I've seen what narcotics do to people and it isn't nice.
The visit to the spine pain clinic was interesting and enlightening. The NP I saw actually listened to what I had to say. After the Q&A she did the normal poking and prodding and touched the spot behind my left ear where the upper trap muscle attaches to the skull. It made me jump when she did that.
After a bit of rumination she says "I'm pretty sure I know what's going on here. It's a thing called cervical dystonia. We can do a couple botox injections and if I'm right about this you will get great relief from that treatment." So that's what we're going to do next. I've got an appointment scheduled on 6/3 for the first round of shots.
I did some research on the subject after I got home and it describes EXACTLY what's been going on with my mid/upper back pain. So maybe there's some light at the end of the tunnel. I appreciate all of your good advice. It's always worthwhile to consider the experience of others when faced with adversity.
In the meantime I'm slowly managing to get my garden in. Mrs. Augie's kale plants have been transferred to one of the raised beds. Spaghetti squash plants have been set out. Eight of the sixteen tomato plants are in the ground and caged.
#1 Granddaughter Lexi came over a couple days ago and helped me get the peppers set out. It was her first experience helping in the garden and she did great. I showed her how to get the plants out of the pots without wrecking the root ball, how deep to set them, etc., then I went down the row digging holes and she came behind setting peppers. She did a great job - all 20 plants were standing proud the next morning.
The hens thought I was the best guy on earth for giving them some soggy wheat straw to play in.
The world's fattest toad lives in my greenhouse. He always gets grumpy and comes out of his hole when I water the cabbages. lol
