April 26, 2020

Discomfort has been primarily located on my left side. Remember my description from a week or so ago where I described the area of my discomfort was a U. The bottom of the U being my abdominal wall and the two upward arms more or less defined by the rib cage.  

April 27, 2020

Just spent one of the most uncomfortable nights ever.  Back spasms that would not quit. Beginning at the base of the spine the spasms would radiate up and out. Once during the night it was like a headache from hell. Spasms at the top of the spine and into the brain stem was a cause for concern, but, thank God, it was only a temporary sensation. Around daylight I noticed the spasms seemed to be lessening and I was able to reax enough to sleep. I have dealt with lower back spasms throughout my adult life and have found ways to relax those muscles and sleep. Last night those techniques were useless. The spasms were on the pulse, meaning each heartbeat was a spasm. There was no relaxing the muscles in question. The spasming was so great it seemed to me the only choice was to change my position in bed. Movement seemed to alleviate the discomfort, but as soon as I settled into a new position and started to relax the spasms would start anew. In fact, once during the night, I got up to pee and as I was standing over the urinal, I experienced a spasm starting at the base of the spine and radiating out to/through the hip bones. Peeing and spasming were two separate functions at the time. Peeing was not affected by spasming and spasming was not affected by peeing. 

As I sit here and relate last night’s experience, I am feeling the spasm when I stop moving around. Move and there is slight relief and be still for a few seconds and we get a mild, still annoying, spasm. Dameon and Sara, his Nurse Practioner specializing in palliative care, girlfriend, both wonder if I am drinking enough fluids, H2O. I thought I was but wasn’t monitoring yesterday’s intake very closely. Two to three quarts of water per day are what I’m reading in the various drug information sheets I am currently ingesting or infusing. Acetaminophen is recommended by the drug information and Sara. 

Speaking of drug information, I need to print out information about a couple drugs I take everyday and reorder a couple for next week’s AM/PM distribution in my weekly pill box. 

Until my next entry thanks for reading.