It Was A Day Of Improvement

I checked online to see if it was safe to take Cyclobenzaprine and Ibuprofen at the same time. I found my usual medical journals to confirm it would be okay. I didn't see why I couldn't since both do different things. Numerous studies had found combining the two had better results. Whereas if you take Advil and Aspirin after you have had  a heart attack or stroke, they have found that it decreases the effectiveness of the Aspirin. I decided to check when my time alerted me at 6 hours if I need more Cyclobenazprine.

While the hounds slept in the corner while I did the morning post, I wanted to see if the sun was up yet since it was a little past 6am. I could tell when I stood up at the chair that my lower back was much better, no signs of pain in my groin area and only the everyday soreness from the hip healing.

I opened the door and felt a rush of cold area that was hitting around 54°. It felt colder. It was nice to stand outside in the cool breeze taking some photos. I still had time to lay in bed for 45 minutes until the hounds wanted their breakfast. Football and rest were the only two goals today.

That cool breeze was pretty strong this time of day.

It was a little strange that the hounds had not followed me out to the patio. Normally they would be trying their best to get me to pour their kibble but so far this morning not a word from them.

In fact when I turned slowly to go back inside ... no hounds in view. That had to be a first.

Only as I laid down in bed did the hounds wake up and move into the bedroom. I thought I'd have about 45 minutes of rest before I needed to pour their breakfast kibble. Stella had other ideas. Like standing right by the side of the bed where she could make sure I would hear her whining or the wagging tail banging against the chest of drawers.

They win ... I got up. She was pretty proud of herself after she got me to feed them. They both took a short trip outside and during that time I washed both of their food dishes, which I do after every meal.  I saw in my email that my Amazon order for another pair of Russell Athletic gear gym shorts had been delivered in yesterday's mail. Would I be able to walk that far today? Would I need to?

Of the three seat cushions I have bought in the past 34 days, this one has turned out to be the most comfortable. I basically carry that with me when I am going to sit in a different chair in the computer room or at the laptop on the kitchen table.

One big difference from satellite tv service and cable, I have a lot more opportunities to stream ballgames or movies. I am not a big streaming fan because I like watching movies or ballgames on my large tv in the living room ... but today I was desparate. I knew before I moved here that I would only have one BTN channel and there would be times I would not see the IU games if they were being shown on the BTN Alternate channels. I had those with DishNetwork but not with Cox Cable.

So I did some online searching and figured out what I needed to do. Download the app for the phone but with the iMac I just needed to go to Foxsportsgo.com I had my IU game live on my iMac.

They show mostly food or automobile commercials during football games. You can see that Heidi has no interest in going to Wendy's to try all of those sandwiches. With that cool breeze blowing through the house from the direction of the patio, she had found the perfect place to sleep.

Stella must have smelled the sandwiches on tv but it wasn't long after that commercial was on, that she came wandering out from the computer room where I left her in a deep sleep. It's takes her a little while to decide what to do when she wakes up. She always looks confused when she gets up.

By mid-morning I was feeling better than I had just two days ago. The times I walked inside the house with the walker or the cane I did not feel any kind of pain in my groin area. The soreness on top of the thigh was hardly big enough to feel. I still did not feel as strong as I did on Thursday morning but felt much better than I did just 24 hours ago.

Stella likes to look out the front window to make sure her neighborhood is okay.

I didn't do a lot of walking but I did what I said I would not do. I sat in a chair while I watched the IU game on the computer. I DID get up during commercials and halftime. With the new seat cushion I could sit longer in the chair than I did yesterday.

By 12:30pm my lower back felt good, my right thigh was much better when I walked and I was almost back to the normal feeling of 'the rock' feeling in my hip, which feels like it's on the side of the hip. The times I walked inside the house to the kitchen, bedroom living room or patio I thought I could make it to the mailbox and back at a slower pace. I finished the walk at a 42 minute per mile pace which was about 10 minutes per mile slower than normal.

I had to go to the mailbox because I knew the small Amazon package would fit inside my narrow box in the mailbox cluster. They would stop mail delivery until that package was out of the way. Plus it included a new pair of gym shorts that are loose fitting.

As the day moved through college football games and more to watch started at 4:30pm, I drank a ton of ice water, took a siesta for about an hour and fed the hounds. As you can see once they get that afternoon meal, they too like to sleep.

I'd have to call today a success. Sore yes, stiff at the start or when I get out of a chair, yes ... but within a few steps I feel good. No lower back problems today, not a lot of pain if any in my hip and nothing in the groin area.

I will take another 'rest day' on Sunday, which means no walking outside around the fence line, no long walks to the mailbox, only to the kitchen, to the patio or back to the computer room. I am not sure I will need any muscle relaxers after the dose a little over 5 hours ago.

A good day here in the Wild West.

CVS Is NOT My Friend

It was only Stella and I that got up to start our day a little after 4:30am today. Heidi never moved nor blinked an eye when I turned on the lights. She also didn't wake me up in the middle of the night to go outside, my bladder did that more than I wanted it to. It's a long funny story in a way ... but the back pain is gone this morning. No more spasms so far.

It was a real rest day yesterday where I spent a lot of time flat on my back in bed and it didn't matter if my eyes were open or not. That was the plan and I followed that until mid-afternoon. Otherwise there were a couple of times I had to get outside to feel the warmth of the sunshine and enjoy the view. As you can see the hounds had the same idea and you can see the walker was back in action.

Like I said when I updated yesterday's blog post, the doctor's office called me at 10:10am and told me I could pick up some Cyclobenzaprine by 10:30am. I did a few test walks inside the house with only my cane to see what kind of pain I was feeling in my lower back or hip. Would I be able to walk from the car inside CVS and most likely stand in line to pick up my prescription?

Since I had been applying some a warm towel then rotating it with an ice pack earlier, my lower back was not feeling too bad. But there was a muscle that was connecting to the back of my hip that was sore. It was almost like I could draw a line along that muscle by the way it felt. Sitting in and standing up out of my chair passed the test with only slight pain in the upper thigh ... I felt good enough to drive to the drug store.

Of course in my life and mostly like the lives of millions across the nation, nothing is ever smooth in picking up a doctor's prescription at CVS or any other drug store for that matter. I was 5th in line and from the looks of things, I was in pretty good health even with a cane by my side.

As the male pharm tech typed in my last name and date of birth .. he looked up at me and told me "I have no record of that being called in" .... mmmm perfect. I could feel my Apple Watch vibrating against my wrist with a sudden increase in heart rate. (joke)

Luckily for me the female pharm tech standing a couple of computers away heard my reply that I had been called by the doctor's office telling me it was ready for pickup. She motioned me over, took my last name and date of birth ... bingo !!!!! I was the lucky winner ... it was in their records after all.

My sister bought this for me as a Christmas Gift I think as far back as the early 1990's. I had not used it for years but if it survived the last downsizing when I moved and made the trip all the way out to Arizona, there must have been a reason for it. I plugged that in early yesterday morning and it did what it could to my tighter than tight lower back, plus it added some heat. I had SHORT term relief.

So as the female pharm tech is looking at me and giving me the great news, she said "It will not be ready until noon" we are backed up. Why did I feel that noon timeframe was just plucked of of the air as a very very rough estimate. I calmly ... calmly ... maybe even with a slight smile ... said ... "okay"

I turned and came home.

Since I did not trust or believe what she was telling me, I cruised the isles of CVS looking for the famous ThermaCare heat pads. Their commercials are all over the baseball and football games. I had used something similar in the past but it has been years since I had lower back issues. I picked up a 2-pack and headed home.

After about 15 minutes I could feel that heat protruding through the clothing I was wearing. (Warning stated anyone over 55 years of age HAD TO wear these outside of clothing and not on bare skin) At the 30 minute mark as I laid in bed I was beginning to think this ThermaCare pad might be better than any muscle relaxer. I took a nap for an hour and could feel the muscles in the lower back were much better than early this morning.

In fact as I sat up in bed with my hands behind me, supporting me ... I felt a small pop in my lower back. That's a good sign.

It was past noon by this time and I had not received any text from CVS telling me the meds were ready for pickup. I logged into my account online to check status ... "In process". What happened to the NOON timeframe she gave me. I went back to bed to lay down and plan my next move.

Long story short ....

1:00pm - online "in process"
1:30pm - online "in process"
2:00pm - PHONE CALL with real person in that pharmacy
     - "We are a day and a half behind in filling scripts"
     - I let her know that I'll call and let my doctor know of the status of his request, but as a bonus I am going to blog about this story with your first name, company name, local address and local phone number. Then I will go to Yelp to add my review of your pharmacy and I'll not stop there. I will then go to the Facebook group called Rants and Raves for my town and RANT about your pharmacy ... Unless you want to become famous on social media, don't even tell me I have to wait a day and a *(&(#&$ half to pick up something that was due at 10:49am !!!!!"

Her reply ......

I'll have it ready in 2 minutes.   :)

I was back in the car to pick up the meds, I was back home by 2:45pm with pills in hand. Looking at the long label of information stapled to the small bag, at the top in the upper right corner above the bar code "Promised: 10/11/19. 10:49am"

So you are probably asking yourself why would I pick up the script for a muscle relaxer if the heat pad was working???  I needed some muscle relief in my hip, and the muscle going from the side of my lower back to the back of my hip. I figured relaxed muscles have a better chance to heal rather than tight muscles where blood flow is restricted.

I poured a tall glass of ice water and took the first pill of Cyclobenzaprine 5mg. Then I set the timer for 6 hours to let me know to check how I felt and decide whether to take another. The 6 hour limit was per the script plus take as needed.

Just because my back and hip started feeling better did NOT mean I decided to walk laps around the backyard. Nor did it mean that resting was sitting in a chair. I headed back to bed, laying flat on my back and rested. Baseball and football games did not start until 5pm so I could get a good 1.5 hours of good rest. Once again as I leaned up preparing to swing my legs to the left to get out of bed, another small pop in my lower spine ... more muscles releasing back to their normal position.

I wasn't going to ramble this long and I was going to add today's photos to post this tonight but I now have too much written to add a day of commentary ... so I am going to post this now. Today's plan is more rest flat on my back in bed or flat on my couch watching football. I will NOT be sitting in a chair for too long when I do use a chair.

So far this morning in the short 66 steps I have taken inside the house making coffee and letting the hounds outside ... lower back is good, slight pain in upper thigh and not nearly as strong as I was before this happened a couple of days ago. I am having to use the walker instead of the cane.

It will eventually improve, the recent damage will heal but normal activity in 10-12 weeks post op now seems like it's a year away. I'll not push it but in the past I was just doing what my body was telling me was ok, following doctor's orders.

It was always a possibility that I might have this setback. I was told it does happen sometimes so don't be surprised if it does, no matter how good you are feeling.

Football Saturday in the Wild West today .. plenty of time to rest.