The Dangerous Habit of Shoes and Socks

Last year the week before Thanksgiving I bent over while sitting on a step to tie my shoes. My back locked up and triggered a whole sequence of problems that took over ten months to (mostly) get past. A lot of bed rest and physical therapy got me to a point just a few weeks ago that I thought I'd reached the light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday, after spending so many hours in the car driving home from Minnesota, I was too stiff to be doing daring things like pull off my socks. But I'm a dare devil and I did it anyway. And I pulled my back (in a different muscle group than before) so here I lie on a heating pad and doing as little moving--especially twisting--as possible.

When I was pregnant and on bed rest in the hospital, toward the end of my "convalescence" I was starting to get bed sores from lying around so much. I couldn't lie on my back because I started to black out from all the pressure on my major arteries that we're getting squished by four babies. And of course lying on my stomach wasn't even an option. So it was always one side or the other. And I didn't roll over very often because it nearly took a crane to get me turned. I was already getting physical therapy to do passive range of motion exercises in bed because I was bed ridden and losing muscle mass, plus massage to calm down my muscle spasms from growing so fast. The babies were gaining weight so rapidly at the end (relatively speaking) that my ribs were spreading apart too abruptly and my intercostal muscles (between the ribs) were cramping up. The PT added treatments to heal and prevent worse pressure sores on my hips. I even got a special bed that was essentially an air mattress (a very sophisticated one) that cost about $1000 a day to keep me floating on air.

Fortunately I didn't use the bed very long because the kids were born. But at least I know what's available if this back thing doesn't stop causing me trouble. But for $1000 a day, I'd probably just opt for another vacation, take plenty of pain meds, and simply make myself get up and enjoy myself. But that's if I had $1000 a day. So I guess right now, I'll just swap out the heat for an ice pack for a while, take another pill, and read a book. And from now on, no more shoes or socks for me.