Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

I spent a lot of time watching my denizens of the deep last night. I threw out my back while cleaning Gimli's cage, so I spent most of the night laid out in the recliner. I didn't know I could hurt this badly. Eventually I got some relief by taking NyQuil to knock me out. The worst part of being in that much pain is that I can't cough effectively. Coughing aggravates the muscle and it's practically unbearable. It's better today, but I'm still walking and moving very gingerly.

I was very frustrated to have a non-CF malady to deal with. Shortness of breath, antibiotics, IVs, blood draws...I can handle all of that without blinking. But this back injury is completely out of my realm. I haven't been dealing with it with as much grace as I should have. It was tempting to want to bail out on going to church. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had to actively choose to go to church. I figured I could sit in the recliner and be in pain, or I could sit in the church pew, be in pain, but at least be feeding my soul.

So tonight I'm sitting here on the couch with one of those activated heat therapy wraps. It's supposed to last for 8 hours. We'll see. It does seem to be helping a little.