Well, isn't this just marvelous.

'Round about midnight last night, as those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook might have noticed, I blew out a disk in my lower back.

Yes, "blew out" is an overstatement; it's maybe herniated, but certainly bulging and putting pressure on the nerves to my right hip and leg. I'm OK when I'm sitting, but standing and walking is unbelievably — almost unbearably — painful.

Going down the stairs, feeding the cats, and coming back up last night was perhaps the single most physically challenging thing I have done in my entire life. I was tempted to cry like a little girl, but I suspect that if I had, my inner child would have showed up, slapped me around and told me to cowboy up.

[I have yet to attempt the same feat today... but there are three very annoyed-looking cats staring at me. I think they sense my vulnerability; I know if they were anywhere close to my size, I'd be lunch.]

As luck would have it, I had a repair done on a root canal last week; I was given Vicodin, which I didn't need at all at the time. It's coming in handy now, as is the brand new bottle of Advil, for its anti-inflammatory effect. At least, I hope they'll be effective today; they didn't seem to do much good last night.

Good thing this all happened on my days off from work. It's not like I have chores to do and errands to run or anything.