(nunc me sagíttent)
Friday,
at around 10 am, my neck suddenly hurt like hell...
It was a familiar pain, one that has recurred several times in the last 25 years.
Back then, at the age of 19, I was working at my Dad's big sheet metal shop...and one of my duties was to open the big overhead doors in the morning.
These doors were huge...maybe 25 feet across...with a chain-fall for lifting them. They were also quite old, and the teeth of the chain-fall would only engage when one got the door started, manually.
Due to the springs and things, this was not all that difficult...just lift the bottom of the door, while yanking on the appropriate chain.
But that day, my neck was cocked in just the right way, and something just snapped...I could no longer turn my head without severe pain.
As the boss' son, I bore the brunt of much testosterone induced ribbing, so I kept quiet about the injury....attempted to do my job...which included driving the ancient and dilapidated blue Ford pick-up, loaded with tools and materials, on Houston freeways to one job-site or another...by breaktime, I was in hell...and approached Cl, the foreman. He told me to suck it up, and to quit trying to get out of work...so I continued for 3 more hours. The old blue Ford had no functioning mirrors...so one had to turn one's head, in order to change lanes...I, on the other hand, was forced to turn my whole body...and by lunch, I had had enough...and went to see my Dad.
He immediately took me to their doctor, who sent me to a neurologist, who prescribed a week off, and muscle relaxers....he said that they would allow me to relax(major understatement!), so that the likely “pinched nerve” would heal.
As Dad drove me home, I asked him what would have happened if one of the other employees had approached him, instead of his son....
He said,” same thing. We take care of our people.”
Later, my Grandad(the founder of the Shop) said the same thing, but added,”If we didn't , they could sue the pants off of us!...always take care of your people. It's the Right Thing to do, and it covers your ass, too.”
It was a familiar pain, one that has recurred several times in the last 25 years.
Back then, at the age of 19, I was working at my Dad's big sheet metal shop...and one of my duties was to open the big overhead doors in the morning.
These doors were huge...maybe 25 feet across...with a chain-fall for lifting them. They were also quite old, and the teeth of the chain-fall would only engage when one got the door started, manually.
Due to the springs and things, this was not all that difficult...just lift the bottom of the door, while yanking on the appropriate chain.
But that day, my neck was cocked in just the right way, and something just snapped...I could no longer turn my head without severe pain.
As the boss' son, I bore the brunt of much testosterone induced ribbing, so I kept quiet about the injury....attempted to do my job...which included driving the ancient and dilapidated blue Ford pick-up, loaded with tools and materials, on Houston freeways to one job-site or another...by breaktime, I was in hell...and approached Cl, the foreman. He told me to suck it up, and to quit trying to get out of work...so I continued for 3 more hours. The old blue Ford had no functioning mirrors...so one had to turn one's head, in order to change lanes...I, on the other hand, was forced to turn my whole body...and by lunch, I had had enough...and went to see my Dad.
He immediately took me to their doctor, who sent me to a neurologist, who prescribed a week off, and muscle relaxers....he said that they would allow me to relax(major understatement!), so that the likely “pinched nerve” would heal.
As Dad drove me home, I asked him what would have happened if one of the other employees had approached him, instead of his son....
He said,” same thing. We take care of our people.”
Later, my Grandad(the founder of the Shop) said the same thing, but added,”If we didn't , they could sue the pants off of us!...always take care of your people. It's the Right Thing to do, and it covers your ass, too.”
Any-hoo...that's
how I damaged my neck. This injury reappears every 5 to 10 years...it
is unknown to me just what triggers it, although on one occasion, it
was likely due to square hay bales,lol.
This time....I have no idea.
It's either C-2, or C-3...and I don't think it can be anything else besides a “Pinched Nerve”...but it has the effect of tensing the musculature in my neck, back and shoulder, and just making me even more miserable than I normally am. It does seem to block all but the strongest pain signals from my lower body...which is interesting,lol...the Human Body is an amazing thing.
It's been four days, now...it recedes for a while, and comes back...it's sneaky, that way.
So I'll think it's over, and very gingerly attempt to “do something”,lol...only to have it return with a vengeance.
This time....I have no idea.
It's either C-2, or C-3...and I don't think it can be anything else besides a “Pinched Nerve”...but it has the effect of tensing the musculature in my neck, back and shoulder, and just making me even more miserable than I normally am. It does seem to block all but the strongest pain signals from my lower body...which is interesting,lol...the Human Body is an amazing thing.
It's been four days, now...it recedes for a while, and comes back...it's sneaky, that way.
So I'll think it's over, and very gingerly attempt to “do something”,lol...only to have it return with a vengeance.
The end result of all of this is me, propped up in my nest of 19 pillows(leg pillows, and back pillows, etc etc...I'm a fucking bower bird!)...typing this out on a screen at the foot of the bed...wireless keyboard and mouse("Oh Glorious brave new world!...")
I managed to be the jitney for drum practice, and to supervise my boys making dinner(hot dogs and hash browns and cucumbers).
Instead of a third Norco(hydrocodone) of the day, I deemed the pain intractable enough to warrant a Percocet(oxycodone)...from the little jar of 60 I have hoarded and guarded and misered over, for almost a year.
Percocet requires a little benadryl, as well...I took a teaspoon of the kid's syrupy kind,lol(tastes like turpentine)...and am not very comfortably numb.
If I remain very still, and propped up in just the right way, the pain is sort of tolerable.
I hate the “High” these drugs sometimes produce...Norco does not, but Percs impart a sort of brain fog that is just about the opposite of what I consider a desirable “High”. I feel inclined to drink coffee, in order to counter this, but will limit myself to Darjeeling.
I have a whole bunch of muscle relaxers(cyclobenziprine), which they seem to hand out like candy, for some reason...but I really don't like those. They exacerbate the “Restless Leg Syndrome”(that I have in all of my joints)...which is another of those ailments that is often perceived as Mythical, or Somatoform, by a good portion of the medical establishment(similar to Fibro). I take Gabapentin for the RLS,and the Fibro and primarily for the Nerve Pain in my lower legs... cyclobenzaprine is contraindicated,with any Gaba-ergic thing, anyway.(I've spent a lot of time in the PDR, and in clinical data...self-education in such matters is necessary when one has no access to health-care, for so long.)
It would be cool to sleep, tonight.
Alas,
me thinks I'll be up, for a while.
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