Friday Morning

I was cut off by a van today.

The van had a bumper sticker on the back.

It read “Safety Is My Goal”.

I do not want to be presumptuous, but I am going to go out on a limb anyway and surmise that the driver is failing to achieve that goal.

I wanted to call and report him, as it was a commercial van, but I didn’t have a cellphone.

Even if I did, I wouldn’t call while I’m driving.

You see, safety is my goal as well.

Cyclone Damage to Burma

Courtesy of NASA and Andrew Sullivan’s blog:

100,000 dead. What else can I say about this tragedy?

More baby steps

Another small task that I can add to my list of positives: If I go really slow I can empty the dishwasher.  I need to get down onto my knees and can’t lift more than one or two dishes at a time.  I also need to be sure I don’t twist my trunk reaching to put dishes in the cabinets.

But progress in any form is still progress.

August 93 Phish

Missed this gem: It’s Ice from 8/24/93… features a great “Earth Moves Under My Feet” jam (which I think they played during Tweezer elsewhere in Aug 93).

I haven’t been listening to a lot of Phish lately, but I’d be very interested in purchasing a box set of this whole month.

A New Frame of Mind

It’s been very easy the last few months to dwell on the negatives, especially with regard to my back. Face it; it hurts…a lot. I think this would bring down any person to a dangerous level of frustration, depression and negativity. I don’t want any sort of pity party, but I recognize in myself that I have been doing a lot of complaining over the last several months for obvious reasons.

Well, there’s not much I can do about my condition other than what I have been doing. As several people have noted, starting with my darling wife, this is something that is going to take a long time to heal. 6-12 months probably, at least. So rather than dwell on that or hope for some “miracle cure”, which isn’t going to happen, I’d like to take this entry to focus on accomplishments, no matter how small.

So, at this point, I can do the following, which I couldn’t do at some point in the last few months:

• I can walk across a room without stopping to let a spasm subside
• I do not need to walk with a cane
• I can get in and out of bed myself
• I can put my socks on
• I can tie my shoes
• I can sit down into a chair without taking 5-10 minutes to let the muscle spasms subside
• I can sit at the dinner table and eat a meal with my family
• I can walk (slowly) for 10 minutes or so at a time
• I can sit in a chair for 30 minutes or so
• I can lift 5 pounds
• I can go grocery shopping (slowly)
• I can concentrate enough to focus on tasks at work

I hope to add things to this list. Rather than try to set goals/expectations, I’m just to let things happen as they happen. I’m going to continue with my PT and medication and let time do its thing. Based on the level of pain I experienced during my cortisone injections on Thursday, I don’t think I’m going to do any more of those.

This is all Hillary needs to do to win

Very simple!

Aftermath of the Pennsylvania Vote

Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania vote but if she thinks this translates into winning Pennsylvania Avenue she must be a proponent of the No Child Left Behind Act, especially when it comes to math. The votes are of course still being counted, but right now it looks like Hillary will win by roughly a nine point margin, which should not come as a shock to anyone. Last night the news networks were scrambling over each other to try and project a winner with 3% of the vote counted based on the always reliable exit poll.

Hillary and her supporters are trying to spin this as a major victory by beating an Obama campaign that outspent her 3 to 1 in the Keystone State. The problem with this straw-man argument is that it really isn’t a major victory for her at all. Consider the following:

After Super Tuesday, Hillary held a 25 point margin over Obama in Pennsylvania. If the numbers hold, this translates to a net loss of 14 points for Clinton.

North Carolina and Indiana, where Obama is expected to win handily will erase any gains Clinton made in Pennsylvania.

There are no major states to be won left.

Hillary’s campaign is in serious danger of going into debt while Obama can simply wait out the clock.

Then there’s still that pesky issue of delegate math and how Obama still holds a fairly insurmountable lead over Clinton.

In essence, nothing changed yesterday.

The worst case scenario right now for Democrats (and pretty much the only way for Hillary to get the nomination) is to have her further fracture the party and try and convince the superdelegates to buck the popular vote. It would come as no surprise to me if Clinton tries this tactic. Her sense of entitlement is truly unsettling.

At any rate, this contest will still be going on until May 6th, which is the next major primary date, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see this battle go on into June, provided Clinton can find the money to bankroll her egotistical wild tea cup ride through the Democratic party like a tornado on PCP.

Barring any major miracles, she’s done.

Oh crap, it looks like she might have one after all: Michael Moore endorsed Obama

Tuesday

Yesterday was spent getting re-acclimated to work.  I was pretty well exhausted by the time I got home.  I enjoyed bringing the kids out into the cul-de-sac to ride their bikes for an hour or so.  Yesterday afternoon/evening was treated with Rollins and ice cream.

I’m struggling right now to figure out my role in my current project.  It’s a very delicate and tricky thing right now.

Back to work

Back to work this morning.  The jury is still out on how well the cortisone injections are working.  On Friday (the day after the shots) I felt like I had a new back.  Over the weekend I started feeling some pinching in my legs (occasional) and some stiffness and soreness in my lower back.

I think I’m feeling better than before the shots, but I don’t feel as good as I would like to.  It still could be a few days for the shots to take full effect.  If need be, I can get another set of injections on May 1st but I’d rather not unless necessary as it was quite a painful experience.

Convalescence (Day 10)

Rough couple of days.

I had my MRI on Friday.  The procedure itself was a piece of cake.  I won’t know anything definite until I meet with the doctor on Wednesday.  I’m convinced this is just another way for health care to try and bilk even more money out of us.  I responded well in physical therapy later that afternoon and was able to do almost 5 minutes on the treadmill before I had to stop.

Yesterday I was quite sore but managed to take a short, slow walk down to the end of the street and back.  When I got back I needed to lie down with ice for a while.  I think it’s important to try and get a little bit of physical activity, even if it’s painful, to try and avoid atrophy.  My muscles aren’t used to doing anything.

This morning I woke before 6 with pain in my back and legs.  Wouldn’t you know it, the day that my wife and kids sleep in past 8 o’clock I’m up early and can’t sleep.  Came downstairs around 7 and surfed the net for a bit.  After breakfast I did a set of exercises as I had strong pain in my right leg (normally it’s in my left) and iced the back down which helped some.

Since I’m having pain in both legs instead of the customary one, my PT theorizes I have one of the following:

1. 2 or more herniated discs with each one pushing on a different side
2. A herniated disc that is bulging out of both the left and right sides
3. A herniated disc that is bulging out so much it hits both sides

We of course won’t know anything for sure until Wednesday.  There are signs that I am responding well to the physical therapy which is making me lean more towards not having surgery.  I am still leaning towards taking disability so that I can take the time needed to heal properly.