Friday, May 22, 2009

Swimming FAIL

The past several weeks have been chaotic, to say the least. My dad crashed the family car into a hill and left me without MY car for two weeks while Ed (the car) was getting a makeover - replacing the axle, the lights, rims, etc. It was rainy, he is fine, car is better now, life is back to normal, right?

Except it's not.

I'm taking Swimming I this quarter, because I needed an extra hour of classes to get all of my scholarships. Last Wednesday we tried diving out, something I think half the class was unprepared for. I am a terrible diver, absolutely atrocious. My first jump off the one meter board had my face smacking the water at a bad angle - my neck still feels iffy now and again. My second jump, though, is the thing that has messed up my past week. My legs flipped up toward my back, snapping back when they hit the water. I didn't keep my legs in any sort of correct position. I felt something... shift. Snap. Crackle. Pop. SOMETHING went wrong. The lifeguard called out, I think, to see if I was okay as I sloooooowly doggy-paddled to the side of the pool. 

I thought it was just a simple twist. I've had issues in my lower back this past year; it usually strikes on the weekends, when I can't go see anyone. So I took some iBuprofen at the start of my macroecon class and figured I would be fine. I ended up lying on the floor at my job not even two hours later, the meds doing jackshit to help me feel better. 

A few hours and a visit to the student health center later, I had THREE different medications to take and a bandage on each hip from the painkillers the doctor had determined I needed immediately. My lower back muscle was spasming so badly she could see it. She touched it to confirm, asked a few questions, and told me that the drugs she was prescribing would help. If they didn't, I would go back in and get a scan.

I thought I was doing better. It turns out I just hadn't been walking enough for my back to put up all of its 'on strike' placards. I went back yesterday and was told that my back is not doing as well as it should at this point in my 'recovery.' I was given more drugs (!) and given a referral to the physical therapy department. Next Friday, I will be getting an ultrasound of my back to determine what is wrong with my 'lumbar vertebrae' and what the course of action will be to make it so that maybe, just maybe, I will no longer find myself unable to move for an entire day. I am rapidly reaching a level of chronic pain and I'm hopeful that the PT will help me heal and no longer experience this pain on regular basis.