The Other Shoe Fell

I woke up yesterday, still feeling pretty great, although I had a very crappy night's sleep and kept waking up from frustrating and stressful dreams all night. I couldn't fall asleep again after 4:30am, so I got up pretty early and decided to go ahead and start the day around 5am.

Everything was fine until some time between my shower and getting dressed that morning. I realized that the left side of my neck and shoulder were in substantial pain, and my neck movements were severly limited as well. The pain reached through my entire left side, left shoulder blade, and even managed to get through my hips and into my leg and foot at times. I tried to do some minor stretching, as I normally do each morning, but I decided it hurt too much and couldn't be good to force it. I pressed on, popped a tramadol pill, and went to work, spending all day yesterday in this pain. I also brought along my rice sock for localized heat. I got some odd comments about it now and then, but I expected that. I guess it does look a little odd to be wearing a fat sock over my shoulder at work.

The most surprising part of my experience yesterday was that I noticed that I managed to make it through the day still smiling and positive. Usually, when I'm in a lot of pain, I'm very grouchy. I'm pretty proud of myself for managing not to fall into that funk. At a fellow fibromite's suggestion, I went home and took a hot epsom salt bath, hoping it would help loosen up my tight muscles and ease the pain a bit. A little beer (a "drinky-poo" as my

Today, however, is a bit more challenging than yesterday. I a lot slept better last night, but woke up with those same pains, plus a headache, and plus feeling super stiff all over. I'm also nauseous right now, as I have been most days lately. I really did not want to get out of bed today. I am out of sick days for the year, however, and besides that, today is a busy day at work, due to a software release. There is lots of testing to do and as the Senior Business Analyst on the team, I need to be vigilant, in case anything arises that should prevent us from going ahead with the release. I am also out tomorrow for a chest/abdominal/pelvic CT scan (with contrast - uck!) that is going to make me feel even worse than today. I popped a tramadol again this morning, and here I am again, working (well, blogging, at the moment,) with my warm sock buddy attempting to sooth my nauseatingly painful shoulder/neck.

I am looking forward to my bi-weekly massage after work today. I'll have to let Carrie know that I'm feeling fragile - almost brittle - today, and to go easy on me this time.