Journal: News & Comment

Zonked out

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The first web purchase I ever made, in 1996, was for my wife: a Magic Bag, which is a fabric-covered, grain-filled beanbag that you can cool in the freezer or heat in the microwave. While the website is long gone, we still have the bag itself, and I've been using it extensively over the past day.

Last night was rough: from about 4 p.m., the painkillers weren't working so well and I found myself pacing around the house because it felt better than lying or sitting. When bedtime came, I got up every half hour or so to go sit in the bathroom, then heat up the Magic Bag and try lying down again with the hot pack across my pelvis. I'd sleep for perhaps 20 minutes and then do it again.

Finally, around 2:30 a.m., I discovered that I was reasonably comfortable on our living room couch, and actually fell asleep for about 30 minutes sitting upright. So when I returned to the bedroom, I set the electric bed at its full, chair-like vertical position, put the Magic Bag in place again, took another dose of Tramadol, and slept for a good five hours.

I feel a lot better this morning, so I guess the internal swelling is going down, but the lack of proper sleep and pain and pills have me pretty zonked out. I had originally thought I might go to the Northern Voice slideshow/dinner tonight, but I doubt it—my wife, looking at me, says, "No way." Maybe some of the other events, like Mark Blevis's Sunday meetup. We'll see. I've subscribed to the Northern Voice 2007 podcast anyway, so it'll be almost like I'm there.

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