Great Day!

 I had a wonderful time yesterday.

My friend Alice took me to lunch.  We shared a plate of fajita nachos and each had a Tecata, with lime.  The mug was chilled with salted edges.   Oregon has opened up indoor restaurant dining, albeit restaurant capacity is limited still.  

In the evening, another friend came over with some Italian food from a local restaurant. We laughed over the stuffed mushrooms, that looked and tasted like poop.  No, we didn't eat them.  My gosh, who was cooking there?  Don't order from them!   

By then my leg and back were back to hurting, but it was enjoyable to have company. I was in bed by 8:30, trying to appease my back and leg again.  

I've had much internet advice over my condition.  Some folks just say its sciatica, but sciatica is simply a description of an inflamed sciatic nerve. Something inflames it.  Most often this is a herniated disk, spinal cord arthritis or the butt muscle pulled tight over the nerve.  The nerve goes right through the butt muscle on its way down your leg.  I figured I probably had the latter problem, given the sudden onset of my condition and the long day I'd had in the car prior to onset. 

 Since I've had trouble straightening up after I bend over, I taped my litter scoop to a telescoping walking pole, that no longer telescopes and is stuck in its shortest position.  At least its useful again.

 I got an Amazon gift card for my birthday and immediately decided to gear up for old age and got a picker upper and a dustpan with long handle too.  

I went to the doctor yesterday, figured I better since at the ER, you are told to make a follow up with your PCP.  So I went and it was a relief to go, actually, as she made a plan.  I had Xrays and will be on prednisone to calm the nerve for five days.  The Xrays didn't show much of interest.  I was thrilled actually to not see, written on the radiologist notes "OMG, Her Spines' a Mess!".    It has been 16 years since my last spine Xray, which was done prior to the surgery I had that fused L4 and L5.  The fusion still looks good.  

The last 16 years I would think have been brutal on my spine, with a difficult move, lots and lots of difficult trapping and misadventures and falls.  I've trapped thousands of cats in those years, carrying those cats in traps and loading them and unloading them, all heavy duty pressure on my spine.  So I awaited Xray results with trepidation, to say the least, since my spine has seen some major long term heavy use in those years.

I found out the sciatic nerve exits the spine from L4 down to S3.  Beyond S1, the vertebra are fuxed as the sacrum.  And since L4 and L5 in my spine are fused, no disk there to herniate anymore.  That leaves the only spinal disk herniation possible at L5/S1.   Anyhow, it was sort of interesting.

I was doing everything wrong, I discovered.  I told her about starting in with yoga exercises to stretch the butt muscle and she said to quit those immediately, as they would only further inflame the nerve if the cause was inflammation of the nerve where it passes under then through my butt muscle.  Shoot I should stay off the internet and not listen to people telling me what i need to to do and not do in comments.  It's my downfall I swear.

I gave up my clinic spay neuter appointments for Friday to KATA.   One of the cats I was going to take was one they'd already trapped anyhow.   But I have not been able to make further appointments and not sure why.  The clinic cited staff issues as reason they were not making appointments yet past this Friday.  It makes me scared their program is in danger.  

We have nothing affordable around here, other than that clinic up in Salem and they have limited capacity.   Its tragic for the cat population.  Currently I have made do with a handful of appointments each week.  But they're not enough to make any sort of dent, really.   That one clinic in Salem is the only thing going for the entire mid valley region of Oregon, which includes several counties.  It's so sad.

Well I'll end this post with a photo of Raindrop, yes she is old too, with her particular manner of drinking.  She's always been one to immerse herself when drinking.