Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Back Pain And Cockroaches

I don't know what I did to my back on Sunday (too much couch time maybe?) but by the end of the day I was in quite a bit of pain with my lower back all achy and pain radiating along my hip. I've been taking aspirin multiple times a day because something about my new crown is not quite right and my tooth has been aching. The aspirin and the aspercreme rub that I was putting on my back helped some but I still went to bed with my back hurting on Sunday night. The tooth thing will hopefully be fixed tomorrow afternoon, I called the dentist for an appointment, trying to find a time that Keith might be home with the car so I don't have to ride the bike up there. It's supposed to be back up above 100 tomorrow and bike riding is no fun when it's 100 outside. I'm assuming they will probably have to redo the crown (so much fun!) because it shouldn't be hurting and if there is a problem with another tooth they should have seen it on the x-rays they took for the crown.

Anyway.

When I got up on Monday morning after a night of waking up a few times with back pain and waking up once with tooth pain and taking more aspirin at about 4 in the morning, I could hardly get out of bed and trying to walk was quite the adventure.

I woke Keith up fairly early so he could take me to the store for some of those disposable heat pack wrap around things for your back, which work really well by the way, and also some of the other stuff we always need when payday rolls around, cat food and toilet paper and all the other household things that you need. Cleaning supplies and toothpaste and SOMETHING FOR MY BACK!

I couldn't lift up my leg enough to get my underwear and pants on, so as I'm laughing because this is so ridiculous, and then crying because it hurts, Keith had to help me get dressed. I had taken a couple of leftover pills from a few years ago when I had one of my ancient wisdom teeth pulled so by the time we were actually ready to go to the store my back was loosening up a little bit. I did have a hard time getting into the car, but walking through the store wasn't too bad. Which was good, because when I go shopping with Keith it's quite an event because he likes to browse. And read labels. And take forever to get through one aisle. Me? I like to whip through a store as fast as possible because I really don't like to go shopping anymore.

We finally finish our shopping, a couple of hundred dollars later because everything just seems to be so expensive these days. Like my Metamucil, which I drink 3 times a day for the fiber and in the hopes that I won't get constipated, it's like $13.00 just for that.

I got a box of Thermacare heat wraps, very handy because while disposable, it's got some velcro to hold it around your back and you don't have to stay in one place all day like you do with a heating pad. They really do work well and aren't too expensive at about $6.50 for a box of two. The heat lasts 8 hours, so the $3.25 per wrap is well worth it.

I did start to feel much better by the end of the day but woke up this morning with more back pain, but not bad enough to where I couldn't put on my underwear. I took another toothache pill and rubbed on some Aspercreme heat gel and we will see how it goes today.

Now, the cockroaches.

We've had our bird feeder close to the (still not quite finished) brick paver sidewalk that leads from the big patio to the back door, the bird feeder close enough to it that we and the cats can watch the birds from the living room. The birds do make quite a mess with bird seed all over the ground under the feeder, and of course bird poop on the nearby bushes and sidewalk. I didn't think the bird seed on the ground would be much of a problem because the birds just go down to the ground to eat it, but the leftover stuff that they don't eat, like the sunflower seed shells, are apparently cockroaches favorite food.

Keith had gotten home on Sunday night in the late evening and wanted to go see the new Sin City movie. I was already in my pajamas and didn't think I could even stay awake long enough to sit through a late showing of a movie, let alone sit in a movie theater seat with my back aching, never mind that I really wasn't all that interested in the new Sin City. So, he went off to the 10pm showing by himself, going to the new Maya Cinema across town where the seats are plush and recline, and I went to bed, waking up to go to the bathroom about midnight just as he was getting home. I went back to bed and he stayed up for a while, going out into the backyard where he found about a million cockroaches swarming all over the sidewalk pavers and the bird seed that was all over the ground. They like to come out at night and when he turned on the back yard light, panic and swarming ensued. He was totally grossed out, as I was when he told me about it in the morning, and a decision was made to either stop feeding the birds or move the feeder away from the sidewalk.

We found out after all the work that Keith did building the patio that a brick paver patio is the perfect breeding ground for cockroaches and since the summer has been so dry, bugs are multiplying even faster this summer, dry heat being like an incubator for bugs according to the news story I saw about it recently.

I did move the feeder over into the bare part of the yard and when I picked up the stack of bricks that I had put the feeder up on in the hopes of thwarting Genie in her bird killing spree, about a hundred baby cockroaches had been hiding under the brick stack. I got the roach spray and frantically sprayed and sprayed while baby cockroaches ran all over the place (ugh) and then swept up all the bird seed on the ground. Keith got some heavy duty bug spray that he will (hopefully soon) spray along the outside of the house and in between all of the bricks.

So, that was our fun past couple of days, aching back and buggy yard.

2 comments:

lynney62 said...

I'm so sorry to hear your back is hurting...sure hope you are feeling better soon! Thanks for writing about the Thermacare wraps because my sister is having trouble with her back and I'm going to tell her about the wraps...she hasn't ever tried them so hopefully they might help her pain and help her move about easier....Feel better soon!! :)

Mom said...

Hope your back gets better....not fun, as I know very well.
About the bird feeder....when I had one hanging up, I fastened a big plastic saucer (the kind that go under plant pots) at the bottom and most of the extra seed stayed in that. I also got feed without sunflower seeds in it, because I seemed to only get small birds who didn't eat it.
Yuck, about the cockroaches! I haven't seen one since we were in the Philippines and they were in the drainage ditch out front. Hate the ugly things!