The after Christmas break down

Hello all,

I hope that everyone has a stupendous holiday. I know that I did, but with some minor complications. As many of you know a few weeks ago I had injured my back by a combination of falling down some stairs and playing shping- shpong (ping pong but with a Soccer ball and the paddles are real players. This happened about 3 weeks before Christmas. I went to my Doctor got some med's, did some stretches and was feeling fine. The Christmas Eve rolled around and I need to clean my room. So I was cleaning and putting some books away my room was nearly clean (relative to my liking) and I had generated a pile of papers on the floor. I went to pick them up and wouldn't you know, a shooting pain went up my back and around my abdomen and at that point I fell. I could not stand without excruciating pain let alone walk. After about 10 minutes I told my self that 'this is going to hurt' but I needed to get my self into bed. Which as I predicted I did, using only my arms to get me up and what ever leg power I had for support. My body at this point was in one large cramp.

I figured I would stay in bed till my spasm passed and then would go up stairs to take my med's I had gotten two weeks earlier. The problem was that the spasm had not stopped so I called my father to my room and told him to bring my med's. I took them and nothing happened the spasm continued. I was able to sleep for an hour, and when I woke up, even though I still had pain, I knew I had to go up stairs. So I gathered my strength and did so. I sat in my arm chair, my mother gave me some left over Oxycodine, which helped with the pain, but the spasm had not stopped. I did get to a point however where the pain subsided enough that I could walk around. I thought that maybe some motion would help my muscles. I was wrong. I was walking around when all of the sudden I had a horrible spasm, the pain shot down my back and around my abdomen again, I collapsed and convulsed uncontrollably. My brother was able to help me up and get me back to my arm chair. A few hours later I passed out from the pain and pure exhaustion. A few hours later I woke up, I still was having a spasm. It was Christmas morning. I got up and walked around for a while with my Mother and Father next to me. Things were going fine until about 9 AM. In the kitchen the pain came back and my legs would not work, I stood leaning against the island in my kitchen for maybe 15 minutes until I felt that I could move.

Moving from the island an armchair in the living room (a total of 15 feet) was difficult. My back was convulsing, the pain was great. And for the next 45 minutes as we were opening presents I could not move without pain. Many of my gifts my father opened for me. After we opened everything I told my mother that it is time to go to the Hospital. When we got there, which getting me in and out of the car was the hardest thing in the world, I was given a shot of muscle relaxant and a shot of an anti-inflammatory. The Practitioner told me that if what I was taking wasn't working then he would give me some very strong medication. I left able to walk thanks to the shot, still had pain though, and with three prescriptions. Motrin to help with the muscle swelling, Vicodin for the pain, and Valium to relax my muscles. AND he told me to take all three at the same time about every 8 hours for three days. I have been floating on air, haha. But seriously today which is the 27th I think, was the first day that I could really walk on my own again.

But Christmas was not all bad. I got lots of money for my semester in Germany, new luggage, and the new Star Trek movie (which is a must see for everyone). But I think the best gift that I got was a dialogue with an old friend. A friend that I have not spoken with in months. It was a good Christmas gift none-the-less, and more important to me then all the others. (And by no means is this some sort of plea to butter this person up or to send mixed messages. :-) )

Later,

John