Friday.....finally

This week has been extra long--which is odd for a short week. Perhaps it was avoiding the RNC Convention as much as I could, yet trying to keep up with what happened.

And the back has been a problem. This week, the therapist wondered if there wasn't some kind of herniated disk involved in the sciatic pain. I didn't want to hear that, but doing a little reading suggests that I am in good company. Today's treatment added the traction table to my experience. Hooked up to electrical impulses before, then strapped down on a table and stretched out. Before the traction, one of the techs said to the guy helping me, "did you have the talk with him about traction?"

That was ominous. But the treatment was really pretty cool, consisting of two velcro belts--one around my ribs and one around my hips as I lay on top of a two part table. Then they hooked a cable up to the hip belt and towed me out of the room. No, not quite. They alternated half my body weight and a quarter of my body weight for about 12 minutes. They actually gave me a "kill switch" in case it became too uncomfortable or started to pull me in two. Ok, I made up that last part. It was mildly uncomfortable at first, mostly because of the tightness of the belts, but the traction itself felt pretty good. The therapist said I might have grown an inch or so during the treatment. Maybe I should have started that earlier in life....

This has not been a fun month, I must say. I have very gradually improved, but still feel far away from where I want to be. I think this weekend will be interesting to see how the traction helps. Next week, I have two more sessions scheduled, and then we will see what happens after that.

But for this weekend, I would like to watch a little football and do a little relaxing. Hope you all have a great weekend.