Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Back to basics

Gnarly I think might be the term for my body and mood. I am like Mrs Overall's younger sister. I am in such a bad way, I do not even know what to do about it. Every now and then, I crawl into bed and sob. Do I go to London to my own osteopath? Do I hang on and hope that someone can fit me in up here? My first instinct was to get on a train. Only the fact, I did not know whether I could make it from the train to the taxi rank the other end stopped me. I think I could just about make it if I did not carry a baby or a handbag. I might have to cry the whole four hours down there though. Alternatively, I could get slightly out of it on anti-inflammatories and white wine.

I have been looking forward to going down to London to see some friends and take care of a bit of business; it does not have the same attaction if I literally have to crawl back into town. Maybe I could tell everyone: "Fell orf the hunter. Damned shame. Had to shoot the horse." That would also explain the reek of alcohol if I started drinking with my GNER breakfast bap. It sounds so much more interesting than "Dicky back. Old crock. What can you do?" At one point my husband said: "You seem to be walking better." In what world does he live? My body is completely twisted and I am dragging a foot. The only thing I am missing is a bell-rope. There are times when it is thoroughly demoralising to live with an optimist.

A small part of me feels as if I should sort it out up here and that I cannot keep getting on a train every time I want a hair cut or a newspaper. (Actually, I did get a hair cut up here a few weeks ago. I hated it. It took the guy about seven minutes. Seven minutes. Maybe it takes my London hairdresser seven minutes and he spends another 30, crouched behind my head making scissor sounds, but I doubt it.) Another part thinks: "Go to London. See your own man. Make up some excuse and stay a while."

28 comments:

Liv said...

Agreed. You should most def go to London. Made the leap via Rilly Super---love the blog--makes me reminded of when my erstwhile husband hauled me way down south to rural Georgia, population of cows outnumbering people. Can you feel my smile?

The Draughtsman said...

Probably do you good, a spell back in the big smoke. Get your back sorted. See your oseopath. Find out if there is a good one up here north of Watford Gap. I knew of a good one in Hexham but that was years ago.There's nothing more demoralising than a bad back, especially when its the result of nothing particularly dramatic. I think you need a bit of "City Therapy" then you can return to the hurly-burly of the Northlands.
Gan canny Bonnie lass!
(You shouldn't need that translating!)

Pig in the Kitchen said...

I agree with Norman, having a bad back is a nightmare, the most ignored part of the body (maybe), but when it goes wrong...

I'm a tad worried about you on the train tho it'll be a bugger of a journey, will you last?! Have you iced the injured part? Apparently ice is the new deep heat.
Good luck,
pigx

Anonymous said...

Stay where you are Wifey - I am on my way with the magic finger vibrating tool.. you know how you like that!!

er...? is is left or right at Birmingham?

Poetess said...

Hi WITN

I commented on an earlier blog of yours how I had been housebound/bed bound for three years. I found a specialist osteopath in Kent and had to do quite a lot of travelling to see him until I moved from Cumbria to get more regular treatment and a lot of rehab. What I used to do was fly from Newcastle to Gatwick. the good thing about flying is that although it takes the same amount of time you are able to get up and move around whenever you feel too uncomfy. The airport staff are great if you let them know beforehand that you have probs with mobility they send the buggy for you so you don't have to do the stairs or the long walk to departure lounge particularly if you will have a small one with you. I tried the train it was too painful for words and they are not great with helping you with bags on the platform.

I do hope you resolve your back problem quickly.

Poetessxxxx

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

There is a well-recommended bone-cruncher in Berwick. I have never been - I am more in the habit of crunching other people's for them than having my own crunched...

You could always have your hair done in Fenwick in Newcastle - they charge silly prices and you can't tell the difference when you come out ...

sunshine said...

Isn't this what husband/lovers are for? Hubby books a lovely hotel room near your osteopath. He books the nanny for overnight duty for as long as it takes.

He tenderly helps you into the back seat of his car and tucks you in with a bottle of chablis and 6 muscle relaxer pills.

He drives to London, checking into the luxurious hotel room he has booked, which is near your osteopath.

Each day, he gently helps you to and from the osteo, listening carefully to the dr.'s instructions; massages your lower back muscles; orders room service with good wine. Maybe he could sing you to sleep.

This continues until the dr. releases you as "cured". He then drives back to Northumb. and fends the kids off until you feel ready to take over (or 2010, whichever comes first).

Disa said...

oh god, i went 5 months, FIVE (this is worthy of spelling and caps) months without going to the hairdresser when i moved to san diego (that is a lot of time to walk around with a skunk stripe of dark roots) because i could not go to some stranger again, only to leave in tears because they didnt do it "the way KIM did it".

Swearing Mother said...

Sunshine, that was lovely, it made having a bad back almost dream-like, or should we say "in your dreams"? Are you sure you haven't been at WITN's white wine and anti-inflammatories? Apart from the pain, what a fabulous fantasy.

I put my back out recently trying on a pair of shoes in a boutique in Dartmouth, I managed to get them on but then couldn't straighten up. God I felt stupid bent double wearing a pair of rope soled platform wedges with ankle ties. And they looked really, really silly, but I couldn't untie them myself and had to have help. Humiliating.

I think WITN'S current predicament is a sign from above to be honest: bad back + need osteopath + want haircut + need to get away to London for several reasons = GO GIRL GO. Leave the kids with hubby (reminding him of the TV ban, obviously), get a plane ticket and a wagon-load of Ibuprofen and go off-sick.

Hope you're better soon.

Iota said...

Well, Wifey, I am a lone voice here, but I say don't go. You'll be in agony, it won't be fun, you'll come back exhausted. You say yourself "it does not have the same attraction" under current circs. Save London for fun escapes and jolly japes.

I think you need rest and a good local osteopath. Get your GP to give you a "muscle relaxant" aka valium aka mother's little helper. Then go to bed and float away (assuming you can get the children looked after, and preferably out of the house). Ask your London osteopath if he/she can work the osteopath grapevine for a recommendation of someone good near you.

Ring up your new friend and ask for help. People like to help. She may know a good osteopath.

Alternatively, you could get your husband to carry out his suggestion (you know, putting you in a barrel and rolling you down a hill). I've never before heard it suggested as a remedy for a bad back, but maybe he can quote you a precedent.

Mopsa said...

Everything in my head tells me there are decent hairdressers and osteopaths in rural hideaways, be they Northumberland or Devon. However, my heart knows that the local hairdressers are pretty awful and I haven't yet needed an osteopath...although if I sit at this computer any longer the painful muscle along the length of my spine might shortly tell me otherwise. OH goes to the local barber for a very effective number 2 (summer) or number 3 (winter), but I know for sure that would be a step too far for my locks. As a result I only venture in once or twice a year (yes, pathetic, I know).

Anonymous said...

Stop where you are! Not sure about hairdressers up here but there's some pretty good physio's around. Maybe you need a rest. Take a holiday. Put ya feet up.
Hope you'll get sorted soon.

Stay at home dad said...

Your apparently throwaway comment about your husband being an optimist is the key to this whole thing, of course.

He assumes everything will be fine in the end and waits for that situation to arrive. You notice all the ruts and bumps along the way. That is torture in another name!

And Sunshine - please start a blog...

DogLover said...

Oh, dear. I commented on your back on your previous blog before reading this latest cry for help!

Don't go to London - that'll only make things worse.

You almost certainly have a prolapsed (i.e. slipped) disc. You did something that squeezed one side of the disc between its two vertebrae; out of the opposite side of the disc burst some of the soft jelly-like stuff that is inside the disc. It pushed against one or some of the nerves that run down the spine and that caused the pain.

If you have done a lot of damage, it is likely that the nerves that go to the legs will have become compressed and you'll get sciatica - pain down the back of your leg or legs which may even reach as far as your feet.

Take it easy. If you have to bend, do so gently and not too far. Most importantly, get hubby to get that book "Treat Your Own Back". When it's in your hands, that's when you'll start to get better.

Don't go to London. Backs heal themselves eventually, but if you continue to damage them while they are still hurting, it's likely you'll be a prey to back troubles for the rest of your life.

If you can't get the book, go to your GP and get fixed up with a physiotherapist - they're very professional. Or I'll lend you my much-read copy of the book!

Good luck.

DogLover said...

Oh, dear. I commented on your back on your previous blog before reading this latest cry for help!

Don't go to London - that'll only make things worse.

You almost certainly have a prolapsed (i.e. slipped) disc. You did something that squeezed one side of the disc between its two vertebrae; out of the opposite side of the disc burst some of the soft jelly-like stuff that is inside the disc. It pushed against one or some of the nerves that run down the spine and that caused the pain.

If you have done a lot of damage, it is likely that the nerves that go to the legs will have become compressed and you'll get sciatica - pain down the back of your leg or legs which may even reach as far as your feet.

Take it easy. If you have to bend, do so gently and not too far. Most importantly, get hubby to get that book "Treat Your Own Back". When it's in your hands, that's when you'll start to get better.

Don't go to London. Backs heal themselves eventually, but if you continue to damage them while they are still hurting, it's likely you'll be a prey to back troubles for the rest of your life.

If you can't get the book, go to your GP and get fixed up with a physiotherapist - they're very professional. Or I'll lend you my much-read copy of the book!

Good luck.

DogLover said...

Sorry about the repetition! Not good at this internet stuff!

Eurodog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lady macleod said...

Perhaps your back is out because you are so very unhappy and dissatisfied. If you moved back to London, would you be happy? what would you write about?

occasional northerner said...

I once had my hair cut in a (now sadly closed, which maybe says it all) barber's shop in Berwick. It cost £2.50, I didn't have to put up with any chat and the whole thing was over and done with in 3 minutes. It was my dream haircut!

While I know its not the answer if you really hanker after a day in the big smokey place, there must be a decent back man in either Edinburgh or Newcastle. I'll ask around.

Kim said...

After we moved I spent far too much time traveling home to the doctor and the hairdresser. I've found both here now and it makes life oh so much simpler.

Stay, wifey, and find some local people.

the rotten correspondent said...

As someone who has done a very similar thing to her back, I second the rest and wait option. Backs really do respond quite well to generalized taking it easy. I always found that getting in the hottest shower I could stand and pointing the stream right at the painful part of my back helped a lot. Good luck with the back and the marras. At least you know you have all of us online pulling for you...

Swearing Mother said...

Thinking about it, although my initial reaction to your plight was LONDON LONDON LONDON, maybe it would be a bit silly to drag your sorry back all the way there when we all know very well that there are magic people such as hairdressers and osteopaths up and down the length of this land. The hardest thing of course is finding them, but maybe your new mate will be able to help with that.

Usually there's a well-known network of super-heroes in most areas so maybe it would be more sensible to put out a distress call locally and see who turns up. Try asking at the local gym/tennis club/doctor's surgery for the name of a good osteopath as the people who go there are always buggering themselves up somehow and need expert help.

Re hairdresser, why not wait until you're walking upright and do the London thing then. Or if you really need a 'do' now, pay someone the compliment of asking where they get theirs done (presuming it looks good). Don't ask anyone who you suspect really doesn't like you though, as you could end up with a spiral perm and a Mohican.

Do hope your pain eases soon, sending you healing vibes!

Expat mum said...

Instead of heading back to London all the time (surely not good for your back), you should spend a day wandering around the nicer parts of Newcastle. They have very good hairdressers, although as with anywhere else, it might take a while to find "your" stylist.
Given that Newcastle also has some of the best hospitals, there have to be good practitioners to ease your back pain, although having recently done the same thing myself, a few days of gannin' canny and a heat patch might do it.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

When I hurt my back a couple of years ago, I had to travel by car two hours to get back to my dad's, then 10 hours by plane to get back to England. My physio said travel was the absolute worst thing I could have done. I think you need to make peace within yourself about your move to the North. You haven't accepted it as your home and that is why you keep going back to London for everything. There are adequate hairdressers in the North, too. There are osteos and physios and lovely people who would like to be your friend. You just need to reach out and find them.

Daniel said...

Oh the back! Advancing age (not that you're old).

I bet you do a fair bit of heavy work as a Mom, not to mention, carrying the kids around. Finally, something in there has popped loose! that is probably what has happened to your back.

I once walked into a FoodMart, which had the double-doors propped open, with a very thin poll in the middle, which I did not see, and just as I was about to collide with it, I saw it, and made a quick sideways motion to avoid collision, and I got an extremely painful back injury, a sort of sideways, pedistrian whiplash.

I could hardly bend over. When I dropped my keys in the snow, I couldn't just reach down for them, I had to "pray to Mecca." but I gottem.

I would say, go to a local doctor. There's good doctors everywhere. When you have a back injury, you're supposed to rest some. But not too much. If you rest too much, you get worse. It is ironic, a delicate balance. It hurts alot, I know, but mine got better.

Unknown said...

Having just come through a bulging disc period, I say do what you must. Drugs, drink and any possible therapy that even remotely claims to have cured a back way back in the middle ages.
Actually I resorted to acupuncture and pain killers designed for crippled horses after spending an hour trying to pull up my knickers!
It doesn't get better until you kill the pain.

Penny Pincher said...

god you are brave Minx - and supple - if my back goes I can't even get a foot into the leg holes never mind the bit about pullin 'em up!
WITN masses of sympathy and healing thoughts. I'm just going to exercise my back now - I dread the thought of having another spasm. This is too much to bear -- so sorry, so very sorry - this is FAR worse than having to live in the north and the builders woes etc - a real sad tale - far too too much to have to bear. I'm suffering along there with you. Get well soonest. xx

debio said...

I lived in the wilds of Gloucestershire when I became crippled with back pain - almost bent double and using a walking stick, I made it to London and felt instantly better - saw an osteo, had hair done. What more can I say?