maladies #4: long row to hoe

Well, it is lunchtime and I am back from my hour-long physical therapy appointment. As it turns out, the chiropractor did not, in fact, realign my pelvis and my legs were not, as a result, the same length. I didn't feel a whole lot of difference, other than the throbbing lower back pain, after that chiro appointment. Oh, and the throbbing, that was cake. This new throbbing from the various workouts I will be required to do daily (amounting in over 7 hours per week), they cause throbbing...and stabbing..and pulsing...and steam to come out of my ears and random "holy fuck"s to come out of my mouth.

No, the physical therapist was only moderately attractive, in an a-sexual way. I was restrained, and other than a few sharp breaths and winces, I did not overtly indicate that my muscles were being torn from their joints.

So, other than the pain that doesn't allow me to stand fully upright, I received a myriad of strength-training exercises and for the cost of only $24, "the Original McKenzie SuperRoll Deluxe Lumbar Support" pillow-thing. Not only does this product tout being both "sleek and comfortable," it also promises to "decrease discomfort of prolonged sitting." If it could decrease the discomfort of living and breathing and moving associated with today's session, I would marry it and bear its offspring...but no, it doesn't do that. Said "SuperRoll," as I like to call it, is to be used whenever I'm sitting for more than an hour. This would mean, all day at work, in the car, and when doing work at home. In other words, I might as well sew the damned thing to my back and have a grotesque hump of foam protruding from under my shirt, that is how tight we'll end up being.

I must say that I am more optimistic after this last appointment than I have been in a long time. And even though I see my therapist as a completely a-sexual fountain of healing, I do like him and he seems to genuinely want to help, which is a welcomed change from feeling like a medical experiment or another procedure to add to a medical resume. This is particularly good because I'll be seeing him on a weekly basis for what is looking to be an indefinite amount of time (as I progress, we may be able to cut down the appointments).

Alas, I do have a plan for at least 1.5 hours of my birthday: stretches twice a day and strength-training for my core "to fatigue." Woohoo dilly!

maladies #3: happy birthday?

I'll turn 26 in two days. I'm not going to lie and say that "age is just a number," though I do believe that in the case of my relationship with the man (who is eleven years my senior). Age is more than a number when you make the jump from early twenties to mid twenties and are knocking on the door of late twenties. Ah, yes, you think I'll be having a hard time of it when the thirties, forties, and fifties hit me, but I am still young enough to get away with a lack of foresight so pishaw on you.

As for an update on the hips...today I go to my first PT session this morning. Oh yippee. I'm not enthused, but am hoping that I will be able to get some sort of motivation from this first meeting. If nothing else, I hope that there is a positive spin (even if it is just getting more toned and has nothing to do with the pain subsiding, or if the physical trainer is hot - I am trying to lower the cynicism for the time being).

The unfortunate part of it, referring back to the age stuff, is that I woke up feeling like an octogenarian who had been mugged in an alley the night before. The weather changes are wreaking much havoc on the musculoskeletal system and I'm stiff and sore and ornery to boot. Oh, please let the physical trainer be good looking enough to help me to disarm the expletives that are bound to try to fly out of my mouth.