Day two was harder than the day that preceded it. Sure, we were noticeably sore and tired when we got home from laboring in the mountains last night, but the stiffness hadn't really set in. Moving today was difficult, in any and all capacity. Me, I was so sore today that when I went to a regularly scheduled doctor visit, it was almost beyond my ability to climb up on the exam table. Walking from the parking garage across the street and up the six stairs to the entrance nearly stopped me in my tracks. But my condition isn't all bad. At some point on the final trip from the campsite, over the clearing on the hill, and down the steep section to the car, the tightness in my IT band (the iliotibial band, the connective tissues that run from the outside of your hip down toward the knee) just suddenly gave up. I have been stiff there for months, taking mincing steps and being particularly unable to go down stairs smoothly. I have no idea what changed, and I didn't notice it at first. I realized as I was going along past the hunting blind that our mountain neighbor built, that I was walking with normal length strides. I haven't been able to do that since around January or February, or maybe longer. I don't know what to do to maintain it. If my body reacted like normal people's, I'd say stretch and exercise it to keep it going. But I have to be so obsessed with inflammation, I have to approach it as gently as I can. Still, it's more flexible than before, and I'm happy.
The regular doctor visit today was my quarterly Botox for migraine treatment. I can't believe how useful this has turned out to be. Since I started doing it, I've had at most two headaches that I can recall. The aura that has become a permanent part of my life (parasthesia, where my skin is hypersensitive, and my mouth feels like I'm being electrocuted) is controlled for two and a half months at a stretch, before the effect wears off. But beyond that, it stopped the burning sensation I had in my shoulder, possibly caused by stenosis in the base of my neck. I went to physical therapy for months to have steroids electrically drilled into my shoulder for that, and here the Botox cleared it right up. Like magic. I just have to hope that it controls hot flashes again like it did before. It's too warm of a summer to let those run wild.
All through the day, little things that could have gone either way, wrong or right, have fallen in my favor. I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I'm not about to go testing my luck, though. I know better than to do that. Everything that went right today can easily be turned around tomorrow. Best not to tempt fate.
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