I've been in and out of traction for the past few weeks and am starting to feel like a yo-yo.
The reason they gave at first was "degenerative arthritis," that somehow got rushed or intensified as a result of my motorcycle accident. Shit! My doctor, a Sports Orthopedist, was soooooo excited to give me a cortisone shot. I have this idea in my head of him chasing me around his office with a big needle he wanted to stick in my neck.
I got an MRI and it showed a very slight herniation in my 2nd and 3rd Thorasic Vertebrae. The Orthopedist got all excited and got his needle out again! I think this is a workout injury, probably from doing shoulder presses behind the neck. I'm treating it by waiting, by taking ibuprofen, and by seeing a Chiropractor who twists me around like a pretzel and pounds the living shit out of me. Feels great!
I'm happy it isn't arthritis, which had crippled up my mother when she was 15 years younger than I am now. There probably isn't a body out there my age that doesn't have some sort of joint or bone degeneration going on in it. And I can feel the pain rip through my hands when I pick up a dumbell in the gym. My time will come when I'll have to stop all this. It just isn't now. The spine problem will ease back and I'll be more careful with my form.
Meanwhile, I'm bigger than I've ever been. I'm a lot thicker through the chest and shoulders and my lats are finally starting to get some spread. My quads are still way too small, but I don't know what I can do about that since this problem is in my back and I can't go heavy on squats for now. On upper body I can still move heavy weights -- 80-85-pound dumbell inclines when I have Sue there to spot me. I'm carrying more body fat than is comfortable for me, but I've also realized that you need the fat to put on the muscle mass. So we'll see what will happen when the competition season rolls around in spring. I've put back on the weight I lost in the hospital and may actually get over 200 by the holidays.
Sue, my heart's darling, works out pretty regular with me. She says she worries about me pushing too hard, but she's pushing a lot harder than I am. Full graduate curriculum, 44 students a semester, and full-bore hard-on workouts in the gym. She doesn't know this, but I've already bought her a posing outfit. I think I'll enter her in the Sunshine this spring.
