The "Sorry I Haven't Updated" Post

My apologies, guys. I know I have woefully neglected my blog. I haven't updated in a while, and I have like 4 or 5 posts in my head (about the cruise and Cooperstown), I just haven't had a chance to post them. I'm hoping to post a couple this weekend. Things are a little stressful at work, since classes are starting soon. I've been reading papers off and on all week, so I can write my proposal. I've also been having back problems again for the last week or so. It feels like I have a disc in my lumbar pinching a nerve through my right leg. Pretty much the same thing I had to have surgery for in high school, except it's affecting my right leg, just to mix it up a bit. The weird thing is, I haven't done anything lately to strain it. I moved some heavy stuff during the cruise, but that was in June. I had started running again, so maybe that somehow triggered it? I don't know how these things work.

Anyways, so on Saturday I went to a walk in clinic to get checked out (the health center for URI is closed during the summer). I had to wait for 3 hours, but at least the nurse I saw was optimistic. She said that it may not be a disc problem. Instead something (I'm not clear on what) may be swelling, and the swelling may be pinching the nerve in my leg. She told me to ice it and gave me muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories. I'm also supposed to start physical therapy, but I couldn't get an appointment until Sept.5. Still, I'm already feeling better. And it would be great if I could avoid surgery. I don't mind the surgery itself, but recovery from back surgery is just a bitch. You can't get up for like a week, can't drive for a month, can't run for 3 months, and you can only sit for 15 minutes at a time before you can feel your back tighten with pain. Since my professor is going to be gone pretty much all of the spring semester (3 research cruises), I really need to get a jump on my thesis this semester. At least, that's what Brad says. I just hope I can hack it.

Oh, and a belated Happy Birthday to Mags and an early Happy Birthday to Mike. :)

And in happier news, I get to go to Santa Barbara next week for Dave's wedding!