As a follow up to my last post, this one is a continuation of my sciatic pain, with a bit of humor!

My sciatic pain was pretty bad this morning. I had a hard time moving around, even in bed. When Mom came over in the morning she helped me with my stretch which was excrutiating. Soon afterward Karen and Natalie came to visit, then my angel came....Kate, the massage therapist. After she worked on me she propped me up with pillows and I laid there for a good few hours. At about two I decided to test my pain threshold to take a shower. Once I hobbled around, showered, got dressed, etc (all without getting "stuck"!), I tried to lay down. Every way I turned felt like a long knife running down my tailbone, butt and leg. I couldn't relax without being in pain. So I tried to lay on my side. I got half way there and couldn't take the pain, so I reached for the bed controls to adjust the bed. The ultrasound technician moved my bed earlier this morning and put the side rail down (which has the bed controls). Not only was it down, it was pushed up against a cabinet so I couldn't even pull it up. By this time my leg muscles were cramping from trying not to relax, then my back started cramping up and I was officially stuck....in bed....laying on my back. Somehow I found the nurse button. I had a terrific nurse today with a great sense of humor. She came in and asked what she could do and I said "I'm stuck! I can't move and I can't reach the controls and my back and legs are cramping because of the fact that I'm stuck in this bed!" I was almost laughing because it sounded so pathetic. She began laughing and said "Oh geez! You ARE pathetic!" We were both laughing and she helped me roll over. Then another nurse came in, surprised that my nurse was in the room. She said "Why didn't you turn off the call button?" She replied with "She was stuck! I had to help her before I turned it off!" She explained that I got stuck laying in bed and the other nurse started laughing too. I told her about my day on Sunday and getting stuck in different spots in the room, not able to call for a nurse. She said she'd work on getting me a Life Alert button. She came to check on me sporatically throughout the rest of the afternoon to make sure I was okay and we'd laugh each time.

Later in the afternoon I sat on the exercise ball for awhile and that seemed to help. Then Mom came by and helped me with my stretches, then gave me a vibrating heating pad....HEAVEN!!! That is until it stopped working! It must have done something though. As Mom left, I walked to the end of the hall to get some water and made it back without any pain. Yeah!!!!

Late afternoons and evenings seem to be better than mornings. My doctor told me that as soon as I'm released, he'll write a prescription for a chiropractor which should help immensely. I told him that I'd make an appointment for next Tuesday afternoon, as soon as they let me out of here! Now comes the stress of knowing that I'm going to a home that has stairs and sometimes I can barely stand up, let alone go up and down a flight of stairs. Mom has offered to have me live with her, which I may have to do. We'll have to see how I feel by next Tuesday. Hopefully tomorrow I have less pain and a great nurse as I did today. It makes my day so much better to have a nurse that I can relate to, and doesn't look at me like I'm an annoyance to her! Here's hoping for a good one! I need it emotionally.