Hiya Sweetie,
Had another painful night despite icing my back and resting all day yesterday. Once again had to get out of bed to be more comfortable, and the pain pills didn't do much either. I headed out to my chiropractic appointment early just to start the process, and Dr, Fallon took me as soon as I arrived. He did numerous tests and x-rays to set a baseline, then finished with a manual adjustment. I have to admit, I felt a lot better by the time I left. When I got back to the farm, I finished filling the water tank in my truck, then spent the rest of the day resting, both icing and heating as instructed. I nodded off several times once I sat in my recliner, so that seemed to be a good indicator, but of course, the real test will be in bed tonight. I have another appointment on Monday that will hopefully indicate some progress. I hope chiropractic will solve the problem, I sure don't like the idea of having to go through traditional medicine, which seems to always resort to surgery or shots, but I have to do something! Anyway, I watched a few movies and I'm down to the last episode of Haven, and am reading as well. I'm hoping I'll be more energetic to get some other stuff done tomorrow, but recuperation and recovery has to come first! Had some rain come through in the afternoon, but otherwise, it looks like a beautiful week coming up, which should help me get stuff done before I leave. Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Sorry to report that despite feeling much better after my massage and shower, I was only in bed about half an hour when some of the pain returned. Now it's like a stitch in my side, more than in my hip, so I supposed that might be an improvement. I took some aspirin, which didn't help a bit, then an hour later took three extra strength acetaminophen, then after doing several hours of heat, decided to change to ice for awhile. It was nearly 3:00 when I finally fell asleep, though the good news is that I ended up sleeping until after 9:00 a.m., which is by far the longest stretch of sleep I've managed in a long time. I was determined to stay in my recliner as long as possible today, so other than a few loads of laundry, that's exactly what I did. I continue to have residual pain, and I expect it to get worse once I go to bed, but I don't know what else to do. I made a chiropractic appointment for tomorrow, that's the last thing I can try before I'll have to go to full-on medical care, which won't happen until I get to Florida in November. I'm icing it before I go to bed, that seemed to help the most so far. Anyway, watched some movies and a few more Havens, and just had a lazy day. Lola's face is almost back to normal, though her lymph nodes are still swollen, though less so than yesterday. At least she's on the mend! Wish I could say the same! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Sorry to say I was still in pain last night. I took an acetamine PM pill, which is usually more than enough to knock me out, but I still couldn't sleep, so I took a second one, which is usually enough to knock me on my butt for the night and half the next day, but it still didn't put me into a decent sleep. Grrrr! I'm getting really sick of this! I ended up getting out my heating pad, and that eventually helped enough for me to get more intermittent sleep. Lola's swelling has gone down remarkably, and she seems a lot more chipper this morning. Last night she barely moved, but today she seemed a lot happier. Fed the horses (Meg gave them a second round bale of hay a couple of days ago, the pigs!), and then took Lola to the vet where Amanda works. She's lost some weight since the last time I weighed her, back down to 61.5 pounds, and she did look a bit skinnier. I guess she hasn't eaten much in the last couple of days. Speaking of weight, I was down nearly three pounds this morning! That makes nearly 15 pounds in the last month or so. Can't complain about that! Anyway, we determined a course of action for Lola, and she continued to improve throughout the day. Once we got back home, I did actually get to sit in my recliner for a few hours in between loads of laundry, then headed out to a 6:00 appointment with a massage therapist. I figured that would do me some good, and hopefully it will allow me to have a full night sleep. She spent a lot of time and really worked the layers of knots that I had, so fingers crossed, I'll get more than a couple of hours of sleep tonight. Hot shower, here I come! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Sorry to say, after two hours of sleep, I once again woke up every hour in pain. Grrr! Can't WAIT to get back and sit in my recliner for a couple of days to recover! Got up about an hour before my alarm, just because it was more comfortable to be moving, and was ready to go in plenty of time. With the airport only five minutes away, I arrived by 7:00, quickly turned in my rental, made my way through a very thorough screening, managed to get carry-on tags for both my bags which I had consolidated, and was soon boarding on time. Arrived in Denver on time, collected my bags and made my way to the American terminal, arriving at my gate with eight minutes until boarding. By the time I checked my bags and filled up my water bottle, it was down to two minutes. Thank goodness everything went smoothly, I had been worried about the short turnaround, but was grateful it all worked out, and I didn't have to sit in the waiting area for long. The flight was uneventful, lunch was okay (note to self, salmon with quinoa is served cold! Does anyone really eat quinoa?), but my back still ached the entire trip, despite taking seven ibuprofen since I'd gotten up this morning. We arrived nearly half an hour early, and my ride got stuck in traffic so it was after 6:00 by the time we left the airport, but I was grateful I wasn't driving, I was so exhausted. Amanda had told me that Lola had suddenly developed some swelling in her lymph nodes, and I was shocked when I saw her face, it was practically round! We made an appointment for her vet the next day (so much for me sitting in my recliner for a few days!), and I gave her an allergy pill, hopefully that will help if it's a bee-sting or spider bite. Heading to bed right after my shower, can't wait to fall back into my own bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
SO HAPPY to report that I FINALLY got a good night sleep last night! It's amazing what a little back support can do! I did still take a few Tylenol during the day, but I literally spent almost the entire day in bed, though I did get up and stretch a bit this morning, which helped loosen me up. I spent the entire day reading and uploading my pix to my Diary, occasionally nodding off, and getting as much packing done as I could. I went out once to fill up the rental car with fuel, and the gas station is literally across the street, so I was back in no time. I'm ready to get back to my own bed! I finished the evening with a hot bath (this room actually had a stopper in the tub!), and finishing off my ice cream. I'm feeling so much more relaxed, I hope I can get through the night without pills. Early morning tomorrow, then home by dinnertime! Can't wait! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, last night was another unqualified disaster. Despite all of my preparation, I was still crippled by midnight. I did fall asleep for nearly two blissful hours, then woke up in sheer agony again. I tried every conceivable position, including sitting up in bed, and nothing helped. I took way too much Tylenol, and even dragged all the bedclothes off and tried to sleep on the floor, but to no avail. I couldn't wait to get up, and did so by 5:30, just try to alleviate some of the pain. The car is more comfortable, and if it wasn't so cold outside, I would probably have slept out there. Grrr! Anyway, I finally did start moving, and was on the road at the crack of dawn. Today I drove the Chief Joseph Highway to the northeast entrance to the park, where I had to take a little nap because I could feel myself ready to doze while driving, and after a 30 minute power nap, made stops at Roosevelt Lodge, Tower Falls, Mammoth Springs, where I had a bison sausage and some coffee, Sheepeater Cliff, Obsidian Cliff, Roaroing Mountain, the Norris Geyser Basin, then over to Canyon Village were I went to all the Upper and Lower Falls lookouts (I was way too tired to try to get down the trails to the falls, so the overlooks would have to do and finished off with the Mud Volcano. Saw lots of cows on the CJH, and a lot of bison in the Hayden valley, as well as the occasional elk and deer. Again, it would have been a lot more enjoyable if I hadn't been so dang tired! When I got back into town, I stopped at Walmart for a couple of things, then back to the hotel. I had made arrangements to change rooms (I was originally going to change hotels, but they showed me that the other section of the hotel had beds with more support, so I'm taking a chance in another room tonight, we'll see how it goes. I've seen all of Yellowstone that I want to at this point, so tomorrow, I'm going to get caught up on my blog, uploading pix and videos while I have a good wifi at the hotel, and maybe even explore a little around town, like the Buffalo Bill museum. We'll see how I feel in the morning. Meanwhile, I'm headed to bed! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
As tired as I was from everything that happened yesterday, I ended up with the worst night of sleep I can ever remember. My hips started bothering me when I went to bed, so I took something that Maureen had recommended, naproxin gelcaps. She said it would work in as little as 15 minutes, which would have been wonderful. I've typically been taking ibuprofen pills, and they take nearly an hour. Well, I did start to feel a bit better in about 25 minutes, but an hour later, I was in agony again, so I took another one. It did absolutely nothing. An hour later, I was taking a third one, which I wasn't supposed to do, but I was in so much pain, I plowed again. That didn't do anything either. It was excruciating! I even got up at midnight to get some ice, hoping that would bring down the inflammation, and it helped a little bit, for a little while, but in the end, I was awake for about 45 minutes of every hour, and managed to doze off briefly. I think I got maybe an hour or two of sleep. I woke up to my 6:00 alarm, had breakfast and got over to Albertsons asap to get some extra strength Tylenol, and took a regular dose of that. I started working in about 30 minutes, thank goodness! It also helped that by then I was driving this little rental Nissan that had a pretty comfy seat, probably the first comfy chair I've been in since my flight from Philly! It's a pretty long drive from Cody to the eastern Park entrance, so I was feeling a lot better by the time I got there. Today's route took me around the South Loop, which included the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center (which wasn't very exciting or informative), the West Thumb Geyser Basin, then Kessler's Cascade, a gorgeous waterfall. I knew I would be late for the next Old Faithful spouting, and I was so exhausted I was nearly falling asleep at the wheel, so I took a 30-minute power nap at the Cascades to boost me up, and it worked well. I got to see Old Faithful and took a walk around the Upper Geyser Basin, which was beautiful but exhausting, then stopped at the Grand Prismatic Spring, and managed to struggle up to the overlook. I misread a sign and though there was an overlook for Fairy Falls, which was 2.5 miles from where I parked, but there was no way I could make it that far. I was really dragging by this point, so I had to skip Fairy Falls. I managed the Lower Geyser Basin, Beryl Spring, but I was done in by the time I struggled around the Artist's paint pot. I skipped the Norris Geyser Basin, but I might have time to do it tomorrow. I was so thoroughly exhausted by this point. I managed to make it back to Cody by a bit before 6:00, topped off with gas, picked up a couple of things at Albersons, nuked dinner, ate half a fresh salad, and splurged on a little Ben and Jerry's. Tonight I'll be taking a couple for Tylenot, having Sleepytime tea, and topping it off with a melatonin. I fully intend to sleep tonight. Early morning again tomorrow, going to do as much of the Upper Loop as I can. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!