…spend from 5am until 12pm in the same chair looking for stray commas and periods in masses of code and you can get a little out of shape. Jane’s been working like that. I at least change chairs once a day.
And my back had gotten ‘out’ to the point my sciatica (which I got several years ago from a pretty spectacular fall on a crossover pattern while skating on very tired legs) flared up very painfully — Sciatica is when the main nerve involving hip join and upper leg feels like a cross between burning and having a knife blade in your hip joint. You also lose some rotational mobility in the afflicted leg.
It actually tends to come from the lower back…in my case having dropped myself sideways on my hip from a fair height above the ice, which didn’t help my lower back; but it can also come from a strain placed on the lower back by having nastiness built up in the upper back and shoulders—ie, standing lousy.
I asked Jane to give the upper back a crunch last evening, and it popped like Rice Crispies. It helped. I had to go ice the nerve down for a couple of hours, but this morning the nagging pain is mostly gone. It’s such a relief. The gluteus maximus in the OTHER hip is protesting our resumation of walking once a day, but that’s just protesting a general re-tensioning: a muscle protest, not the protest of nerves that have been aggravated to the max.
Ought to go down and give Dr. Shane a go at it, but we’re just so busy.
We finally decided not to give the GE dishwasher another go at flooding our kitchen floor: it’s a POS, pardon my French, incredibly bad design (no change filter, my aunt Betty!) It means call a serviceman if it clogs. We bit the bullet, deciding to give ourselves an early Christmas present that won’t clog the garbage disposal line and then backflush the garbage disposal onto our load of dishes. Nay. We prefer not to have yesterday’s egg or a coating of grease on the newly washed plates.
What brand is my dishwasher? Quite possibly the same. I’ll look. Not sure if it was a short or a surge, or the tech may not have hooked it up right. It lasted until the warranty expired, then quite conveniently went quietly catatonic. The dishwasher, she does no-thing. I have been hand-washing dishes. But for one person, I can live with it until I can fix it.
New wrinkle: My fridge was purchased about a year before Ike. The warranty is long expired, but really, you wouldn’t expect trouble so soon. It’s not top of the line, but decent. And iirc, a Frigidaire. But the seal or gasket around the door to the fridge section is unstuck. The fool thing wants to cling to the surface of the doorframe when you open the door, then snap, whang! Back to the door as you open it. Highly annoying, and I don’t see wherever I presume it should attach to reacquire a permanent seal. But I’m expecting to have to hunt up and order a part and re-install it or have someone do it. But gosh, it isn’t so old. Still, it makes me wonder if something more serious is going to konk out on it.
Still need to get the valve under my kitchen sink repaired and what I assume are just the washers or gaskets for the faucet knobs above replaced. I’ve turned the sink’s water source off so no leak to raise my water bill. But the valve is something I can’t do. Hoping to repair that before Christmas.
Aggravating as all get-out, but livable and fixable as I can get to it.
Sitting, fixing codes, words, and fiddly punctuation? My résumé (needs updating) calls that something else, but that’s essentially a lot of what I do when I get paid. 😆
The walking sounds nice! I’ve taken to short breaks to look at my yard at lunchtime. It helps. Not sure if it’s genuinely meditating, but it helps some.
I have some idea how you feel. My sciatica flared up a couple weeks ago. I’ve been on etodolac since. Works well, but can’t keep that up. Going in a week from Thursday to try to suck out some more of my lower lumbar’s synovial cyst.
Owie! Glad the back is feeling better. Paying the price for upright posture on a back originally designed for quadrupeds. Do you need to get you one of those hang-upside-down thingies? I hear they are great for backs. I have the loveliest little lumbar cushion, but the recliner tends to eat it (it gets sucked into the crack between the back of the chair and the seat). I had a bad problem with ankle swelling until I set my desk up to type from a recliner. Only problem now is when the black cat jumps up on the footrest and sit the chair up when I’m not expecting it. . . See: http://grundlepod.blogspot.com/2010/11/prize-winning-pome.html
Sent you an email with dishwasher comparisons from a leading consumers’ magazine. I didn’t have an idea of the price range you were looking, so I kept it low. There are 5 dishwashers compared in the email.
I didn’t use the subject line, “COMLINK”, though, so would it have gotten through?
This last week we’ve been having some drywall work done in our home in the living room and in the master bath vanity area. readyGuy and I had to move from the master bedroom to our daughter’s room where the mattress is on the floor. In order to get into the bed I practiced my TaeKwonDo falls, but in order to get up I had to kneel on the floor and grab the doorframe. Unfortunately the replacement knee does NOT like kneeling. (It gives me an excuse not to do much housework involving bending or kneeling.) I am in so much knee pain that even walking is painful. Stairs are a slow and painful task fraught with the danger of falling. Unfortunately, I have to go up and down stairs at work just to get to an accomodation. The silver lining is that I have only 14 work days left until retirement and when I get to that date, most of the heavy housework will have been completed, and necessary repairs will have been done.
Oweee…….but let’s hear it for no more stairs!
Ouch! Just one replacement is bad, how about both knees having been replaced. How about finding that the cement that holds the implants into the bones has failed in both knees? That’s my problem right now. Thursday will see me in the office of a joint specialist and perhaps we’ll have some answers. If we have to go back in, that will be the 3rd replacement of the left knee and the 2nd for the right knee, as well as the 3rd operation on the right knee. I had arthroscopic surgery to clean up and partially remove the medial meniscus of the right knee. Killed my running days forever, and now, I can’t even do kendo until the specialist tells me it’s all right. Any time I move the implant, it chews a little more bone out of the inside of the channel and makes it more difficult to repair. Lovely…..
CJ, did you get the new dishwasher before or after I sent the email?
Before, to my surprise, but was gratified to see I got the #3 you recommended. 😉
Joe, are you sure you shouldn’t go for a second opinion or a new surgeon on those knees? My dad had a hip replacement and managed to fall onto it off a 5 foot ladder 4 weeks after the surgery and never did have the glue give way—he had that thing for at least 10 years. I sure hope that works out well — and soon.
I’ve seen the orthopedist, and he wanted me to see the joint specialist. I think the problem with the cement is that my body chemistry just dissolves it. Imagine me having the ability to put my hand on a locked door, and dissolve the lock with a touch….(yeesh!). But this visit will be the second opinion. None of the ortho people at the base hospital are qualified to revise joints, it takes special training and certification to do it. They can do the initial replacement, but if something goes wrong, they’ve got to send me outside.
I’m glad you got the Best Buy of the 3, and that it will be much better than the GE. Oh, and I found that my dishwasher is a Frigidaire, not a GE.
Ouch, Joe, so very sorry. I agree, maybe seek another opinion or surgeon. My grandmother had hip surgery in her 90’s — and a friend also in his 90’s was in for a 2nd replacement while she was in. Very sweet man, he visited her while they were recovering. The artificial hips outlasted them, they went for several years after that with, thank heavens, no hip problems other than that wintertime “feel it in my bones” feeling. So I hope you’ll find some relief and the next round will be done *right* so you can enjoy things again.
Portland has tried to limit “urban sprawl”, now having maximum lot sizes rather than minimums, and an “Urban Growth Boundary”. There hasn’t been a new housing development in the last several years that hasn’t been based on at least two-story homes, three not unusual!
As a person with multiple autoimmune issues, has suffered with sciatica for decades and has ankylosing spondylitis with four bulging discs to help aggravate it (AS deforms the spine-Wikipedia has a surprising good listing, including its pathophysiology), I have used different things for back pain for a long time.
I have two suggestions for you during future bouts:
A friend brought me a bottle of Capsaicin liquid rub and the pain lessened considerably the first time I applied it. I haven’t been able to find the liquid for a few years now so I settled for the cream, which is not as immediate and effective because you have to apply it daily to get the full effect.
Be very care with this, since it’s putting the heat from chili peppers on your skin. My skin is very sensitive but I was able to handle it just fine. Some people can’t due to the burning sensation. Also make sure to apply it in ways to keep it away from your eyes or other sensitive body bits. Wash up completely if you use your hands to apply and even then, sometimes you find it in your mouth when you eat. Didn’t know that tuna salad was a Mexican dish, did you?
Now I am using doTerra Deep Blue Rub and it is amazing how quickly and long it works. A little dab will do you, too. I first learned of it when my finger joints were killing me (rheumo said overwork, probably from too much crochet) and a small dot spread on all my sore joints and the pain disappeared.
It has an essential oil blend of wintergreen, camphor, peppermint, blue tansy, German chamomile, helichrysum, and osmanthus so if you’re allergic to any of these you will not be able to use it. I hope you’re not because it is amazing stuff, you only need a tiny bit for it to ease pains and it’s well worth the price. Another wash up completely if you use your hands to apply.
Ooooh, yes. And do not rub the eyes! 😉 Thanks!
What we got: the Bosch Advanta, Lowe’s special model. The problem with the GE was it has NO filter cleanout…which supposedly was a selling-point. The thing has a screen that stops larger food particles and leaves them in your dishwasher (lovely) and sends moderate ones UP a NARROW tube to the garbage disposal, which had better not have anything in it.
Now, a U-shaped tube that contains nasty water is not optimum, pushing it UP is inevitable, I suppose; but it also likely has a check-valve to prevent it flowing back into the dishwasher. Check-valves are something no plumber wants to rely on: they clog, they fail to close, they flood things, or they cause backups…a check-valve that could have food particles and grease going through it is guaranteed to have a mess. PlUS the GEs are notorious for failure of the heating element, so that’s COLD greasy water. Yum.
The whole Bosch line, including some really expensive ones, has no such thing: it has a fine screen held by a fist-sized screw outlet right in the front floor that really unscrews with one easy turn—I’m told if the Bosch motor encounters anything in that trap that shouldn’t be there, it will stop until you clear it. This is a good thing. The top basket has TWO tracks, so it can be raised for big items in the bottom basket, or lowered for tall stemware in the top, easy as moving an oven shelf. We are looking forward to having clean dishes.
We’re ultimately going to have to replace the whole kitchen laminate floor because of that thing, and insurance won’t cover it, but we managed to dry it enough the boards flattened again, so we just have throw rugs and mats where they didn’t flatten. The cat waterbowl circulation also flooded the floor, which is why insurance won’t cover it. We’ll consider that in next year’s budget—but we want above all to be sure the kitchen floods have stopped. We have a new cat bowl that won’t leak water onto the floor; and now the dishwasher won’t (we hope) so maybe next year for the floor.
One nice thing about living in a house built on a slab foundation: Concrete doesn’t warp. Glad you got a new DW. I got a new one about two months ago. I’m sure it’s the cheapest one the landlord could find that would fit the space, but considering that the old one was two years older than dirt, it’s a welcome improvement. Clean dishes are indeed nice.
Good on your new dishwasher — may it give you many years of trouble-free service! When I eventually replace my dishwasher (I’m already looking ahead to that) I’m going to get one with a scosh more power. I got the bottom of the line economy Hotpoint, and while it cleans the dishes, you have to scrub off anything crusty before putting them in, and don’t put anything on the top rack that requires more than cursory washing.
Ah, the daily walk. I get back into it, then I get out of it. Got out of it big time at the early part of the year because of getting c-diff (you never wanted to be far from the “accommodation”) That took care of losing weight, although I’d rather lose it walking. I’ve finally tried to get back to the daily walk and now the darned weather won’t cooperate. I don’t mind walking in a light rain, that’s what wellies and an umbrella are for, but I draw the line a squalls and deluges.
Two weeks ago I bought a new chair at a garage sale. A small thing. I’m only 5′ 1″ and feel like Edith Anne most of the time in grownup chairs. This thing fits perfectly, unless I gain five pounds, then it’s going to be a squeaker sooo, I’ve got a good reason to start on the daily walks again!
The beauty of being an apartment dweller is that when there’s a problem you just call the super. The non-beauty is, no koi pond, no apple trees, no … well, what can I say?
Take care of that back.
oh! don’t know if this can be useful or not but: When I was vending at various street fairs I would put those heat packs on my lower back during the winter. It made such a difference in how I felt throughout the day because it would keep my core warm. the only thing I didn’t like about them is that they’re mostly disposable and I just hated putting them in the garbage for the landfill. I started using them after I’d seen a program about Japanese fishermen and how they always wrap around the waist to keep their core warm.
ps.
the apartment comment was meant to go with the dishwasher problem… sorry.
We had a not-very-functional GE dishwasher and opted for the Bosch, too. It needs less detergent than the previous machine, is very quiet, and cleans the dishes very well. Our flooring is cork, which we love, except where water has seeped in from spills, such as a cat water fountain – not the fountain per se, but the cats playing in the water. Our solution was to place the drinking fountain on an old cafeteria-style tray. The kitties still get to splash around, but the water is adequately separated from the floor.
That’s a great idea. We used an old rubberized placemat for our previous kitties, but I may repurpose an old tray and put a non-skid mat on it. Spills are contained, and it can be popped into the dishwasher or laundry as required!
p.s. This is important because Monday (Good Lord willin’ an’ th’ creek don’t rise) Zorro will be trundled to the vet for shots and snippage before beginning her life as an indoor kitteh. We’ll see how easy that is; good thoughts and Bandaids, please!
Best Wishes to Zorro, foxy kitty. She may decide indoor livin’ is the life, once she gets a load of the perks.
No new suggestions on the sciatica and joints – but send good wishes your way!
joe, hope the replacements can be adequately fixed. I am beginning to think that a failure of the cement is part of my problem, because I think my left toe is catching on furniture that I never used to touch, and the pain is unimaginable.
CJ, Congrats on the new DW. We hope the walking will help relieve any mental stoppage, but ensure you walk on non-icy walkways. Nothing will prevent the flow of ideas quite like a hospitalization for a broken bone or injured joints.
We’re still snow-free, but that’s to change tomorrow…they say. Eastern WA weather is freaky, because our our terrain; the Pacific and the Alaskan heights and the Cascades are weathermakers, but our terrain is crossed by deep river gorges, so some things get diverted, sneak down a gorge and pop up again, or just get derailed by a soaking-wet and warmer Pineapple Express sweeping up from Hawaii. Now if Alaskan cold makes it to us just when moisture is sweeping up, we get events like Snowmageddon, which took out so many roofs across town. Most of the time snow is moderate, and we don’t get an Oklahoma-style remelt refreeze icecap atop it.
my cousin, who is no fool and has abd from MIT had a disc problem a few years back and says he learned that discs thrive on being fairly lubricated and that they get lubricated when you move around, and when you sit still all day at a desk they dry out. so lots of people have disc problems who stare at computer screens for long long stretches. So, the lesson there is drink enough coffee to need to get up and go to the potty at least once an hour. he wiggles around a lot now even when he is sitting so as to keep things nice.
Just a thought.
Lol—THAT, I do. And bending and stretching is good too. I have a kind of a sideways S-curve to my spine that shows up only in x-ray, but if I didn’t have it, I might be taller… 😉 And I have to work to keep my back in good shape.
Here’s what I know:
1. don’t eat potatoes or tomatoes any oftener than you can possibly do without. They play hob with touchy joints. if I have either, I’ll know it in the morning. Possibly sooner.
2. flex knees and walk with your kneecaps over your first two toes.
3. stand with your tailbone rolled a bit ‘under’.
4. stand with your shoulderblades pulled to center and down.
5. stand with your head comfortably over your shoulders, not leading them.
If you can do all the above at once all the time you’ll be in pretty good shape—but that’s asking a bit, particularly the shoulderblades—but it really makes a big difference on long drives and in stadium seats.
So I’m just trying to do that while walking, to do max good.
But the yard work had to take precedence these last two days: I really came in sweating, which shouldn’t have happened—but I’m out of shape. We’ve got over 500 feet of hose that we’re taking in out of the cold, probably 200 more that we’re leaving as is because it’s really crappy hose, and part of it is buried…which will keep it sort of safe.
Found one neat thing, which Jane showed me: put the end of a hose in a trug basket (you know those plastic things that have two handles and you see in archaeological digs, but you can now buy them at hardware stores…? Those!) The large size ones—put one end of a hose in the bottom of said trug, rotate the trug while feeding the hose in. It coils a cantankerous hose pretty as they could at the factory. Tie it, stack it, and you’re done.