Update on life

Things at work are going well. Same old stuff.

I've been asked to be one of 3 judges at this year's Iwaki City High School English Speech Contest in September.  I've never been a judge before, so I'm a little nervous, but also really excited. Something new to put on the resume :)

Jen came over last night and is now on her way to Tokyo. We had a good night. We went out to a local Izakaya for dinner and then watched, "Rise of the Guardians".  It was good to see her again.

Last Friday my back suddenly started to really hurt again.  I made it through Friday, barely, and spent the weekend on the couch.  I talked to my boss at the B.O.E. and she called Kashima Clinic to see if I could get an appointment with the back specialist there.  That clinic has 2 doctors who specialize in back issues.  One of them was accepting new patients, but new patients can't make appointments.  So Horikoshi Sensei picked my up at 7:30am yesterday (Tuesday) and drove me to the clinic and stayed with me the whole time.  We were there for about 5 hours total!

5 hours at the clinic, which looked more like a hostpital, got me 4 x-rays, a shot in the back, and more pain meds. The shot in the back didn't really do much, I'm hoping the meds help. Turns out the gel-like stuff between my 4th and 5th disk is pretty much gone. There is little to no space between the disks at all. Also, the little bones that sticks out from each side of the disks are not the same on my fith disk. The one on the right is a hell of a lot bigger than all the others and it is hitting something near my hip and that's where the hip pain is coming from. oh yay. So now I have a bunch of instructions on how not to move and how often to get up and move during the day and what have you. Turns out I'm not alowed to twist at the hips...and damn, I tend to do that a lot. I've been doing that since I was in grade 7! I have enough pain meds to get me through Saturday and was told that if I am still in pain after Saturday to go back and see him again. *sigh*

Thankfully the pain meds are working really well.  Today I woke up pain free for the first time in almost a month.  I know the meds are just masking the pain, but it is such a relief!  One of the meds I was given is to help with inflamation and I guess it's working.  I hope things get better soon.  I definitely need to get back with the paleo life style.  Christmas ruined me completely this past year. Fell right off the wagon and didn't get back on.  So now I need to catch up.

I went to the store this morning and bought some lettuce, spinach, red and orange peppers, onion, garlic and hamburger meat. I'm going to make taco salad for dinner tonight :)  It's been a while so I'm looking forward to it.

My back is getting stiff and a bit sore again, I think it's time to get up and move around a bit.