I Seem To Have Hurt My Back

     Woke up at 0600 this morning and tried to sit up.  There was a stabbing pain in my back!  Laid there and thought about it, none too clearly.  What to do?

     I had been up at 0300 for exactly what you'd think and my back had been kind of sore, which I put down to carrying some heavy items for a longish distance at work.  But it wasn't that bad, the kind of thing that a hot shower fixes quickly.  This was not.  A vicious ache, with lots of little stabby "oh no you don't" twinges for most moves I tried.

     Couldn't push myself up with my arms, that hurt, too.  Finally swung my legs over the edge and tottered off to feed the cats, who were nearly frantic.  Bending to get their food and dish it out was a slow, painful process.  If I turned from the waist, that hurt, too.  I took a couple of Tylenol and went back to bed.  Woke again at 0730, feeling much worse.  I stayed there until a few minutes ago.

     Not much better now but I'm moving around, albeit slowly.  Thought about a nice hot soak in the tub with Epsom salts, but I might not be able to get back out.  Pain is worse on the right side, or I'd be headed to the hospital.  It's centered just inboard of my right shoulder blade, with a milder twin on the left.

     Counting down the hours until I can take a stronger pain medication -- the prescription ones all have acetaminophen in them, so it'll be a little while yet.

     What did I do?  Fell over backwards on a patch of ice Sunday and caught myself on my hands, but that was relatively slow-motion, though inevitable once it began.  I was sweeping snow from my car when my right foot went out from under me, on a coating of powder snow over hard ice.  I windmilled, got my hands behind me, and was able to keep my left foot planted.  At the time, it was only scary; I  got my legs under me, stood back up, finished clearing the RX300 and did my fun (an hour at the range) and errands (grocery shopping) without any problems.  Monday, I carried some too-heavy items farther than I should have -- I could have made two trips, or got a wheeled cart -- and I was so tired on the way home that I nearly started through a red light after stopping, as if it was a four-way stop!  That was a nice little surge of adrenaline.  But none of that seems bad enough to have caused this.

     It's a mystery and one the tincture of time is likely to cure.  Maybe later I'll be up to that bath.  For now, back to bed feels like the best idea.