August Round Up

I wrote a huge post on my way into work this morning but it didn't save :'(

August is over!  It flew by! We're heading into the last few months of the year, and Christmas is on its way. It's official. I saw christmas stuff in shops last weekend. Now I'm just waiting on the CocaCola advert.
August felt really busy, there was a lot going on!

August summary:
Week 1:
The month kicked off on a weekend, with a pool party at a friends house. It was not pool party weather, but we did it anyway. Typical me ended up with an awful cold afterwards. It was my brother's birthday at the beginning of the month, so I spent time with family having a take away and watching films. Good times!
The weekend was well recieved. I spent time with the usual suspects, went for a walk and hung out with some friends.

Week 2:
Work was busy, as usual! By Thursday I was more than ready to head down to Pip's for her birthday. Had a really busy weekend: party no. 1, go karting, party no. 2, riding, running, and a day shopping and sightseeing in London before heading home. I was exhausted!

Week 3:
Woo bank holiday weekend! I was really hoping for a nice relaxed weekend, but of course, that wasn't the case. I had a whole load of stuff to get done on saturday, including cleaning my bike with the intention of cycling to the train station for work. I also had to bleach sisterbell's hair as she had been bugging me to do it for a little while...I was also pulled into an impromptu shopping trip, which was tiring! Then there was a house party, which I was designated driver for... ended up staying up super late and dropping a couple of people home. I was glad to be home on Sunday night - after a cinema trip. I was looking forward to relaxing on the Monday, and I took sisterbell into town so she could pick up some running kit, and I could grab a cycling helmet. Of course that turned into a massive fail, as this is when the neck incident occurred. Ouch.

Week 4:
Great start to the week, couldn't move, couldn't work and went to A&E. Awesome. Ended up being off work until Friday, when I went in armed with the tablets I was prescribed at A&E. By that point my neck was starting to feel a bit better. (Yay!)
MrBoop and I were house sitting for a friend on friday night, then headed out on another imprpmptu shopping trip on saturday. Back to the friends house we house-sat the night before, for a gigantic barbeque. By gigantic I mean lots of food. Seriously, loads. That was our last hurrah to summer. I finally got a chance to relax on Sunday.

Goodbye August!

Hello September...

Pain. So. Much. Pain.

Yesterday afternoon I was driving myself and my sister to town to pick up a couple of sporting bits and bobs-she needed running gear, I needed a cycling helmet. I pulled into the shopping centre car park and  spotted a large space to pull into. There were cars behind me who had to stop while I (badly) manoeuvred into the space. Let's bear in mind that I only passed my driving test in July and have not had a lot of practice. In my rush to get into the space, when readjusting I turned my head very quickly from looking right, to look behind my left shoulder. As I did this I heard popping & clicking sounds and felt an immense amount of pain up the back of my neck, on the right hand side.

I have cricked my neck countless times before, but never like this. I felt completely incapacitated. Every movement was agony and sent my neck into spasm. Imagine getting a really bad muscular cramp, but more painful and on your neck. Every time you move. My bewildered sister had no idea what to do...neither did I to be honest.

I sat and waited for the pain to diminish, but it didn't make much difference. It just ensured I had got past the initial pain shock so it was a slightly more manageable level. I use the word 'slightly' in the loosest sense. Headed down to the shops and first stop was for painkillers galore and deep heat spray. Nurse Sisterbell helped to administer pills and deep heat. I decided to trudge onwards to get the shopping intended done, though I decided against loading up on cycling gear.

Once we were done we headed back to the car, where I was unable to do much more that sit in the driver seat. There was no way for my parents to come pick us up as I was the one who had the car which we were all sharing; and my brother was at work with his car. Quite the predicament.

After having a cry and a handful of spasms later, I decided to bite the bullet and get me and Sisterbell home. It was really hard work, and sis had to basically be my left and right eyes. Roundabouts were certainly a challenge. Eventually made it home, where I've been wearing an airplane pillow as a neck brace ever since.

Popped into A&E today and was prescribed some strong painkillers and anti-spasm pills which I can take alongside paracetamol and ibuprofen. So far they don't seem to be helping much as I'm unable to lie down to attempt to sleep. I hate this so much.