Pain in the....Back

I must admit...anytime I ever hear or see someone coming to the hospital for back pain, some of my first thoughts are "drug seeker" or "wimp" or "really?". Never did I think I would be one of those ones who has a "back problem". Boy was I wrong. Saturday I was working a 12 hour shift in the er. The first 6 hours I felt a dull lower back pain that eventually kept getting worse and worse as the hours went by. The last 6 hours involved me trying to unsuccesfully stand up straight and hid at my cubicle as much as possible so people did not have to see the funny faces I was probably making. I drove home and complained that my back hurt. I went to bed thinking it would just go away by Sunday morning as Tony said I probably needed some rest.

Was I ever wrong....I woke up in such extreme pain. I could hardly move at all. I rarely take pain medication. In fact, I don't even pop a tylenol when I have a headache unless it starts becoming a migraine or it won't ever go away. Tylonel is my extent of the pain medication I take. However, when the pain got so bad that I couldn't even hardly get out of bed I decided I might make an exception. I took 2 tylenol. 4 hours later.....no changes. Tony then insisted I take a vicodin. Nothing. Another Vicodin...nothing. Then we moved on to percocet.. Nothing. Then another percocett. Nothing...except for a very stoned Kari by this point. My pupils were the size of pinpoints and I felt like I was floating. But nothing was killing the pain. Then a muscle relaxer, and still no relief. Something is seriously wrong if all these pain meds and a muscle relaxer was not providing any relief.

Then came Monday morning. Surely I would feel better by then. 6 am came around and had to call in sick. I still could barely move. Tony was considering on taking me to the ER but of course everyone knows my fear of needles so I refused to go. I knew that they were going to jab a needle into my arm and give me some iv pain meds and run a bunch of tests I feel I didn't need. After all, I figured it was a strained muscle (even though I have not fell or lifted anything heavy). Tony called the doctor so I could go see our primary care physican. I couldn't get in until 4:30. It didn't matter though. I was soooo sleepy from all the pain meds I could not stay awake for more than 10 minutes yesterday. So I slept and then TOny took me to the doctor. He did decide it was just a strained muscle and I was hurting so bad I let him give me a shot of Toridol (some sort of muscle relaxer). Today I still hurt but am walking without any assitance. Horray. Moral of the story....back pain is a serious issue and should not be taken lightly.

In other news...I am still waiting to start my hormone therapy. I will provide updates if there are any. Were hoping for some sort of action.