Went to the doctor today

So, I hate to complain (believe it or not). And I hate to ask for help (believe it or not). But, ever since my epic walk, I've been hurting. Cry-for-my-mommy kind of hurting. Limping-on-my-way-to-the-photocopier kind of hurting. Six weeks of relentless, wake-up-in-the-night, hurts-to-stand-up, hurts-to-sit-down, hurts-to move, hurts-to-stand-still sort of pain.

The extra-large bottle of Advil I've chewed through in the last month has not helped.

Even N, when she was over, after I admitted I needed some help with the hooch, noted that she had never seen me wince with pain. Oh, I'd talked about it, but never actually shown it.

Of course, if I had stopped doing stuff, that might have helped, but it is spring, and there is yard work to do. The house might be a dump, and there is studying and knitting to do, but I will garden, dammit!

After this past weekend, when my mommy was clucking and fawning over me (she who doesn't give sympathy to anyone) I knew it was bad. I was going "ow, ow, ow!" as I eased myself down into the passenger seat of her car. Hanging onto the roof of the car as if my one arm could ease the pain of my 180-pound, five-foot-eleven inch body slowly drifting into a seat that is only about eight inches off the ground.

I made a doctor's appointment, and explained why I was there.

I didn't even finish explaining the symptoms, and the always-kind-and-delightful Dr. W was telling me that I have sciatica.

I suspected as much. Google is my friend, after all.

I now have a killer prescription for anti-inflammatories, a referral to a physiotherapist, a recommendation for a chiropractor (a former schoolmate of my doctor's) and a strong suggestion to visit my friend the massage therapist.

Apparently, this is serious shit, and it's going to take me six weeks to get better. No matter what.

That takes me to the middle of July. Man, I am pissed at my own stupidity right now. Forty minutes, waiting for the bus, would have saved me all this. Twelve weeks of pain and torture for forty minutes. That'll show me. I could have been knitting for that forty minutes.