Giving thanks

At its root, Thanksgiving is a holiday meant to remind us to be grateful for the many blessings we have. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, and the ever-growing encroachment of Christmas into the Thanksgiving season, we often forget to take the time to count our blessings.
Just so I remember how lucky I am, here are a few of the things I'm thankful for:

• Family, even when they drive me crazy.
• A few close friends who love me more than 100 casual friends.
• My Sister Circle.
• My puppy Alex who makes me smile just by being himself.
• A job that I enjoy and that keeps a roof over my head and food on the table (most of the time!).
• My health--if an achy hip is the only lasting effect of three serious wrecks, I'm very fortunate.
• My writing and photographic ability.
• Beautiful memories.
• Music that touches my soul, lifts my spirit, makes me smile because it matches my own internal rythym, or just makes me feel good.
• Roommates, past and present, who have put up with my bad habits, and with whom I've unfailingly been able to share a lot of late-night giggles and even full belly laughs.
• Sunny days.
• My dependable car--after a series of not-so-dependable ones.
• Having loved deeply, and having been loved in return.
• Road trips with friends.
• Guilty pleasure TV shows.
• Blogs that help me keep up with and feel close to friends who are far away. :)
• All my "adopted" families who make me feel at home wherever I am--Randi's family, the Willards, my Sister Circle (again) and my Wingate family.
• And last, but definitely not least--clean, dry socks (see the entry "Socks" from Sept. 5 if you're confused).

I have a life!

Or at least I've had one for the past couple weeks. Which is why I've been slack on the blog...no time! In the past two weeks, I have:

• Been to Maryland to visit friends there (Hurry up and move back to Charlotte, Kelly and Quiz--Randi and I need friends!)
• Went to see Fallingwater, a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright. It's out in the country about an hour or so south of Pittsburgh, and it's built over a waterfall. I've been there once, in middle school, but Randi, Kelly and Quiz had never been. It's no less than amazing.
• Got my first manicure! I started picking the polish off about three days later, though, after the first little chip appeared.
• Had a job interview, which I think went pretty well. It would pay way more than I make now, but the commute might drive me crazy. No longer than what I have now, but traffic would drive me nuts. I'll hear something more after Thanksgiving.
• Have another interview scheduled for right after Thanksgiving. The company is in the exact same area as the other one, though, so again a bad commute.
• Went to dinner and to see Walk The Line with Randi and EE (another friend from college, visiting from Greensboro). Best movie I've seen in a very, very long time. Lived up to and even exceeded the hype.
• Went to Coyote Joe's with Randi and EE, got drunk on the cheap (just a note--the last time I've really been drunk was last New Year's Eve), and had an interesting cab ride home. The driver said we should be on Taxi Cab Confessions.

See? Told you I'd been busy. Oh, and in other news, I had my appointment at the pain clinic last week. And I ended up not getting the epidural block that the neurosurgeon said I needed. The pain clinic doctor (who was much more thorough than the neurosurgeon) said, after getting a comprehensive history of the pain I've have and the wrecks I've been in, then doing a physical exam, that the issue is with my sacroiliac joint (where you hip connects to your tailbone--hope I spelled that right), not my spine.

Basically, he said the MRI can be misleading, because as soon as you see some disc damage, you assume that's the problem. But my disc damage is relatively mild, and the symptoms I have are consistent with problems with that joint more so than disc damage. That's also the joint where I've had injections in the past, which have been very effective. So, I have to go back in a few weeks to get another one. Still is going to hurt like hell, but at least I know what to expect. The thought of getting a shot in my spine had kind of scared the crap out of me.

Ow! Ow! Ow-w-w!

Ok, an amendment to my last post. I will not have to get more cortisone shots in my hip. I will be getting a cortisone shot in my spine! :(

We're not going to cut you open, but...

The good news is that the damage to the disc in my back is, according to the neurosurgeon, not nearly severe enough to even consider surgery.

The bad news is it may reach that point down the road. Oh, yeah, and I will probably continue to have painful flare-ups every year or so (and maybe more often as I get older and the disc deteriorates further) that will require anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers, and (this is the biggie) cortisone shots in my hip.

Ok, let me back up, because I haven't really posted anything about my back issues on here, just emailed some people about it.

Over the past five years, I've had four painful episodes related to my sciatic nerve (the largest nerve in your body--it runs from your lower back down both legs). Normally, it results in painful muscle spasms on the left side of my back. This time, it has manifested itself through muscle spasms in my right leg, and my right calf and foot feel like they're perpetually asleep. They finally sent me for an MRI and found that I have a bulge and a tear in one of my discs. Basically, a little bit of the chemical that is inside the disc leaks out from time to time and irritates the nerve.

When that happens, I have a flare-up and get to do all the fun stuff listed above. Doing certain exercises to strengthen my back can help prevent flare-ups, but it won't completely eliminate them. If it eventually gets to the point when I'm in pain most of the time, then I would have to look at surgery as an option.

So while it's good news that I won't have to go under the knife, I've got to say that the thought of facing cortisone shots every year or so is not a pleasant one. I've had three of the monsters over the past few years, and it's really hard for me to psyche myself up for this next one, particularly since the pain in my leg is not nearly as bad or dehabilitating as what I normally get in my back. I keep thinking that I'd almost rather tolerate this pain and wait for it to hopefully subside in a month or two than to have the extreme pain of that shot--I have pretty high pain tolerance, but it's all I can do not to cry when I get one. But this pain actually started near the beginning of August, so it's probably not going away anytime soon on its own.

Anyone want to get a shot for me?