SEXIEST PERSONS ALIVE

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

middle age sag

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SAM gets a free pass for a year. All praise and no ragging. He saved my day. And I'm hoping, my back.


My lower back has been speaking to me again. After a morning at the grocery store, I bent over to pick up something off the floor and felt the twinge.


The pain isn't the thing. It's the fear.


Will I have to give up tennis? Will I be blogging from the floor for eternity?



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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Can I see this in sleek and sexy, please?"


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Will I miss time on the job? Will I be the one lieing on the couch while my patients sit in my roller chair? Will they care?

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My job requires sitting long hours. So back injury wreaks havoc with my career, with my patients' treatment, with my finances - no sick leave or disability benefits in this psychologist's self-employment package.


Breathe deep. Fears aside. Focus on a solution.

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I've been noticing that our $1800 latex mattress has been sagging. Waking up with back feeling achey again. Bought said mattress after a particularly lengthy and scary tennis injury two years ago. Stretched our budget in order to get proper support for my back. Guaranteed not to sag. Yada yada.

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After this latest twinge, I just know it's the bed.



Spent all evening searching, searching, searching through the file cabinets, the clutter piles, the junk drawers for the warranty. Finding every focking receipt to every focking other purchase ever made, including the old mattress purchased 15 years ago, but not finding the warranty for this bed! Argh!


In a last, desperate, ditch effort, SAM looks under the bed.
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Aha!
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The boxspring was bowing miserably. We take the bed apart. It's such a duckwad design, this twice-as-costly, firm support guaranteed for 27 years, bed. The boxspring is supported by two long skinny strips of wood running the length of the bed, head to toe.


Who engineered this? Four-feet-tall pygmies who sleep sideways?


............................. Chief Executive Officer,
............................ Pygmy Mattress Engineering, Inc.


So last night at 10:30pm SAM gets out his saw and three slats of 1 x 6 boards that happen to be in our garage (thank you, thank you), and on our driveway, under the light of the moon, he proceeds to cut the boards to fit across the bed frame.


And oh my goddess, what a difference! Support! I woke up feeling like a million bucks.


SAM called me this morning to check in and see how I slept.


As sweet as that is, I did not fail to note this certified middle age marker.


Phone calls no longer about "Was it good for you last night, too?"


It's now, "How's your back pain?"


14 comments:

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I find fixing things to be very sexy!

Do you do Pilates? That and chiropractic have changed my life.

shrink on the couch said...

jenn - absolutely sexy! no to pilates. though I have seen a class at the downtown Y - pilates for lower back. I have done Iyengar Yoga and its been very helpful.

Mrs. G. said...

I love a quick, cheap fix. Hope you keep feeling better.

stephanie said...

Ugh. Funny though - my man just fixed our sagging box spring last week...

I hate aging. I wish I didn't, that I was bigger than that, but dammit I am not.

Stupid backs and bed and receipts...

JCK said...

I'm so glad the solution is easy. Well, for you. And your "handyman!" Thank GOD for handymen.

Too funny on the phone call afterwards. But, you know... a healthy back = more sex. Or more sleep...take what you can.

I think you would enjoy my new friend Andrea's blog - Pass the Zoloft. She writes a sex column on married sex for Good Housekeeping. A link is on the bottom of her posts. She's great!

Sorry I've been away. BlogHer called me...

Alison said...

Tee hee hee, that's a funny post. I like Mr.Chief Executive Officer,
Pygmy Mattress Engineering, Inc.

He's done well hasn't he?

And so have you - your husband sounds like a doll!

Mary said...

Thank goodness for a handy husband.

I call it the "silent ping" - you bend over and as fast as that you know you have hurt your back.

Pilates helped. Weight training seems to be helping. If I could find the will power to lose weight that would help too!

AnnD said...

Don't you love hubbies who can quickly fix things?! I have one like that too! God! I've been having lower back pain for years and I'm 29. It only affects my therapy when I'm on the floor playing with kiddos! So far....

Madge said...

oooh, i hate that back twinge. i get it when i hit a certain weight. oh, look. i'm there now. GREAT.

Stacie said...

SAM has just hit my crush list (I hope you don't mind). I can't let Tony within 10 feet of a saw or we might have material for the next horror flick. What a wonderful man! And I am so glad that you are doing better...nothing worse than that damn lower back twinge and the pain you know it can turn into.

shrink on the couch said...

mrs g - thanks. I'm feeling way better. I'm walking & stretching and feeling hopeful about tennis again.

stephanie - same fix? additional slats?

jck - pass the zoloft - I've seen that, maybe on your blogroll. will check her out.


alison - he's a doll, yes. and very handy. above and below the mattress .. haw haw

shrink on the couch said...

mary - silent ping is perfect. I used to do a lot of weight training, but gave it up after Iyengar yogi said that sitting machines are bad for lower back(which I primarily used for lower body and loved. but now, 18 mos later, I'm still getting silent pings? And it might mostly center around my mattress? I'm seriously planning to get back to weights. I'm typically lazy about switching regimens.

ann - floor is good for me. yogi's instructions. wish I had an excuse to be on the floor during therapy.

madge - my weight definately is part of the problem. you'd think I could channel this fear into motivation to quit snacking. nooooooooooo.

stacie - crush away. it does my heart good.

e.beck.artist said...

your ceo pygmy had me laughing hard ....
and this is just one more time that it has paid off for you to have a handy husband ....

shrink on the couch said...

e - glad you got a laugh! thanks for saying so. I wasn't too sure if it was PC or not.

and yes, handy husband's rule!