It's been nearly a week since Mike and I returned from our too-short trip to LA on the redeye. We had an absolutely indulgent and glorious time, save for missing the baby. Witnessing the wedding of two soulmates surrounded by dear friends is one of life's greatest rewards. It was an especially intimate celebration, and every person belonged there in some way. Trust me, brides-to-be, the single most important thing about wedding planning is avoiding unwanted guests. Our friends in LA clearly averted my biggest mistake, allowing a pill-popping sociopath to invite herself and make every effort to mar my big day with egregious actions like grabbing the asses of my husband and close friends and intentionally insulting nearly everyone I care about. Her unwanted presence aside, our day was as lovely as the West Coast fete, a marriage of two minds and hearts and sensibilities.
Besides sharing in this lovely life event, it was a privilege to spend time with many of Mike's dearest friends. The camaraderie and warmth, combined with the sunshine and poolside pleasure at The Standard in West Hollywood, tempts me to relocate and ditch this dreary weather. On vacation, LA is OK, as long as you stay on Sunset and play in West Hollywood. But as soon as you need to trek to another sprawling neighborhood, it's time to shell out some $60 for cab. It makes New York seem cheap. Here I flinch if the fare is over $15, and I rarely cab it anyway, choosing to walk almost everywhere. The biggest burden of life in LA is the lack of adequate public transportation. The majority of motorists in Manhattan are tools or tourists, while those who walk the streets in LA are mostly mental patients or Manhattanites.
My back pain was a mere 5-to-6 on the pain threshold during our three-night stay in sunny LA. But after the redeye and subsequent train trip to pick up Michael Alexander from my mom, the pain hit a fever pitch. I got results of my MRI today. Besides the scoliosis and degenerated spine (I was diagnosed in 2006 while marathon training), I have a rotated spine and herniated disks and nerve damage. A myriad maladies which will never be "fixed," though I work to stave off or slow further injury and strive to keep the pain in that tolerable 5-to-6 range. After sitting on a plane and trains, the pain shot to a 10 and I was chewing the inside of my mouth just to cope. Sitting for an extended period of time is bad for every body and far worse for one like mine. I am thankful that I can bring Michael Alexander to physical therapy twice a week. The wonderful women who work there adore him and play with him while I do my exercises and then allow me to hold him on the table while I am receiving transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. I do more lower back and core strengthening exercises after my daily workouts. As I've mentioned, my dear husband wakes before dawn to go to the gym before work so I can I go when he gets home from the office. But that's not enough. I need to be doing those exercises every hour while I am doing any sort of bending or lifting, actions required in my full-time role as mother to a very active six-month-old. Oh, and I am to avoid bending at the waist and lifting to reduce the strain and pain and symptoms and keep this from reaching the stage where surgery is the only answer. Ha! I do make every effort to use proper form when lifting Michael Alexander, but as anyone who has ever witnessed an infant in action can attest, there are few chances to prepare for the second when you have to lunge and save the baby from imminent peril. The best non-surgical treatment at this time is regular epidural injections. But that's not a baby-friendly environment, so for now I am trying a two-week course of gut-wrenching steroids, the strongest non-evasive treatment available in the U.S. I'm also working on getting a TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machine for home so I can step up the non-pharmaceutical treatment. The best pain med is Percocet, which makes my brain mush but is the only way to reduce the pain from a 10 to a 6 or 7 or so. I am trying to take it only when I hit 10, which happens far too often.
For now, we're staying in New York, but LA is always a temptation. Mostly, I can't bear the thought of owning a car and daily driving. That, and all the people I would miss madly here on the East Coast. As for being back home, that is good. So very good to hold my son and witness his every amazing action. The bad back, however, not so good.
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