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Friday, April 8, 2011

Stiff Necked

We each have peculiarities; I just seem to have more than the average person! One of my odd traits that has bedeviled me for most of my life is the manner in which I injure myself. It almost never happens when I'm doing something athletic, heroic or work-related. No, it usually happens when I'm doing something basic and routine.

Late last night, I wrenched my neck. I was sitting here at my computer watching a documentary. Without warning -- there usually IS a warning -- I launched into a series of violent sneezes. Typically, when a sneeze is coming on, the little warning signs allow me to set myself for the violent onslaught. I don't sneeze often, but when I do, they always come in bunches.

Within a few seconds, I realized I had twisted me neck in a way that's not so good. My hope was that this merely a spasm and, when I awoke this morning, everything would be a-ok.

When I woke up this morning, I thought it must have been nothing more than a weird dream. My neck felt fine...until I moved it and I then realized it wasn't a dream. So, I'm going to take it easy today and try to move my neck as little as possible.

This event reminds me of my odd injury back when I was preparing to enter grad school. We were moving from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Pittsburg, Kansas. I spent a whole day loading our stuff in the U-Haul and encountered no problems. The next day my dog and me (Della stayed behind due to a fractured leg) headed out for the 8 hour journey to the northwest.

After two hours of driving up winding Highway 7, I decided to stop in Dardanelle to let doggie stretch her legs and, hopefully, relieve herself. It was a stifling hot August day and so, after gallivanting around a vacant field for several minutes, my dog was panting heavily.

I grabbed her water dish and a jug of liquid refreshment from the back of the truck. I set the dish on the ground, poured in the water and then...tried to straighten up. I couldn't. My back had locked up. I tried to roll my hips to loosen the muscles, but it was a no-go. I ended up crawling back to the truck and it took me something like 15 minutes to get myself back in the driver's seat.

I ended up driving the 2 hours back home in excruciating pain. I was bedridden for several days and it was one and one-half weeks before I was able to make the trip up north.

This is how it usually goes for me. I'm engaging in rather normal activities and then...

1 comment:

  1. Sorry to hear about your neck. I've had that happen to me before.

    Funny, though, I have a friend who used to live in Pittsburg KS. Small world.

    ReplyDelete

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