Linda Hill has given us a new prompt for today:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “pad.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

To say I live on my iPad is an understatement! Its in my lap almost all the time. I read my morning Bible studies and affirmations on it, I do all my writing, reading, watching movies and playing games on it. So, I guess you could say I’d be lost without it.

Now, I don’t take it anywhere with me, like long rides with the hubby, or the store, or the golf course, of course. So then my phone is my substitute.

I have this cool stand that I use to hold the iPad that is a complete upgrade from my old “pillow” stand.

Dont look at the junk I keep in the storage side…needs to be cleaned out! Normally, it holds my earbuds in case I want to listen to something without disturbing my husband. Like my music. 😊 I usually listen to music when I’m doing my stretches, but right now, I’m hurt again, so I’ve been given a day or three of rest.

Yesterday, I had to go to the hospital in Cortez because the night before I’d been on the bed trying to do my stretches and strengthening exercises, but those hurt for some reason, so I laid on my side for an hour watching a show. When I was ready to get up, I could not.

Dave is at his wits end with me. It is things like this that he has to help me then manage, and he is saying now that we can’t go on like this. So I think for now, we may be going home to figure out whats next, and finish getting me treated at a VA center at home. For now, I have steroids and pain pills to manage, but they are going to have to fix my back. The Dr did not do imaging, just gave me an IV cocktail of fentanyl and morphine and sent me home with Lortabs and told me to start my emergency pack of steroids that I’ve had since I was in Florida.

You have to understand, I was in such bad shape, we could hardly get me up off the toilet and then to get out of the motor home…I was scared I’d have to call an ambulance but we are in such a remote area, plus I didn’t know if the VA would pay. Finally, I gritted my teeth and put the good foot down a step, and Dave held me and carried me down the rest. When I tried to use my right foot, it felt like someone stuck a knife in my back. Then I had to get into the Jeep. Ugh. The trip back to Dolores was so different! It was like my whole waist was numb and I practically hopped into the car.

She (my nurse) said stay in front of the pain though, or I would be in trouble again. So at 3:30 this morning I woke up in pain, carefully got up and inched my way in the dark to the kitchen, and after shutting the doors so I didn’t wake Dave, I snacked on some carrots, hummus, and a few Dotz pretzels and downed more pain pills and steroids. I choose to think God woke me up so I wasn’t screaming by 6am.

I think what set the whole thing up to go wrong in the first place was me sitting in Dave’s broken chair. Evidently, the cushion from the bed was too thin to make a difference and I think it screwed my back up. I think I have another herniated disc. This is based on the first two times this happened to me. They said in Florida that if the nerve block injections aren’t working longer than a month, we may have to talk about ablation. 😭

Ok, I’m babbling and I got totally off the subject. Right now, I wish I was in a lake, floating on a lilypad and not worrying about anything.