Sidelined by A Neck Injury

Good Afternoon, Everyone!!!!

I know it has been a while since I've touched bases, and for that I am very sorry. About a week and a half ago I slipped my C5/6 vertebrae in my neck. This has caused me a lot of difficulty.

How did it happen? Oh, you know, I was asleep in bed, rolled over, stretched, and pop goes the neck. Happens a lot my spinal specialist assures me. Let me be clear, I have NEVER heard of anyone slipping the discs in their neck sleeping, ever.

Treatment plan? A week of Prednisone, muscle relaxers, Ibuprofen 600, and rest.

Yep, you read that right, rest. Haha. My doctor actually suggested that I take time 3 weeks off from my jobs so that my neck can fully heal on its own. Now, I don't know about all of you, but I cannot take 3 weeks off of work and survive. My bills won't get paid, food won't get purchased, etc.

So, I am working, but that's it. No running, no yoga, nothing. It is one of the hardest things for me to do.

I am the woman that loves to move. I love to run, jump, cycle, dance, and just generally move around. Neck injuries are horrible. Everything runs through my neck!!!

If I walk too quickly at work, my neck spasms. If I turn over in my sleep, my neck spasms. If try to swallow too much, my neck spasms!!!

So, for the next few weeks, we'll be going over my, I'm sure, slow and steady recovery.

It will probably be helpful for those of you that have suffered from injuries in the past. And it'll be therapeutic for me.

Just a recap of how the last week and half have been:

-Monday, a week and a half ago, I spent the entire day in the ER getting and MRI and trying to figure out what had happened. Even through 10 mg of morphine, I was in intense pain. There was numbness and tingling on the left side of my face and my left arm. Diagnosed with bulging C5/6 discs.

-Tuesday: started my medications and went to see a spinal specialist. He said it was nothing to worry about and would resolve itself in about 3-6 weeks. Realized I always felt intoxicated, my world was spinny and I was nauseated.

-Wednesday:  I was scheduled to work at both jobs. Completed 2, of my 4, hours at the first job before having to go home from the pain. Went to my second job. Barely made it, by the end of the shift I had no feeling in the left side of my torso and face. Gave away all of the shifts for Thursday and Friday at that job.

-Thursday: Went to work, made it through 3 of the 4 hours I was scheduled to work before leaving in pain.

-Friday: Completed 6 of the 6 and a half hours I was supposed to complete!!! Yay!!!

-Saturday: Rested all day. Took my medicines as prescribed. Pain is starting to go away while at rest.

-Sunday: Worked my full shift, intense pain by the time I was done, but I made it. Went home rested the entire night.

-Monday: Back at job #2, the much more difficult job. Pretty much completed my shift, it was difficult and hurt, but did it.

-Tuesday: Rested pretty much all day. No pain with rest!!! Awesomesauce. Decided to go to the mall that night, discovered that walking actually vibrates through my neck and causes pain. Not good.

-Wednesday: Worked at both jobs. Pulling doubles sucks for my neck. Pain had been improving by the end of the night I was in tears.

-Thursday: Slept over 12 hours, every time I tried to wake up, the pain made me fall back asleep. Presumably from working at both jobs Wednesday. This sucks. I have to take it much easier. Cried all day uncontrollably from pain. Also, tried to not take any medications. Maybe there is a correlation. This was my first attempt to stop taking pain pills/muscle relaxers. I guess I'm not there yet. The shift at work was really, really difficult. Couldn't take enough pills to help. I'll have to keep a steady stream in my system again. Yuck!!!

-Friday (today): Woke up in pain, again. Immediately took my medications upon waking. I have to work tonight, and Fridays suck, they're always hard. I'm sure it will hurt.

I work at the less difficult of the two jobs this weekend. That should help my neck rest, some. My next full day off is Tuesday. Hopefully, I'll see some improvement after that.

I've been working on range of motion exercises everyday to make sure that my neck doesn't stiffen. I'm pretty much back to full range of motion, with just a small amount of pain. I guess I should be glad for some improvements.

Well, see you all in a few days. Here's hoping for improvement.

Mental Toughness

Fridays are my hardest workout day...also my second shortest workout. It is on Friday that I do my high intensity interval workout. It is only 30 minutes long, and I usually follow it up with a nice long yoga relaxation session in which I stretch all my sore muscles from the week. I then finish up with a few minutes of meditation.

I find it the most difficult to motivate myself to do this workout. I know that the long relaxation and meditation session are going to feel oh so good, but to get there, I have to do a 30 minute hard as balls, sweat dripping off my body, muscles shaking workout.

The hardest part of the whole thing? The first 10 minutes. I know that it would seem like it would be the last few intervals, but those are easy peasy piece of pie!

Those first 10 minutes are the longest of my life!!!

I do my intervals on the treadmill, because 1) it's colder than Hoth outside, 2) I can't quit my sprint without physically pushing the slow down button, and 3) I can control the speed and incline, therefore increasing it as I progress and tracking my progress easier.

While doing the first ten interval sets, I am battling my muscles that are still trying to accept that the workout is going to happen, and my mental self. I have to tell myself, over and over again, that it will be ok. That I am tougher than I think I am. That I have done this before and survived.

Then, I pass the tenth interval, and I'm all like, "woohoo!!! I just completed a third of this bad boy!!!"

After that, it's all a matter of pacing in 5 minute paces. I mean, I finished ten minutes, why not do five more. 5 minutes later, I've finished half the workout, why stop there. What, I finished 20 minutes and two-thirds of the workout, why on earth would I even think about quitting now. 25 minutes completed? Sweet 5 more minutes to go, 4 more, 3 more, 2 more, last minute.

Hell yeah!!! I am officially a bad ass!!!

Once I have completed my 30 minute HiiT workout, I feel like I could actually complete the feats that I do when I play video games. I feel like I can take on the world,

It's just getting off my couch to get there,

The hardest part of any workout is getting past yourself and starting it.

Now, get out there and get it!!!

Body Image

Sorry I missed last week. I had professional photos taken last Tuesday. Let me let you in on a not so secret. I have huge body image issues. Not matter how much a person reassures me that I look great, I feel like I am super out of shape and fat.

Getting professional photos done DID NOT HELP. I just got back the rough images yesterday. I could see each and every imperfection I had. I mean, I deliberately didn't do a ton of make up, so that they would be natural. And I didn't tan my body and glisten it up, so it would look real...but dang, it's crazy how bad I feel like I look. I, personally, feel like I am so frumpy and lumpy.

Remember, these were just the rough cuts, taken in front of a white background so that the photographer could drop different backgrounds in during post. I just felt so, I don't know...

This has been a sneak peak at those pics and into my mindset.