At Least I Have a Reason to Hang in the Hot Tub

My lowerback is still gently nagging, but I feel at least one thousand times better than I did during the first half of this week, and about a million times better than Sunday.

I called my doctor this morning, however, to see if it was worth a visit. He's a fascinating man who speaks in old Hindu parables and always explains things to me in complex metaphors and morality tales. And what I pieced together from his story about an injured vervet was that antelope carcasses hanging in trees signal the presence of a leopard and rest is the only medicine for non-serious injuries like the one I have. (Oddly enough, I knew the antelope carcass factoid from The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.)

He said I was welcomed to come in, but after last week's run-in with the bear, I didn't want to hear a story about injured runners and roaming black bears. I've heard enough of those this week. Plus, he's in Willoughby Hills, which isn't a great distance, but too far to travel for him to tell me what he did over the phone. Although the vervet story was pretty interesting...

But on Wednesday I found value to this injury: I have a very valid excuse to spend some extra time in the hot tub during my lunch hour!

After several days of inactivity (laziness is beginning to set in and guilt over all of the cupcakes I ate this weekend is eating me alive!), I was itching to do something. Walking is still a little eh, and I've done some really light yoga -- sans sage of any other kind of twist -- and upper-body weight training, but I need activity! So, I went for a swim.

I didn't know what to expect of my injury in the swimming environment: would it hurt more? feel better? hurt less? My biggest concerns were a) that kicking with my bad side would make me cry and that b) I'd feel excruciating pain, wheeze and wince in response, choke on water and drown when I pushed off the wall on a turn.

Oddly enough, it felt great. Even pushing off the wall didn't hurt a bit. The only pain I felt was while flipping the first couple of times, but even that died off as I continued swimming. And it turned out to be one of my better swims since I jumped back on the wagon.

I swam a really loose and easy (but strong) 1,000 yards straight, which I haven't done in a few months. Sure, it isn't very far at all, but on a day when I thought I would be able to push 200 yards, it was fantastic. And since I had promised myself some take-it-easy time, I finished that 1,000 and spent some time in the hot tub with a jet massaging my lowerback. After about 10 minutes in the tub, I took to the showers and headed back to work in a relaxes daze. It didn't heal my injury, but it certainly made the prospect of swimming mid-day that much more appealing again.