Broken
When the Dayton Pain Center pulled me apart on Friday, I think they pulled something.
On Saturday, my back seriously hurt, a sharp pain in the lower-left quadrant. This is different from the usual residual numbness/tingling I feel in my left leg and foot, almost constantly. By Sunday, I could no longer stand fully erect. I was headed to the ER if I woke up the same today, but I could stand, though with some compression and pain. Which got progessively worse as the day went on. At least lying down feels okay and I'm still getting sleep.
I had my annual military physical last week to coincide with my birthday, and although my EKG was fine, my cholesterol was better than it was a year ago, and my hearing and eyesight are still fine, I'm still a sliver of my former athletic self. If slivers were measured in kilotons. The flight doc scheduled me up to see the orthopedic surgeon on base to follow the last of my spine-stretching sessions at the downtown hospital, which have not worked at all, obviously. I always feel worse leaving there than I do going in.
Sometime this year, new neighbors moved in behind me (relative to where the head of my bed is), and while they're not as loud as the guy was on the other side (because they're not around as much), they usually get home around midnight, then make a ton of noise in the room behind mine. I actually knocked on their door to ask them to hold it down on my birthday when they had people over till quarter till one. They also have a very cute little dog the size of a nerf football, but it has been whining for three hours now. I can hear it most nights, carrying on until the owners get home. My white noise machine is right by my head to drown out the poor mite's yelps. I'm going to write them a note to see if they'll trust me with a key to let the dog out when it's sad and loud...perhaps that would be better, they'll deduce, then a noise complaint to the landlord. I'd hate to do that...it's not the dog's fault. Better to have a home than not, better to have owners than not, but sheesh. Not fair to the rest of us to have to listen to that all night every night. Get the dog a friend to keep it busy.
I would say I know just the place, but the Humane Society has pissed me off again. I went to pull my 11-to-12 shift I signed up for two weeks ago to sell low-cost spay/neuter certificates, and saw there was a card table up front just for that purpose. Some lady was finishing up a transaction with two customers, so I waited for her to finish and told some Director that I was reporting for my shift. She started to tell me how to fill out the forms, how to handle credit card purchases, and then the lady finished, so she handed me over to her for training.
"So," she said. "Do you have a veterinarian already picked out?"
"For what."
*blink*
*Blink!* "Ah. No, I'm a volunteer, and I'm here to do what you were doing."
"What? I thought I was here until 1 or so."
The director went to check the schedule, and sure enough, there I was, 11-12, with no one signed up from 10-11 or 12-1. So this random lady randomly assigned herself or whatever so I told her if she wanted to stay she could, I had other things I could be doing. Like trying to stand.
On Saturday, my back seriously hurt, a sharp pain in the lower-left quadrant. This is different from the usual residual numbness/tingling I feel in my left leg and foot, almost constantly. By Sunday, I could no longer stand fully erect. I was headed to the ER if I woke up the same today, but I could stand, though with some compression and pain. Which got progessively worse as the day went on. At least lying down feels okay and I'm still getting sleep.
I had my annual military physical last week to coincide with my birthday, and although my EKG was fine, my cholesterol was better than it was a year ago, and my hearing and eyesight are still fine, I'm still a sliver of my former athletic self. If slivers were measured in kilotons. The flight doc scheduled me up to see the orthopedic surgeon on base to follow the last of my spine-stretching sessions at the downtown hospital, which have not worked at all, obviously. I always feel worse leaving there than I do going in.
Sometime this year, new neighbors moved in behind me (relative to where the head of my bed is), and while they're not as loud as the guy was on the other side (because they're not around as much), they usually get home around midnight, then make a ton of noise in the room behind mine. I actually knocked on their door to ask them to hold it down on my birthday when they had people over till quarter till one. They also have a very cute little dog the size of a nerf football, but it has been whining for three hours now. I can hear it most nights, carrying on until the owners get home. My white noise machine is right by my head to drown out the poor mite's yelps. I'm going to write them a note to see if they'll trust me with a key to let the dog out when it's sad and loud...perhaps that would be better, they'll deduce, then a noise complaint to the landlord. I'd hate to do that...it's not the dog's fault. Better to have a home than not, better to have owners than not, but sheesh. Not fair to the rest of us to have to listen to that all night every night. Get the dog a friend to keep it busy.
I would say I know just the place, but the Humane Society has pissed me off again. I went to pull my 11-to-12 shift I signed up for two weeks ago to sell low-cost spay/neuter certificates, and saw there was a card table up front just for that purpose. Some lady was finishing up a transaction with two customers, so I waited for her to finish and told some Director that I was reporting for my shift. She started to tell me how to fill out the forms, how to handle credit card purchases, and then the lady finished, so she handed me over to her for training.
"So," she said. "Do you have a veterinarian already picked out?"
"For what."
*blink*
*Blink!* "Ah. No, I'm a volunteer, and I'm here to do what you were doing."
"What? I thought I was here until 1 or so."
The director went to check the schedule, and sure enough, there I was, 11-12, with no one signed up from 10-11 or 12-1. So this random lady randomly assigned herself or whatever so I told her if she wanted to stay she could, I had other things I could be doing. Like trying to stand.
posted by Dan at 11:10 PM
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