Why yes. Thank you for asking. I do have the air of Ben Gay about my person.

Y'all, my sister and I have been gifted the crap back that my mother has.  Now, I've had a spit-spot of trouble every now and then, but nothing like what hit me yesterday.  I was in a big box.  I was looking for some potting soil to use to start patching the grass in the yard.  I found it in Big Box that is being reconstructed.  Big Box had it on a shelf, at about high rib cage high on me.  (Remember, I'm 5'1", so that's not that high to the average human.)  I picked up the first back and thought, "Hmm."  I walked a few paces and opted to get another.  That's when it happened.  It felt like someone was standing behind me and beating me with a very stiff, wire brush in about a 12" band across the mid to lower back.  At this point, I knew that I had to lump it and carry on.  I cashed out and heave-hoed the offending bags of soil into my vehicle. 

I couldn't sit comfortably at all, but knew that I was in close enough proximity to the thrift that I wasn't going to waste the trip to have to run back out with gas prices hovering around $3.99.  I did score on a boat load of bed sheets that were immediately laundered when I got home.  K- got home and we had to run up to another section of town to pick up a remaining Easter basket item for Hubs.  While that direction, we hit the craft store for a t-shirt K- requires for the 2nd grade tie dying project.  We hit the local discounter to look for grass seed, but cashed in on lots of lovely produce and some food items.

It is at this point that my back still felt like it was going to fall apart and I, of course, opted to not take a cart.  K- suggested.  K- nearly insisted.  "Nah.  We won't need it."  I'm just thankful that the cantaloupe that she dropped did bounce and not break.  Yes, we did buy the one she bounced. 

We made it through rush hour traffic and I was still having sitting issues.  Truth be told, I was having mid-section movement issues.  I hobbled out of the car.  I hobbled into the house.  I got dinner prepared (homemade safe pizza, pasta salad and steamed broccoli) and after dinner, I was out.  I was down for the count. 

I was in bed at 6:45 PM. 

I tried heating it out and I wasn't certain of the success.  In the middle of the night, I decided to snuggle up with an ice pack.  Hubs had apparently tried to come to bed, thought the better of it and shuttled off to the couch.  I think that he just felt so bad for me that he was afraid that any movement might hurt.  The ice pack that I could find at 3 AM without waking Hubs was one of those hard gel filled numbers.  I wrapped it in a towel, and wedged it under my back with one of Hubs' abandoned pillows. 

It may have helped but I can't tell you for sure.

This AM, I woke up and was mighty stiff.  Dr. W- was definitely on my list of things to schedule in for the day.  I got up, made K-'s lunch, got her to the bus stop and came home.  I decided that I would try to roll myself up into a ball and I rocked back and forth all over the bed.  The success was that my hip popped.  I know that sounds odd to consider that success, but I seriously thought that perhaps my back would crack next.  While that has yet to happen, I've been able to stretch things back out and while I am still not pain free by any stretch, I can now tie my shoes, wear pants other than the yoga pants that I had to wear today and (TMI) bathrooming is much, much easier.  I'll just say that when all you can do is to sit and stand straight, any side twisting movement is killer.  I was able to carry on with my day and I skipped a trip to Dr. W-.  (He's a D.O., so he is pretty proficient in manipulation.  I figured he could give me a chiropractic-like adjustment if needed.  He did it right after K- and I were in the accident that totaled the previous RAV.)

Mom told me to go buy Icy Hot.  I was thrilled to see the Icy Hot (deodorant-like) stick and right underneath it was Epsom Salts.  Can't hurt!  Hubs came in, "What stinks?"  "Oh, that would be me.  It is my new geriatric perfume." 

Now if you'll pardon me, I've been out of the tub for long enough to now slather myself up again with my new scent. 

Have a great night!