Not This Again

Since I've been absent in posting for so long, this is a catchup post, but one I thought relevant leading up to Triathlon #4.

I started Dragonboating again last month. For those of you unfamiliar, Dragonboating is a pretty big deal around here and there are a lot of clubs around the world that participate in this sport. I even have a cousin who has paddled on the US Master's team and competed internationally. She's the one who got me into the sport waaaay back in 2004. I had a blast and paddled for several years. Unfortunately, in late 2004 when I hurt my back, it made paddling rather difficult and painful and I had to step away. The last time I was seriously in a boat I wasn't even paddling--I "called" for some of my team practices while I was pregnant in 2007.

Dragonboating is not rowing. When you row, you have an oar, usually "locked" to the boat in some form. The rower puts the oar in the water behind them and then pulls the handle portion towards their body. The boat is moving in the direction of the rower's back. The oars are oriented horizontally (mostly). Dragonboating uses paddling technique where the paddler reaches the paddle forward in front of them, it is oriented vertically (when done correctly), and the paddler faces the direction the boat is moving. It involves some twisting of the torso which was part of what made me have to quit paddling before as it was just too much for my back.

Since my back has been considerably better (not good, just better), I thought I'd try it out again this season. I've been doing well, and if anything, it seems to be helping to get in a different form of exercise. The drawbacks? My team practices at 6:00 in the morning twice a week.

I. Am. Not. A. Morning. Person.

So I've been reluctantly hauling myself out of bed to get to practice the past few weeks.

This morning though, there was no hauling to be had.

When I woke up at 5:00, I went to roll over to get out of bed and electrical-shock pain went through my entire back, abdomen, and legs. Occasionally when I wake up this happens. I take a few deep breaths and try to move s-l-o-w-l-y. Deep breathing and slow movement was not working. Any lower body muscle contraction was sending the electrical-shock pain currents through me. Unfortunately, my bladder had woken up and was being rather demanding, so I kept trying to move because my bladder is not particularly patient, especially in the morning.

It's kind of a good thing we don't have a bed frame right now because it meant I was close to the floor. I absolutely couldn't straighten, so I very slowly managed to ooze to my hands and knees. I actually crawled to the bathroom.

Once there, I cried a little because I felt so pathetic and I couldn't figure out how I was going to get myself up on to the toilet. I think there was a considerable amount of moaning as I maneuvered myself. But then I sat there for awhile when I was done, so I could recover enough to move off of it again.

I managed to ooze back to the floor and crawled back to the bedroom. Again grateful for no bed frame, I deep-breath, slow-moved myself back into a sidelying position, where I stayed awake and deep breathing until my husband woke up two hours later.

Which means yes, I skipped dragonboat practice. But considering I couldn't stand upright, I wasn't going to crawl out to my car (let alone crawl down the waterfront to get to the dock) to sit in a boat and not paddle.

The Moroccan kindly got me ice and aleve and a glass of water and I tried to rest some.

I drifted off and woke up a couple of hours later. I could (slowly) get to vertical, but all movement was still horribly painful (although the electric shock sensations were limited to when I moved too fast, as opposed to moving at all). I had massage clients scheduled for later in the day and was trying to figure out how, when I could barely stand up, I was going to give someone else a massage.

I finally called my husband at work and asked if he had any of his painkillers left from knee surgery. He said yes, and that I could have then if I needed it.

I took one.

About an hour later, it kicked in enough that I could move around again, although I had to be really careful with how I moved. But I could move.

I gave the massages, took one more pain pill later that night...and a couple hours later my back was fine, but I could feel a migraine coming on.

Unfortunately, since I can't take my migraine medication with certain painkillers (it could cause seizures) and I didn't really want to call the doctor and say, "Hey, I took some of my husband's high-level post-surgery narcotics without doctor's instructions and I know that's illegal, but can I take my migraine pills now?" I decided to go to bed and hope I could sleep it off.