Life sucking pain

I swear I get the weirdest injuries.

Since Thursday, I've had a return of the screaming pain shooting down my right arm and aching in my right hand. It's exhausting.

I think it comes from having slung a briefcase containing laptop and files over my shoulder and lugging it around from car to courtroom and visa versa and then from office to car and home. This pain is the same I experienced a few years ago after lugging a heavy briefcase of files from the Records Office to the work area at the prison. But, of course, I can prove none of that.

The diagnosis (after a carpal tunnel surgery that fixed nothing) was a slight bulging disk between C6 and C7 and pinching of the nerve that runs out of there down my right arm. The "cure" was 8 weeks of physical therapy which included deep tissue massage (read bruising), and learning to sit and stand in a more upright position.

Over the years, I've gotten sloppy again with my posture. I think I pulled things out of whack again by lugging that heavy ass briefcase last week.

So, for the last two days I've slept without a pillow, taken ibuprofen every four to six hours and lifted NOTHING with my right arm. Today, it is significantly better, but there is still some stinging/pain in my right elbow that comes and goes. It gets better when I tilt my 7 pound head to the left, taking some weight off of that right edge of my spine. I'm hoping another night or two pillowless, alternating between the ibuprofen and Tylenol and extreme care not to aggravate the problem will result in the disk returning to where it belongs and a a return to a relatively pain-free life in which I can hold my head upright during the day.