I’ve taken all I can stands and I can’t stands no more

I’m going home as soon as possible.  I have no idea when I will be back to work.  The pain is so severe I can barely concentrate.

So what is a herniated disc, anyway?

In case anyone is wondering what a slipped (herniated) disc (they mean the same thing) looks like, here’s a picture courtesy of WebMD.com:

Description: from WebMD:

The bones (vertebrae) that form the spine (backbone) are cushioned by small, round, flat discs. When these discs are damaged from an injury, normal wear and tear, or disease, they may bulge abnormally or break open. This is called a herniated or slipped disc.

As you can see from the above diagram I have a disc pressing on my sciatic nerve, which is causing pain to shoot down my legs. My exercises help to push the disc away from the sciatic nerve, but it increases the pain in my back significantly as the disc is pushing against other nerves.

Here’s another view of a herniated disc pressing on a nerve:

Link to WebMD

Flag Pins Save The World!

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time – Blogs from CNN.com:

It was an issue that caused a stir last fall, and one that former Bush strategist Karl Rove predicts may plague Barack Obama in the general election. In a newly-published interview with GQ magazine, Rove says Obama’s reluctance to wear a flag pin on his lapel may translate as elitism to many blue collar democrats.

First of all, Rove is no gentleman, so I have no idea why he was even interviewed in the first place.

Secondly, do you think blue collar democrats honestly care whether or not a presidential candidate wears a flag pin on his jacket? Seriously? I would think that things like jobs would be a higher priority.

“There are Democrats, particularly blue-collar Democrats, who defect to McCain because they see McCain as a patriotic figure and they see Obama as an elitist who’s looking down his nose at ‘em, which he is,” Rove told the magazine.

BS. I will be the last person to call Senator McCain’s patriotism into question. He is patriotic. So am I. So are most Americans. According to Turd Blossom, I guess we’re looking down our elitist noses because we don’t have a flag pin

“That comment where he said, you know, ‘After 9/11, I didn’t wear a flag lapel pin because true patriotism consists of speaking out on the issues, not wearing a flag lapel pin?’ Well, to a lot of ordinary people, putting that flag lapel pin on is true patriotism. It’s a statement of their patriotic love of the country. And for him to sit there and dismiss it as he did…” Rove added. The Obama campaign declined to comment on Rove’s remarks.

Ladies and gentlemen… here’s a pic of Rove giving a speech. Want to play a fun game? Try and find the flag pin on his jacket.

Thursday Morning

Back is extremely stiff and sore this morning.  Last night it took me 20-30 minutes of exercises to get nagging pain out of my legs and my back just locked up so tight I could barely move.  It’s like that right now.  I am supposed to avoid sitting as much as possible so I’m on my knees here at work, which is preventing any leg pain, but the back pain is probably a 9 on a scale of 1-11 (my back scale goes to 11).