Body Contortions and Agony

My daughter was having trouble sleeping. Every once in a while this happens, and she had a short nap today, so I thought this might happen. I laid in bed with her, as I do every night, to help her get to sleep. She grabbed my goatee and I twisted funny. Felt my spine seize up, but since she was just getting to sleep I didn't want to move.

And then I couldn't move.

If you have back problems, you know that feeling. It's odd, to say the least. Suddenly you realize you cannot move left, right or in any other direction you might need to go. You aren't paralyzed but you may as well be.

Eventually she fell asleep, let go of my goatee and rolled over. I still could not move. I was in utter agony. Very glad I went to the doctor to get my prescription filled, but since I hadn't taken one of the pills in a while, and I need to be alert when my daughter is here, I wasn't going to take one. No matter, though, because even if I wanted to, I couldn't get up to get them.

I finally made it out of her room, but not without gritting my teeth in pain. The closest way to describe the pain would be to say it felt like someone had taken a pick axe, rammed it through my back so it went behind my spine and poked back out the flesh, wedged it and then gave it a hearty twist to let me know they care.

Fucking brutal.

All for laying funny.

I've put my body through a lot of abuse in my younger days. Ten hour days skateboarding takes its toll. My knees and ankles are shot. I've been hit by a car. I've raced downhill and have wiped out where I ended up in rocks. Fallen in half pipes. I should be lucky I'm not in more pain. I feel it every day, though, and times like this remind me of how bad it can be.

I wanted to make my phone call tonight, edit a piece (I don't trust myself to do it right now), and watch the news. Instead, I checked e-mail and decided to write on here. I am having a hard time moving, so I'm going to try to go to bed, though I doubt I'll sleep much. If I take my pill, I have a feeling I won't wake up in time. I'm not complaining about that. I'll never be a parent who lets his pain stand in the way of being alert for his daughter's sake. That's not me. But I do realize this is gonna be a long night.

Maybe I'll do that editing anyway ...