A City Girl's Life In The Country

Well seems like Summer is already making her appearance!  I'd just like to know what happened to Spring?  One moment we're in the 20's at night and the next, I've got the front door wide open, the fans running full speed!  It was 80 yesterday!  Sheesh!

One thing about getting older that I'm learning is that things happen to your body and you don't even have to fall off a horse to have them happen!  A couple of weeks ago while sitting in this recliner, being on line, I somehow managed to pinch a nerve under my left shoulder blade.  WHICH in turn made my entire shoulder hurt like nobody's business!  For five days I sat in this recline in dire misery, even with several vicodin in me.  As for sleep, I couldn't! 

Finally about 10 PM on a Sunday night, I loaded myself into the old, ever faithful pick up and headed down 178 to Mount Mesa Hospital, where the last time I was there, my beloved Robert was still alive and was taken from there, to Las Vegas, via a plane.  I walked into their Emergency Room and said, "I've pinched a nerve.  I have NO medical coverage and NO money."  Even after all this, the attending physician went through all this B/S saying that it COULD be a heart attack, etc...  So, they X-ray, took blood (Took the gal two tries to find a vain.), then gave me some Tramadol because it was the only drug they could give me for pain that I could drive under...  After all the tests, the physician came in, looked at me and said, "I think you've pinched a nerve!"  DUHHHHHHHH!!!!!

The one thing I learned while I was there that did help was that a pillow under my left armpit seemed to relieve the pain...  So for the following week and a half, I had to deal with wherever I went in the house (I was still loaded on vicodin during the day and vicodin and soma during the nite.), I went with my trusty pillow under my armpit!  :::Laughing:::

Gradually the pain has dissipated, but the arm's still weak.  Then I had to kick the vicodin and soma habit.  Which meant one night I didn't get to sleep until finally 3 AM!  The following day, I had to go with my 88 year old neighbor, Andy Dolak to Ridgecrest for free food for the elderly and the low income (I qualify here because I'm at the NO income at the moment.).  We traveled over 40 miles for a box of cornflakes, 2 cans of french cut green beans, a loaf of stale bread (Bagget), one 48 oz can of fruit juice, a bag of pasta and a jar of peanut butter.  IF I'd been driving my pickup it would have cost me roughly $30.00 round trip for what was probably $20.00 worth of food.  How they expect the elderly to get by for a month on that, is well beyond my understanding.

The week that my shoulder did it's thing, Andy also ended up at Mount Mesa...  They did tests on him as well and told him he had kidney failure!  Now Andy didn't live to reach the ripe old age of 88 by listening to doctors (Thankfully), he'd JUST had a kidney test in Bakersfield and all was fine.  He thought it was his prostrate and is a firm believer in homeopathic medicines.  After four days in the hospital at Mount Mesa, he checked himself out and went HOME!  So, he e-mailed me and told me what had happened.  I e-mailed him back, told what was going on with me, but didn't hear back from him.  I called but he didn't answer his phone.  After 4 hours of this, I called our local 911 and explained the situation, that I was loaded up on pain meds and didn't dare drive but was worried about my neighbor who'd just checked himself out ofthe hospital and I couldn't get ahold of him.  After two calls they finally sent a couple of sheriff cars out to check on Andy.  Where was he?  He was outside working on his Dodge pick up! 

Anyway, last Friday, Andy needed somebody to ride shotgun for him on a trip to Bakersfield for several doctor appointments and to run errands while we were there.  However Andy didn't take an address for the doctors!  He got us (I actually ended up driving his Ford Contour STICK SHIFT!) to the business park, but finding the right office was another story.  After 3 attempts and the WRONG offices, Andy finally found a phone number which I called on my cell phone (God bless those little hummers, they are HANDY!) and found out WHERE in the complex they were!  So, while Andy had tests done, I sat outside with a soda, smoke and cell phone in hand in the shade on the lawn, making calls to Barbie, Lisa and Ceci...

I am VERY proud of myself when it came to driving Andy's Contour, which is the SAME car that Andy hit a bear with last year and after the insurance company totaled it, he bought it back and restored it.  I'd ridden with him all the way into Bakersfield where he got the parts to repair it with, last year.  Anyway, after 28 years of not driving anything but automatic transmissions, I handled Andy's car like it was old hat, never once stripping a gear or killing the engine!  YEAHHHHH!!!  I even drove it back up the steep, windy 178 home!  Then Andy went home, checked on his little poodle, Pompy (The meanest dog in all of Onyx!) and came back for lasagna!  We were exhausted.

The following day, I stayed home and SLEPT!  My poor left arm was tired, but better for the exercise of hanging onto the steering wheel while my right arm/hand shifted gears.

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• #1 Comment from hpmiou 
  4/15/08 7:58 AM | Permalink

  Yup, it is just like a bicycle. Once you know how to do it, you get right back to it. It is imprinted on our brains. Remember when you first learned to drive a shift, you were so conscious of what you were doing and had to concentrate so strongly that even a radio was a disturbance? And when you were proficient you were taking things out of your handbag, turning on the radio, lighting up a smoke all at the same time? LOL.
  
  Please rest that arm some, until it is all healed. We want you feeling FINE!
  
  Good post.
  
  Jo