh!
Mostly, a strong sense of
don't jinx it!
whatever *it* might happen to be.
My mother, as a teenager I think, had a strong desire to be an actress. These days she swears she doesn't mind that her parents put the kibosh on it.
My very long-time friend John McCann (WriteEnough on my blogroll) lives in LA. When he was 26, and I was 19, we worked at the post office together in Illinois, unloading trucks, etc. He was fresh out of the Marines, where he was an MP.
On the side he did stand-up and improve comedy at local venues. Later, he moved to CA and I moved to FL. We both went to college as *old* kids. He got a degree in...creative writing, or English? i forget. Eventually he went on to write cartoons, and was one of the creators of Freakazoid, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain.
At the post office, he used to tell me all about Freakazoid and show me the superhero's cool moves. Tried out his standup routines and jokes on me all the time too. I was his gigglemeter.
Like most everyone in LA he's tried to do a bit of acting too. He was auditioning for a part once when I visited him in 1983. I went with. The guy holding the auditions was looking and looking at me, and finally asked me if I would please read too.
Of course, having no idea how to do any of this, and being very shy about such things, I was surely no good at all. Scared to death! But also - absolutely thrilled.
Such a wonderful LA experience, huh?
I've been telling John for over thirty years: break a leg.
He just ran the Eugene Marathon in under 4 hours - his goal and personal best. He made it by 7 seconds. The story's on his blog, and it's amazingly exciting.
Not bad for a 57 year old, huh?
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