A setback

I've been experiencing health issues the past two weeks, but I'm gradually recovering.  It all started on a Friday with a flu vaccination.  I wasn't feeling well that day, like maybe I was coming down with a cold.  I knew I shouldn't get a flu shot under those conditions, there was even a question on the questionnaire that asked if I were sick.  I lied and said no, because I wanted to get it over with and didn't want to come back the next week.  The next day, Saturday, I had flu-like symptoms, like a cold on steroids, so I lay around all day.  The next day, Sunday, is when the real trouble started.  I woke up with shooting pains in my back and down the back of my right leg, so I lay around all that day too.  In my life I've had a couple of episodes of sciatica, inflammation of the sciatic nerve, but nothing that severe.

All the next week the pain in my right side (my good side) was agonizing, and even spread down to my ankle and up into my neck.  In the morning I would take a couple of acetaminophen and hobble into my home office and collapse into my chair.  Once there I would yell and writhe in pain until the pills took the edge off.  The pain never really went away, but as long as I sat, I could concentrate enough to get most of my work done. 

The weather here turned cold and rainy that week, and some combination of the weather, the flu symptoms, and the sciatica, caused the spasticity in my left side to amp up.  So that's the way I've been for almost two weeks:  right side burning with pain and left side stiff as a board.  The pain has gradually started to ease in the last few days, but there is still a definite limit to the distance I can walk before it comes roaring back.  Yesterday, I had to go to KHC to get some tasks accomplished that I can only do there.  It went pretty well, since I was able to sit in various places most of the time. On the way back though, I had to stop at a gas station, which was self-service of course.   After filling up, I decided to go inside to use the restroom and get some coffee.  When I came out, it was sleeting, and both my sciatica and spasticity were awake and angry.  I limped back to my car, hunched over to my right trying to get some relief from the pain, while my left leg was so stiff I couldn't bend my knee.  I must have looked like Quasimodo, plus I was talking to myself, saying "Ow, ow, ow," every time I took a step.  I'm surprised no one called the police.

I haven't been able to exercise in two weeks, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to again.  I imagine I'll have to start over from scratch.  I was up to 16 lengths in the pool, and I hate to think about how long it will take me to work up to that again.  This has been the biggest setback to my recovery since the spasticity started 18 months ago, but I overcame that, and I 'll get through this.  Just another episode of living with stroke, the gift that keeps on taking.