I'm pain-relief free!

I managed to squash and bruise one of my rib / spine joints while in bed, in hospital (I know :roll: , but I like to be different) last October. I thought I'd just tweaked a muscle which has happened before during times of little or no exercise.

But this didn't go away and, when I got home and tried sleeping flat as usual (as opposed to propped up) I actually screamed when I tried to sit up. It felt like summat was tearing.

There followed about 10 more days of sleeping propped up.

Just before Christmas, with multi-prompts from the family, I booked in with a physio to ensure it was nothing more serious than a tweaked muscle. She was lovely, diagnosed the 'squash 'n bruise' along with a knot of inflammation in a spot that had come out in sympathy, and gave me some exercises which did help but didn't cure.

It was a very careful Christmas with me pacing myself to a ridiculous extent and, as far as possible, avoiding hard dining chairs.

Mr SW has been a model of restraint as January is when we normally book our flights to see our son but 10-11 hours on a plane has seemed a long, long way off.

I think, by New Year, most of my family stopped believing me when I said things were getting better albeit annoyingly slowly.

But, last week, I dared to get back on my I-Joy Ride exercise machine, every other day at first but for slightly longer each day.

Today I finally managed to start the day without cocos. And I've continued without them, promising myself I could have some with my next cuppa / meal if necessary. I know now I won't have any until I go to bed tonight because things have always been much easier when I'm sitting in my comfy recliner with a pillow to my back. And I can do that once I've cooked tea.

I really, finally, am getting there

And the young 'un's baseball has just started