more adventures from the couch

Today I had my 29th career nerve block... well, the career being my life.

I was diagnosed with RSD just over 11 years ago after spraining my right ankle in a pretty severe fashion three months prior to that. The pain was super abnormal, as were the colors my foot and ankle were turning. When I met my pain doctor, he went to take the pulse in my foot and said, "Whoa. I could chill a can of soda on your leg." So, that was awesome. I was the youngest patient he had.

I still am.

I've come a long, long way from spending nine months on crutches during freshman year of high school (and several months of sophomore and junior years, and freshman year of college). I run! I play sports! I went skiing again that one time! I drive all over the place and hike mountains and climb lighthouses!

It's actually a pretty cool accomplishment, but wouldn't be possible without the occasional "tune up" as my pain doctor calls it. Well, this whole unemployment thing means my health insurance is just about up, so I got a preemptive nerve block and a new prescription for my magical non-narcotic super pain relievers.

I don't know why I'm sharing this, I'm just kind of bored and felt like sharing the adventure that is a nerve block, followed by the adventure that is spending the day on the couch reading Harry Potter and watching the first season of Community on DVD. I had a picture of the x-ray of my spine with the needle in it from a nerve block several years ago, but I can't find it anywhere. I was really writing this with the intent of posting that picture. But now that I'm this far--

Nerve block. I get to lay on a table on my stomach with pillows under my belly because I'm too skinny for the x-ray machine (an improvement over having to arch my back with the needle in it). Doctor and I exchange jokes about the ridiculous rainbow knee socks I wore to my first appointment in September 2000 (what, my leg was freezing, and they were neat). Doctor takes an x-ray of my back with a little pointer on it to find the neighborhood of the nerve and draws crosshairs on my back with a pen. Doctor injects local anesthetic into my back around the L4 (bonus points if you know what the hell, or where the hell that is). Doctor sticks a big needle into the nerves along my spinal cord in that same neighborhood. Doctor takes a bunch of moving x-rays (fluoroscopes!) of my back to make sure he's poking the right nerve. I feel pressure in my right hip and probably leg. Then doctor shoots some lidocaine through that big needle. More intense pressure, and also the feeling like something is peeing on my leg-- it gets warm and spreads down toward my foot. Within ten minutes of the initial small talk, we undo everything and I'm left with some pen marks, a hole, sometimes a bruise, and a numb hip that makes me walk like I'm drunk.

After the drunk swagger wears off, it's like restarting your computer. The nerves in my leg get their act together, and I can continue to walk and have other adventures.

I love walking.

That was my day. That almost counts as an adventure?

Edited on April 5, 2012 because I found the picture:

adventures from the couch

(as opposed to adventures from couch to couch/couch surfing)

It's true, life has been quiet since I left camp. Well, maybe that's only partially true.


JACK did the Lighthouse Challenge again (and it was awesome again). It was pretty much the same except we were missing our vowel changed out route a little, starting with the first lighthouse to the north rather than the one that was farthest away, and ending in home territory with Barnegat Light.

There was a new stop this year: US Life Saving Station 30. It was AWESOME. Ocean City, NJ recently reacquired the site and the house that sits upon it. It has a long way to go with renovations but the amount of work that they've put into it already it impressive, including a ton of research on the people who served at that station and some comprehensive plans for funding the place. Go historic preservation!



I spent a week in Virginia/D.C. catching up with various college friends who recently returned from Peace Corps service and grad school abroad (as well as some who have just been in the D.C. area all this time who I haven't seen in a while). This included favorite things like visiting my alma mater in Fredericksburg, wandering around the National Mall, having a few good beers with a few good friends; this also included a few new adventures-- camping in Bull Run (I lit a beautiful one match fire!), visiting the Old Post Office Tower, and also Ballston (but there's nothing really to see there).



I took a trip up north to Florham Park, where my friend Becky and her awesome baby Arlo are staying for the time being. This was after the freak Halloween nor'easter snow nonsense, which here at the shore was nothing out of the ordinary (aka: no snow) but up north really did a number on the trees. Streets were lined with piles of branches that were almost as tall as me. Trees and huge branches were down everywhere. There were so many leaves left on the trees that the added weight of snow was just too much. However, the roads were clear and so I had an awesome visit with these people (aside from the mourning of some impressive trees).



I've taken three trips to Double Trouble State Park in the last week and a half, after a first trip that yielded me several cups of fresh cranberries. How much do I love eating fresh good things? So much. How much do I love New Jersey? So so much. You see how this became three trips. I've been sharing the cranberries far and wide, so it's not like I'm stockpiling tons and tons of them, but I probably picked about 50 cups of them. The state park used to lease the bogs to cranberry farmers, but no one has leased those bogs last year or this year, so they're just full of gorgeous little cranberries, free for the taking. So I did, and you should too. They're really, really good.



I also traveled to Edison for Friend Thanksgiving with some wonderful people who live in that area. There were several vegetarians in the crowd, so aside from the turkey, everything was veggie friendly, including stuffing! and gravy! Things that omnivores take for granted. This was the first time that I can recall since going vegetarian nearly 8 years ago that I've been so completely stuffed, I could barely function. It was good.



You know, I was going to write this post about all of the adventures I've had in my living room at home since not working. It really seemed like I've spent way more time on the couch in the past five weeks, so I thought I'd recount the little things I've accomplished in that time. However, as per usual, it seems I've been up to more than I realize.

Couch potato activities have mostly included rereading the Harry Potter series, but I've also done a lot of cooking (and baking things using those cranberries) and a lot of applying for jobs (but I don't want to talk about that because it's a little depressing). I purged my closet. I've been getting all of the regular checkups a person should while they still have health insurance. I'm having a nerve block tomorrow, and in preparation, I got several John Green books out of the library as well as the Teach Yourself Icelandic guide and the first season of Community. I'm singing in choir and working with the punky middle schoolers again. I've watched a lot of Big Bang Theory with my dad. I will start running again one of these nights.



So I suppose the adventure hasn't been so bad, nor has it been so confined to the couch. I am looking forward to figuring out what's next and having a little more structure to my days though.