Ouch

I woke up this morning with a screaming headache, centered right at the base of my skull.  The Mrs. rubbed my back down with an analgesic, but even that didn't work.  I had to take pills to get the pain to go away.

I hate taking pills.  I really, really hate taking pills.  I eat gummy vitamins just so that I don't have to swallow any pills.  But today, I took some pills. 

The worst part is I don't even know why this happened.  This "age" thing isn't turning out quite like I was promised.  I have random pains that just crop up.  I'm losing my hair, but I still can't grow a beard (Thanks Dad, for that little genetic quirk!)  And now headaches out of nowhere that are damn near incapacitating.

What the hell?

Went running this morning

Holy cow, I've lost my wind.  I guess since I really haven't been able to go running since the middle of October, that's four months without running.  It's amazing how much you lose in that time.  Luckily I have access to a gym at work, so I've been making sure I don't turn into Fatty McFatcakes, but dang it, I've got a couple of months to get back to where I was before all of this crap with my foot started happening.

Ow. Knees hurt

Lots of pomp and ceremony yesterday. Which means lots of standing.  "BRING YOUR UNITS TO ATTENTION!"  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  The more rank being moved around, the more you stand at attention or parade rest or at ease.  Anyways, lots of standing.  Standing for that length of time used to hurt a little bit when I was younger.  Now that I'm not some young buck, standing for hours on pavement now hurts the next day.  Gah.  And I have good boots with good insoles.  I'm going to see a lot of people limping around today.

Ow. I hurt.

Just an all-over general pain.  Feet, back, legs, shoulders.  I hate getting old.

Go read this instead, and pass it out do your daughters before they get old too.

Well, it's not gout

My doc did a uric acid test, and the numbers came back smack in the middle of "normal".  Which is good news and bad news.  Good because I don't have gout, and bad because this means my foot problem is something that will most likely require surgery.

Getting old sucks.

Friggin' foot...

So my foot acted up again.  Went to the doc, had a blood test drawn, so I should find out soon if we can rule out gout, or if I'm going to be forgoing all the foods I love.  Asparagus?  Spinach?  Beef?  WHISKEY????

On the other hand, I've injured this foot multiple times, so if it's an injury it's probably an accumulation of all the various crap I've done to myself through the years.  I jacked it up good twice in LA.  The second time I actually heard all the bones *pop* as my foot came down on a rock and damn near folded on itself.  The x-ray showed either tiny bone spurs or calcifications in the joint that's causing me issues.  Prior to that I strained the tendons/ligaments so badly I couldn't walk for a week, and couldn't run for a month and a half.

On top of that, add in all the crap I've done in the Army.  Apparently I have plantar fasciitis on top of everything else going on with the feet.  The nurse kept poking my tendon at the bottom of my foot and saying "That shouldn't be sticking out like this."

Bottom line - no matter what the diagnosis is, I'm probably done with any serious running for a while.  Maybe forever.  Which sucks, because I like running.  Hopefully I'll find out from the doc about the test tomorrow.  If it's not gout, I'm going to an orthopedist to see what can be done.  Until then I'm just limping along.

You know the reason people can retire after twenty years in the military?  Because most folks can't really go beyond that.

Well, just $%^@#

Some gut bug got me two weeks ago.  Laid me up for a week.

Screwed my foot up last week.  Couldn't run.

Today it's a pinched nerve in my upper back.  Tried to work out just upper body stuff, and came home unable to turn my head. 

This getting old crap is starting to piss me off.

Growing old

Had my PHA today.  That's "Periodic Health Assessment" for those out of the military.  And they confirmed that my hearing is definitely not what it was.  Specifically in the range of things like explosions and gunfire.

Huh.  Gosh, I wonder what could have caused THAT?

I have to go back tomorrow for a second test, and if that confirmed the fuck-upedness of my hearing, there will be another test to determine the new baseline.

I hate getting old.

Sure signs of growing old

You're trimming your nose hair (sign #1!) and you realize that half the hairs are white (sign #2!)

Crap.

Yeah, that was TMI, wasn't it?  Deal with it.

Gimp

I played racquetball for the first time in over a decade last night.  It was a good workout, and I had a good time, but I'm rediscovering muscles in my leg that I forgot existed, and they are NOT happy about being forgotten.

On the other hand, I found the cigar store here in town that seems to be my idea of happiness.  Yay!