Perpetual Ruminations

Monday

Here I am. It's going to show me a day late in WdC but it's actually just a little after ten here in SD. I want to get this written, then get to bed and get a few hours of sleep before the alarm goes off. No, I don't have to get up at three for work, I'm getting up at two to watch the eclipse. Then, it's back to bed and up again about eight thirty or so. See, both Rhonda and I have the day off tomorrow, so we can enjoy the evening, get up in the middle of the night and see the eclipse, and then sleep in till sometime tomorrow morning before we start our day.

Today was a trying day, up at three, but I didn't sleep real well last night. Better than the the last few nights, but still not real well. I suppose I slept fair, but woke up quite often. Part of the problem is my elbow. It's feeling better today, but it's still pretty sore, and it was throbbing a lot during the night. I don't know for sure what I did to it, but it's healing and that's the main thing.

Two days ago, on Saturday, I cut the strap off of a package of tie-downs and pulled something in my elbow. It hurt like the dickens, and got worse as the day went on. It swelled up, hurt up into my upper and down into my forearm as well as in the elbow. By Saturday night, there was a read area forming over the most intense pain in the elbow, like a bruise but coming from within, not out.

This indicated something was bleeding within the elbow, and I feared it may have been a tendon, which would require medical attention, possibly even some surgery to correct. By yesterday, it had not shown any improvement, and the pain continued to shoot down into my lower arm as well as up into the upper arm. I had it wrapped and babied it all day at work, then kept it supported and took it easy at home. Last night it was throbbing and hurting pretty steady yet, was still swollen, and the bruising had surfaced even more.

Today I wrapped it again and took it as easy as I could on it at work. The wrap was driving me nuts, itching and irritating to the point I had to take it off. But, I forced myself to wait until I was done with work, so that I didn't cause any further injury. I have had it unwrapped all afternoon and evening, but am still taking it real slow and easy with my right arm, but the swelling is down now, and it's not nearly as sensitive as it was. It still hurts, but the throbbing has subsided, and it's beginning to itch. I assume it's a result of some healing taking place in the area of injury, which brings me reinsurance that the damage was in the muscle, not the tendon.

It also means it's healing up quickly, and if I take it easy on it for a while yet, I should be recovered in no time without any further problems. But, the trick is to take it easy. I'm right handed, and it's difficult to restrain from doing things I normally do now that it's feeling better. I know I shouldn't, but it's not a matter of choosing to do something, it's just doing it out of habit and not thinking about the arm. When it hurt like the dickens, I had no problem remembering to not use my right arm, but now that it's not hurting so much, I don't think about what I'm doing until I feel it hurt again. I'm doing pretty good, but I am also going ot use a sling on it when I do things, just so I will not habitually reach out with my right hand and tear the same injured area again.

I may also wrap it when I'm doing some activities, to give it some support and keep compression on it so it does not swell up again. It depends on how it's feeling in the morning and what I'm doing. I guess the way to look at it is, by what I chose to do, and if it's needed or not. I just know this, I do not want it to hurt like it has been, and I really don't want to habe to have any surgery for a torn ligament or cartridge damage. A few weeks to let it heal good is nothing compared to the time I would need to heal after surgery, and then there would also be physical therapy to attend, and I doubt that any doctor would let me work until such a time as the healing and therapy warrant my return. No, it could be weeks, maybe even months before I could do much again, and I want to do a lot this summer, so I'll baby it now and let it heal.