Update on the Frogg's Health

Thanks to all of you who expressed their sympathy the other day; my neck still hurts a lot, but it is better than before. I slathered it in Icy-Hot yesterday, and took lots of drugs--four Ibuprofen pills at work, then two Naproxen when I got home. I went out for drinks with WoundedBug in the evening; a tall glass of beer followed by a shot of Bailey's on the rocks did wonders for the pain, but alas! How temporary the cure!

I can't be sure, but I think this injury may actually be related to damage I wreaked upon my body many years ago, during a rousing game of rollerblade hockey at my house (remember, Steve?). Actually, we weren't playing hockey at the moment of the accident. We were skating around, being silly, and without going into humiliating details, let's just say that I did something severely stupid, with the result that I landed FLAT on my back, on the highly unforgiving surface of a tennis court, while falling from a height of...well, I can't remember now, but probably a few feet.

The pain was horrific. I had tried to keep my head from cracking open on the concrete, and in so doing, had drastically pulled the muscle in my neck and upper back. Probably a good many muscles, actually. I could barely move, or even breathe. I could, however, cry and did, with every bit of self-pity that I could muster (I mustered quite a lot).

However, I still went to Disneyland the next day, because I had a crush on a guy who was going. Pain or no pain (but oh! there was plenty of pain!), I was going to the "happiest place on earth" even if it killed me. And you know all those rides that say, "DO NOT get on this ride if you are pregnant, have heart trouble, or diabetes; if you're too short, too tall, too heavy, too light; if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, or if you have BACK PROBLEMS"? Yep. I went on every single one, and I suffered on every single one, with gritted teeth and heart-felt groans. My reward? One fleeting hand-hold and a day of flirtatious banter. Worth it? Well, I thought so at the time, but now...no, not really. Oh, what horrors we visit upon ourselves in the name of love...

Anyway, I somehow survived, and eventually sort of healed, but my back has never been quite the same, and every now and then it relapses, like the other day. Today I can at least breathe without pain (if I don't breathe too deeply!), but I still have to turn my entire body to look over my shoulder as I change lanes on the freeway. I also can't tilt my head backward very far.

So, yes, it still hurts a lot, and I am still grumpy and sad about it, especially as it looks like I really will have to cancel the Yosemite trip. Besides me hurting my neck, the friend I was going with has sprained her ankle. Neither injury is very conducive to backpacking for several days in the mountains. I am quite devastated, as I have never been to Yosemite, and was really looking forward to this trip.

Ah, pity me, who is so piteous...or pitiful, as the case may be.