May 4, 2006

•  

  
  

  

  
  

  Well, there go all of my big plans…

  
  

  

  
  

  I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning up indoors, and then made a nice dinner for Bernie and myself after he came home.  We went to the grocery store the night before and the fridge is thoroughly stocked with possibilities for meals, my kitchen is (mostly) clean and in order, and I am caught up on laundry.  I had taken it easy with the yard work for a couple days, and my knees and ankles were no longer screaming at me, and they were predicting nice weather until late thursday night, so I had high hopes for tackling the outdoor projects once again. 

  
  

  

  
  

  There is still so much to do out there, just getting the weeds and sticks out of the beds and the first spring fertilizer down is a big enough chore, but I have also started cutting in the edges of all the beds, because as time passes, the mulch travels into the lawn and the lawn starts growing into the mulch.  So it helps to cut a new edge, kind of a little trench, around the bed  to tidy things up before putting fresh mulch down.  I am using what I am digging out of the edges to build up a low spot on the other side of the yard, where this year’s Big Project, the butterfly garden, is going to be.  I have most of the truckload of topsoil I had delivered a few weeks ago still under a tarp, waiting to go to various parts of the yard, including on top of the butterfly garden bed when I am done dumping all the stuff I am digging out of the other beds into it.  So, as usual, one project is contingent on getting another finished, and so on… And there is only so much time left before it gets too hot out to do a lot of the heavy stuff.

  
  

  

  
  

  So last night, after dinner, I went out to the front yard to do a little bit more on the edge of the foundation planting.  I was out there anyway, to turn the sprinkler on my newly seeded grass, so I figured I would get a head start on what I had planned to do the next day.  It was such a pleasant early evening, a bunch of little birds were keeping me company (I was working just under the tree where the feeders are)  and it felt good to get a little exercise after dinner.  I filled one wheelbarrow with dirt and weeds dug out from half of a section of the edging, and wheeled it over to dump on the other side of the driveway.  Then I filled the wheelbarrow once more with the rest of the section.  Job well done, enough for one night. 

  
  

  

  
  

  I pushed the wheelbarrow over once more, and just as I reached the spot where I planned to dump it, I felt this sudden sharp pain as something went “ping!” in my left calf, toward the inside, where the calf meets the ankle.  This was followed by a feeling that was remarkably like a charley horse, the sudden leg spasms I get sometimes during the night. This couldn’t be good…

  
  

  

  
  

  My lower back was also giving me some trouble, and I didn’t want the knees to act up again so as soon as I put my tools and things away outside, I came in and got into a hot bath with Baththerapy Sport formula bath salts.  It felt great to soak, as it always does, and I felt my back pain just melt away.  Knees and ankles felt great, too.  But the nagging pain in the calf refused to budge, despite my efforts to massage it away.  I realized then that this had to be more than just the usual overwork-of-the-old-fat-broad’s-body-type ache.  I did some damage and that “ping!” I felt just proved it.  I had felt a similar ping once before when I tore the ligaments in my ankle, but this seemed a little bit different. 

  
  

  

  
  

  My suspicion was it had to do with the calf muscle, where it met the ankle tendons.  This morning it felt pretty bad, but the charley horse had spread out a little bit and was more of a steady ache.  Plus it really hurts to flex my foot, and even more to bend the opposite direction , going up on my toes.  I have been gently stretching it a little every so often since it happened, because it seems the muscle has gone into spasm, and that was what I was feeling as a charley horse.  Last night it the whole calf and ankle was rock hard, too, more of an indication of spasm.  But today it seems to have softened a bit, and the pain has changed, like I said, to a steady ache.  I took an 800 mg ibuprofen last night, and as soon as I get something to eat, I will take another.

  
  

  

  
  

  Just to be sure what I was dealing with, I did some research online this morning, and I am pretty sure that what I am dealing with is a calf muscle (gastrocnemius) strain, of a level I intensity.  This is the least severe of this type of injury, involving micro-tears in the muscle fibers, caused from a sudden pull or contraction.  I must have stepped down on an uneven part of the driveway when it happened, and it must have pulled my already overworked muscles in precisely the wrong direction.  Because there is no swelling or bruising, it is probably only a level I.  According to what I read online, with the standard RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) treatment and anti-inflammatory drugs for the pain and inflammation, and gentle stretching followed by strengtening exercises, this should get better on its own in two to four weeks.  Two to four weeks!!!???  I don’t have that kind of time to sit on my arse with my foot in the air!!   And furthermore, it won’t be completely healed, and therefore will be easy to re-injure, for about eight weeks.  That’s midsummer!!   And, as most of the information I read warned, if it is not properly treated and allowed to heal right now, it could become a chronic (repeating) injury.

  
  

  

  
  

  So here I sit.  I am not going to bother taking this to the doctor unless it gets worse or makes no improvement in the next couple days, because I have had enough of this type of injury in my lifetime to know what I am dealing with.  He wouldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know.  And I guess I will just have to figure out stuff I can do while being off my feet.  Maybe I can crawl around on the ground to pull weeds…

  
  

  

  
  

  Or maybe I can just go into hiding for a few weeks.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

   

  • 11:30 am
  • 4 Comments