The clinic at my office came up with a unique way of dealing with a minor injury of mine today.

As I was getting ready for work this morning I was carrying my laptop from my bedroom to its usual spot in the kitchen. Right along this route is the living room; this is a sunken living room with a small 3 inch step down. As I walked by I misjudged where I was and went to step down on what I thought was going to be solid ground instead slamming my foot down further than expected. This threw me off balance and I toppled down in the other direction coming down directly on one knee.

As I started to fall time slowed. I could sense every move I was making and each move I made seemed to break down into the first thought of what was happening, what was potentially going to happen, what I had to do to survive what was happening and all possible ways of saving myself from each outcome. Paramount to all of these thought processes was, "SAVE THE LAPTOP!!!!!"

Luckily, I was able to skid the laptop across the carpet at an easy and soft landing instead of slamming straight down toward the floor as my body was doing. I checked the laptop first and all was OK. Then, I noticed the large bulging and throbbing welt on my knee. But it really didn;t hurt much at all so I continued with my day.

Apparently, when I made the move to skim the laptop across the carpet, I must have turned myself in some sort of combination of moves to which my body was unaccustomed. As the day wore on a stiffness developed in my neck and shoulders to the point that I had to pivot my entire upper body just to turn my head to look in a different direction.

I headed to the clinic for relief. I did all I could to try to talk the nurse practitioner into the importance of hydrotherapy and how much being in my pool would be much more beneficial than returning to my deck. She did not agree. Instead, she gave me some medication. She gave me an anti0inflammatory and a muscle relaxant. It was the muscle relaxant which gave me pause; it was a menstrual cramp reliever.

Kathy, the nurse, pointed out that it was nothing more than a muscle relaxant; not for any specific muscle and should do the work of other prescription medications which would have cost me more. Trusting her as he has always provided good health care, I took the pills and headed back to work.

Damndest thing was that by the end of the day I was craving chocolate and getting into arguments with almost everyone around me.