Thursday 2 August 2007

I am temporarily disabled

On Tuesday night, a neck problem I have had for some time flared up a little.
It first started when I slept on an air mattress in Denmark (WA) about 4 years ago.
I didn't get it seen to like I should have, but it wasn't a big problem, and it only hurt a little bit when I really stretched my neck, so I let it go
However that decision came back to bite me in a big way this week.

So on Tuesday afteroon it starts to hurt a little more than usual. By the time I get to bed, I'm in serious pain. I couldn't sleep - literally - and it was driving me to the edge of despair. I took two panadeine forte which, normally, should knock me out for at least 8 hours. I slept for one and a half before the pain came back again.

So my parents took me to hospital on Wednesday morning. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that I went to the emergency department of a public hospital, I was in, assessed, x-rayed, given a prescription for some heavy 'muscle relaxants' and anti-inflammatories and out in three and a half hours. That's gotta be some sort of record.

But the long and short of it is I can't turn my neck at all at the moment. I'm writing this from my parents' home because the doctors told me to take a week (a week!) off work. It's funny, you don't realise how dependent you are on things like your neck or your back until they start to play up.

I'm wearing a neck brace at the moment and look like a certified crash victim. But at least I can catch up on some long-neglected reading and movie watching...

4 comments:

my name is kate said...

Jesus, and I just thought you were being a slack blogger. I hate to take a dump on your pain and everything but taking a week off sounds sweet. Even better if you get someone else to do a massive DVD and library run and tend to your every whim...

I either need a sick day or a holiday, I'm not sure which...

Dave said...

Oh yes I am making the most out of it, believe me. Off to the video store for my second visit in two days shortly... :)

shiny said...

I have neck pain and its awful. I have the same experience - no sleep, pain killers work for maybe an hour or two adn then you're back where you started.
The worst part is nothing can be done - unless you've got a bone where it shouldnt' be our lovely public health system doesn't deem you worth their time.

Dave said...

Agreed, however I must say my treatment at the hands of the public health system was far, far better than I expected. Luckily I got in before the flu panic - hate to see what the emergency department looks like this morning...