Time to bed:  11:20 and fell asleep immediately.

Time awoke with muscle spasms: 12:30.

Time finally fell back to sleep after taking several measures, including finally putting slipper on over cast to further immobilize foot:  Approximately 3:30.

Time finally woke up for good:  9:30.

So I managed to cobble together about 7 hours of sleep and am hoping to do even better tonight.  After all, I do have a long week of work to deal with.  I'm going to sleep with the slipper on again, or maybe even an athletic shoe, because the more my foot is forced to stay in place the less the spasms bother me.  I think in any case I'll be calling my neurologist tomorrow to see if there are any other measures I should be taking.  I'd like to avoid taking the maximum dose of my muscle relaxant, because my regular prescribed dose is 4 mg per night and I've been taking 6 mg and don't want to run out before my next fill date.

My foot is still very sore, so this will be another sedentary day for me.  I've got quiet stuff I can do on the computer, and small house chores that involve standing in one place (which doesn't hurt as much) or sitting.  This is going to get better, I swear it is.  Baby steps, as I like to say.

And now...brunch.

Ugh.  Rapidly brewing PMS + problems with insomnia for the past several nights + sleeping on a pillow that was too soft = I feel rotten.  I woke up with a headache when my alarm went off, so I switched pillows, took some Tylenol, and went back to bed for an hour and the headache went away, but my lack of sleep (despite my recent decision to start going to bed earlier on weeknights) has me feeling spaced out and like my brain is wrapped in wet wool.  Needless to say, I won't be going to my new support group tonight.  Fortunately, there's the other support group, which I still plan to attend tomorrow night.

So I'll be home this evening, doing quiet things while I listen to/watch the ball game (GO SOX!), although I plan to go to bed extra early and will take something to knock myself out in hopes of getting a decent sleep.  I'll probably miss the last couple of innings at the least, so our boys had better bring their big bats tonight so I feel a tad more secure checking out for the evening.

Back to it here...
 

The on-call doc said it was FINE to take Percocet, and as a result I had a relatively painfree night, but once I got out of bed this morning I was hobbling and wincing again.  Took a look at the leg, and the redness has spread around to the outside of my ankle, and the whole thing is plenty swollen.  Given all this, I decided that the SENSIBLE course of action would be to spend one more day (mostly) reclining on the bed with pillows and ice.  I had already sent a heads-up e-mail to my boss and department-mate when it got to be Percocet time last night.  I left a voice mail for my coworker almost as soon as I got up, and am about to call my boss.  The pain has subsided somewhat at this point so I feel pretty guilty about staying home, but I'm trying to listen to my body and let things clear for another day before I spend that many hours up and around on my feet, even though it means coming back to a mountain of paperwork.   :::sigh:::

Off to make that phone call.  Will check in after I get up from my morning nap (haven't even had my coffee, so should actually be able to sleep for awhile).

I'm having a problem with one of my legs.  Not sure if it's just an inflamed Achilles or something more serious, but my ankle hurts like the dickens (Bethie, if you're reading this, it's the same leg that had the weird bug bite last week, no idea if it's related).  Anyway, I just spoke to the on-call physician from my office and she said she didn't think I need to go to the ER but I should get it looked at tomorrow when I'm back at work.  For tonight, it's large doses of ibuprofen (she thinks it's probably some sort of inflammation) and an ice pack.  So I'm going to go prop it up and write bills, and in case I don't get back here tonight, I just wanted folks to be aware what's going on.  I know LJ will be down for several hours tomorrow (good timing, seeing as how my lunch time will be taken up with an office Thanksgiving party), so will answer comments after that if not tonight...

Hmmph. I had a hunch within the last couple of days that there might be a reason why I felt sort of lousy, not really sick, just wiped out with a slight sense of foreboding. This morning I discovered that I was right. Female problems AGAIN, just three weeks after the last time (which occurred after 3-1/2 months, during which I had assumed I was DONE with all this shit). So my back hurts, I have cramps, and I otherwise have a feeling much like a migraine without the headache. Needless to say, the laundry isn't getting done today. Matter of fact, I'm not leaving the house and will be lucky to get any housework done at all (still gonna try, though). At least this means that my precious new Coco shirt can be saved for casual Friday this coming week. I have a few coworkers who are Sox fans, so I'm sure they'll appreciate seeing my new addition, and this time our clinical director won't call me Julio (he did that a few weeks ago, which made me laugh).

Thanks to the large east-west dimension of North Carolina, Hanna did nothing here other than provide a stiff breeze out of the northwest this morning.  She messed with my f-listers who live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, and I guess my native land of Lawn Guyland will be getting a good wind and rain after awhile, as you folks in New England will as well. Sort of like a nor'easter without the snow. But isn't it nice that the weather cooperated with the Sox schedule? Now if Ike would kindly spare South Florida and the Gulf states, I'd be much obliged.

Will see folks tonight in the usual place. I'm going to try to get some stuff done between now and then. Have a great day, everyone!