Happy 4th of July . . .

Since my sciatica seemed to be tapering off the last couple of days, I was hoping that today would continue in that direction, but no such luck.

My leg pain returned about 4:30 am and that was pretty much it for sleeping the rest of the morning. And because my problem seemed to easing up, I had decided not to call my doctor yesterday and try to get an appointment for next week.

So now I’ll have to wait until Monday to try for an opening. Actually what I really want is to get some more Tramadol. Though when I say ‘more’,  I really mean ‘some’ for me.

Because what I’ve been taking is some that Jan had from her latest kidney stone problem. I tried Tramadol because nothing else worked, not Advil, and not the Salon Pas patches, both of which have worked on other pains.

But the Tramadol only last 4 to 6 hours before I have to take more. However so far the only real side effect I’ve noticed is that it’s harder to pee. Which strangely enough is not one listed on any side effect list I’ve found.

Kind of important to me, though

And though Tramadol is listed as an opioid, it was originally an over-the-counter analgesic. but due to addiction problems being reported, it was listed as a Schedule IV narcotic in 2014.

However I haven’t noticed any of that. In fact, I’d rather not take it, if something else would work. But it’s pretty much the only way I get to sleep at night. So we’ll see what my doctor says.

About 1:30 pm Jan and I drove over to Texas City and our favorite Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet. They were having a 4th of July special at $9.99 and were really busy. Especially since they had Crawfish on buffet.

Not many places have all you can eat Crawfish for only $10. Saw one guy on his 3rd or 4th plateful. Of course I can’t really talk since I kind of do the same thing with the Cold Boiled Shrimp.

Later, coming home we took a detour to check out the new FM646 underpass at I-45. Glad to see it finally open.

Miss Piper is embarking on a new path in her career. Recently she’s been working on an internship at a local psychologist office, and really enjoyed it. But that wound down when the office, having financial problems, shut down.

And Piper, deciding she liked the Texas Hill Country life that her mother and father have moved to, and with her apartment lease up in Clear Lake, moved up to the Burnet area near Chris and Linda.

And then in one of those serendipity moments, she got a call from a company based on her LinkedIn profile. They were looking for someone with her psychology experience to work as a C.C.J.A.P. (Certified Criminal Justice Addiction Professional).

And then they said, “Would you mind moving up to Burnet?”

“Well, as it happens . . .

She’s being hired to counsel individuals who are incarcerated and/or receiving court-ordered substance abuse treatment services. She’ll be working at a minimum security women’s prison in the Burnet area, one that houses only substance abuse inmates.

She starts Monday, first of course, with HR, and an orientation. And a Self Defense class too.

But the big thing is that they’re sending her off to school to get her CCJAP certification, which supposedly is pretty expensive if you try to do it on your own. But they’re paying for everything, including travel, hotel, and a car.

She’s really looking forward to it.

Finishing up, I was just researching sciatica treatments, and one of them is a TENS unit. So I checked Amazon and found this one.

TENS Unit

TENS Plus Unit

It’s only about $37 so I ordered one that will be here on Monday. Hopefully it will work. But we’ll see.


Thought for the Day: 

Long May It Wave!

4th of July Betsy Ross Flag

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