Drifting through life

h-o-l-i-d-a-y And I'm having one. Right now. Left work today and I'm not going back. I booked this holiday a while ago and recently went to the office to apply for an extension. I have a lot of leave accumulated and I think an extended period of not lifting heavy bags and not standing in one spot for four hours at a time can only be good for me. I'll take things easy, get lots of sleep, continue with the swimming until it gets too cold and do some mild exercise of the stretching variety. And some walking too. I'll be able to wean myself off the large amounts of painkillers I take daily just to be able to work. I don't take them on weekends because I'm able to stop and rest or lie down if my back begins to ache. (can't do that at work) All this has to be beneficial surely. The best part? I get to sleep in. Another good thing? I don't have to wait around at bus stops and then spend about an hour bracing myself against the turns and sudde...

I'm joining in again today with Toni's "a....is for" meme I don't have a theme for this meme, I'm just choosing random ideas that float through my head for each letter. Today's letter is E. e...is for exercise. Because I do too much standing, followed by too much sitting, (let's not mention the heavy lifting of tons of groceries) an old back injury has become aggravated and I have much stiffness and quite a lot of pain from it. My doctor has recommended e xercise.  I take this to mean I should get up off my bum and actually move around once in a while. Since I'm looking more like this........ ...when I'd rather look like this, I think it's time to follow doctors orders. I've told myself to e xercise, I've tried walking more, but that has only made the back and legs ache more than before. So I'm going to go swimming* instead. Water e xercise is more gentle on muscles that aren't used to moving ...

We all know that I've had back trouble for years. Years and years and years, off and on, since 1986. Just this last year it has been particularly bad and happening more often. Last week, I had my lower back x-rayed to make sure there was nothing structural going wrong. Today, I went back to my doctor to find out what the x-rays showed. Nothing major, just the usual disc wear and tear consistent with aging, so that's all good. I also discovered that instead of the usual 5 vertebrae just above the tailbone, I only have four.  Not entirely unheard of, but not too common either. (I always knew I was special....) Anyway, doctor L has recommended swimming as a gentle exercise to get the back moving in ways that it doesn't for the rest of the day. Even if I just use a kickboard to paddle my way up and down the pool until I get fitter and try some actual swimming. I've always liked being in the water, so I decided I might as well try this. Tomorrow, I'm...