Laid Out

I am writing to you today splayed on the floor in the living room on my stomach. I managed to throw my back out this weekend, and what with our unique paperwork-driven health care system in the military I can't get in to physical therapy until I go to my doctor, so I have to go to sick call tomorrow morning at 7'30 and sit in the waiting room. This will be amusing, since sitting for more than about a half hour really hurts.

It's all my parents' fault. It's their genes. My left hipbone is higher than my right hipbone, so my lower back is in a state of constant torsion. When I threw my back out the first time two and a half years ago, the therapist I saw expressed amazement that my back had adjusted to this so well. Apparently, though I sure can't prove it by looking in a mirror, my lower back muscles are much stronger on one side than the other from constantly trying to straighten out my spine. Lovely.

Every now and then I do something that causes my hips to pop and the one side moves about a quarter of an inch above the other side. This is what's happened now. It's wonderful, let me tell you. I can stand, as long as I walk. I can lie on my stomach or side. I can sit for a few minutes, longer if I put my right foot up under the other leg. And I can go to the doctor and ask him to send me to physical therapy so the therapist can reset my hips.

This is the most wonderful thing I've ever done, getting my hips reset. I had to recalibrate my pain scale to account for it. Of course a few minutes later it's all better and I can move around again. Still, that doesn't mean I'm especially looking forward to it.

Because I can't sit down for long I haven't been able to do anything. I was going to go fly yesterday afternoon but knew I'd be in pain the whole time and decided not to. I need to go flying, though, if I'm going to fly to the wedding, and dadgumit I'm going to fly to the wedding. Even if I have to cancel the Virginia students' weekend, I'm flying to the wedding. There's more, too--I was going to go to clay studio, but, uh... yeah, that means sitting down a lot. And I need to repot the carambola and key lime trees on the porch and plant some seeds (although I'd like to see the oak pollen decline a bit before I do that). Instead, I spent much of the day lying on the floor doing crossword puzzles. Hooray! Can't wait for tomorrow!