It's Nothing...Just an Old Dusting Injury

I'm getting old, and getting old sucks. Every day it seems I wake up with a new pain somewhere in my body and I'm not even 40 yet. And I hear that it only goes down hill from here on out. Great.

I've struggled with lower back pain for the past couple of years, and the only way I've been able to keep it relatively in check is to keep active. Sounds weird, but it's true. The more I move, play, workout, the better it feels. The longer I sit or lay down, the harder it is to get up, and I take on the appearance of an eighty year-old man.

Yesterday morning, I woke up with a new back pain: a little tweak right in the middle of my back, nothing major. I eased myself out of bed and into the morning routine...coffee, breakfast for the girls, and breakfast for myself. I then engaged in some of the domestic activities of the day. I started out dusting as it was getting pretty thick around the house. I was going to follow that up with vacuuming and then head outside to mow the lawn.

I didn't get very far. I finished dusting the piano in the living room when I grabbed the piano bench and attempted to lift/slide it back into position. WHAM!! That little tweak in the middle of my back exploded, leaving me flat on my face on the floor, writhing in pain. And no matter how I moved, I couldn't find a position that was void of pain. So I'm laying there moaning and gasping for breath because breathing hurt, and wondering if I was going to die right there on the spot. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided enough to where I could sit up. I had a hard time standing, though, because I couldn't lift my arms to support my weight. I spent several more minutes kneeling on the living room floor, which was convenient because I spent that time praying to God for the pain to go away.

It didn't, but Kyra did eventually wander by and I enlisted her help...to finish dusting the living room. I couldn't leave the job unfinished. After much pain on my part, we did finish the job and I retired to the comfort of a heating pad for the rest of the morning. Vacuuming and mowing would have to wait. I'm going to have to come up with a better story, though, because when people see me doubled over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and ask me what happened, they're probably going to be quite amused to hear my less-than-manly explanation that I injured myself dusting.