There I was convalescing from my surgery, almost completely better. A week - shmeek! It took the better part of 12 days to get better, not a week as my doctor suggested. But at the end of those 12 days I was feeling pretty great and ready to start packing the RV. We've got to be getting on the road already! I spent the evening hanging out with my oldest friend D., and we were laughing and being silly as usual. I went to sit back on her couch pillows when I felt a little 'pop'! in my back. It didn't hurt much until I got up to go home. My back was spasming! Yikes!
A feeling of dread washed over me, but as I tend to be a bit of a hypochondriac, I figured I shouldn't get too excited. I've had back spasms before - a little rest and I'll be fine in the morning.
I woke up at about 3am and had to go to the bathroom. When I went to get up, I had forgotten about my back issues and couldn't move. What the heck? 'No, uh-uh, this is not happening; I'm just really groggy and tried to get up the wrong way', I told myself. The next 5 minutes or so were a blur of grunts, groans, and blankets flying as I tried to get both feet on the floor. I imagine I looked something like a giant tuna that's just been caught and thrown on deck: I flopped this way and that, trying in vain to get myself overboard. I tried facing up, facing down, and some twisty-sideways moves that would have made Elaine from Seinfeld proud. It was pathetic, really, but somehow I made it to vertical, swearing like a drunken sailor all the way.
My sweet husband J., who is the lightest sleeper I know and who wakes up when the dog snores, remained blissfully asleep throughout the whole endeavor. He never gets enough sleep, so I could hardly get angry at him, but oh, I wanted to...
I stumbled to the bathroom, and spent the rest of the night in a chair in the living room. This was last Saturday night, and today is Friday. For 6 days I've been a slave to my aching back, and I'm only now beginning to get better. Normally this would just be an annoyance and a short break in my routine, but, um, WE'RE ON A DEADLINE HERE!!!
Unfortunately, we're late as usual. Late, late, late!
Okay, let's review.
Late Jan.: we made the decision to buy an older RV and move to ABQ. I wanted to be out of here by April 1st because I was hoping to get down there for teacher-hiring season. There's usually a short window of time in which teachers get hired, and I figured it would be much easier to get a job in New Mexico if we were actually in New Mexico.
Late Feb: BIG snow, then we had to wait a few weeks to find out whether or not I needed surgery. Turns out I did, as you know, and the surgery was on March 31st. Clearly we weren't going to make that April 1st deadline. Surgery went well, and we hoped to have our garage sale April 17th & 18th.
April 10: I then hurt my back, and now we're hoping to have the sale the week of April 24th & 25th. As soon as we get rid of all of our stuff and pack up the RV, we're gone. I'm still only at about 50% usefulness, and oh - did I mention it's supposed to pour the 24th & 25th just in time for our garage sale?
Someday we're going to look back on this and laugh... I just know it!
