The Body Knows Best

Tuesday night, after the launch of the fundraiser*–and on the heels of even more hours a day on the computer than I usually spend–I was working on one of the campaigns when the upper back/shoulder pain I’d been feeling throughout the day intensified. Not dull aches and pains but sharp shooting ones that made it impossible to sit/lie done/stand or hold any position for more than a few minutes. It crept around my right upper ribs, making it hard to breathe.

There might’ve been flailing. Okay, there WAS flailing.

Luckily I have a friend who Knows Medical Stuff and after *mumbleanhourandahalfofhorriblepainmumble* some time she was like, oh, yeah, you have Mouse Arm and something’s spasming. So after alternating hot and cold compresses, taking ibuprofen, and contorting my arms into all sorts of positions so I could massage the affected area, and I was at least able to sleep. But I have to take a few days off of the computer (and I can’t really knit, either, my GOD I am so fucking bored). Pushing it yesterday had the pain flaring up again last night; yes, I really have to listen when the body says, “Hold on a minute, I need to rest”.

So that’s where I am. No Soulless chapter this week because PAIN; stuff I don’t get paid for always drops to the bottom of the priority list when shit like this happens. There is, of course, still work to be done, and I can’t afford to get another week behind else my clients will probably hunt me down and kill me (they’re lovely people, but really, they can’t be expected to wait because I broke myself), so I’m thinking I’ll extend my new internet-free Friday (wherein I get housework and day job work done in spades) by having an internet-free long weekend. This coincides with a massive, 958 pg book on post-independence history in Kenya that just arrived, so alternating a couple hours of work with resting and reading should clear things up.

The body knows. Chronic illnesses aside, when a sudden injure flares up it is almost always a sign to slow down. Which I have tremendous trouble with, but I know that if I ignore those warnings, I’ll set myself up for something even worse down the road.  And so I retreat.

At least until I can get cyborg parts to replacing the existing ones causing me trouble.

———-

* Fundraiser runs all month. There are lots of awesome packages of signed books.  $15 will get you a few things including Whiskey Sour, the Zara and Juliette short story e-collection.