Category: Life with Pratts

Once again I’m suffering from severe and debilitating back pain. It would be one thing if I were badly overweight and out of shape, but I’m not.

A month ago, while out running I tripped on an uneven section of concrete sidewalk. I managed to stop myself from falling, but in the process my right knee hyper-extended, and I jammed it hard when it landed. I was able to continue running and got home without trouble, but the next morning I couldn’t bend my knee.

The treatment for that is RICE — rest, ice, compression, elevation — and I was pleased that my knee responded. In fact, it felt good enough that five days later I was able to run a 5k (3.1 mile) road race. This was the starting line as seen by my cell phone.

I took it slow, and finished the race without difficulty. My knee felt a bit tight afterward, so when I got home I did the RICE routine again. But the next morning once again I couldn’t bend my knee, and I had to limp to get around.

Limping triggered my back, which had undoubtedly been wrenched when I nearly fell, and soon I couldn’t tell where the pain in my back ended, and where the knee began. After a week of that I saw an orthopedic specialist who confirmed that my knee had actually healed up just fine, but the pain from my back was radiating down my leg. He put me on Mega-Motrin (IBU 800 mg), and that works well, but when it wears off the inflammation and pain come roaring back.

And that’s pretty much the way it’s been since then. I was on crutches the entire time I set up the Wi-Fi radio network over the Christmas holiday.

I’m in physical therapy, and I’m exercising very hard at home, but so far the improvement has been slow and small. If I’m not significantly better at PT next week, the therapist will recommend I have the doctor order an MRI.

We’re getting a new dishwasher. It’s a Bosch, $598 at Sears, but Lowe’s had it for 20% off.

I’m not so sure we’re saving any money, because in addition to the $155 for installation, there’s $70 in town plumbing and electrical permits, and another $75 to have an electrician there. I questioned the need for that, so I called the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Electricians, and was told the state does indeed require an electrician to do non-plug wiring. Lowe’s said the electrician will be there to inspect the work, but I said “No, the town does the inspection. I’m paying the 75 bucks to have the electrician do that work.”

So the total cost for our new $480 dishwasher? Nearly $800. Delivery will be Wednesday morning. I could have hired an independent plumber to do the installation, and I bet he wouldn’t have bothered to pull any permits or have an electrician there, but I wanted to be sure the unit gets installed immediately upon delivery.

After a great deal of thought, I have decided to put the blog on hold. At the moment I can’t go into why this is necessary.

I don’t know when I’ll start posting again, but if I can get some photos from Prue Bury’s Beatles Weekend appearance in France, being held one month from now, I might be able to return at that time. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to moderate comments and reply to mail.

Sorry about this being such an abrupt announcement. Thank you for being there.

Tomorrow, I have jury duty.

I’ve been called for jury duty four times before, and I’ve served on two juries. First, a drunk driving case (guilty), and a few years later an assault and battery charge (not guilty).

At the second trial, when I was led into the courtroom to impanel the jury I was surprised to see that one of the prospective jurors was a neighbor of mine. We served on the same trial, which ran into a second day. We didn’t discuss the case with our spouses, but when we drove in together the next morning we talked about it, and nothing we heard during the remaining testimony changed our minds that the charge was bogus.