Right now there is a helicopter flying over my house, my music is playing softly in the background, and I am sitting on my computer chair with a heating pad on my back. Everything I could think of is in my arm's reach, and though I feel stiff, I cannot stretch.
Yesterday, during first period, I threw out my back.
Like every other day, my backpack was filled to the brim. I had a binder for Science, Math, Language Arts, and a book for Math. (You may wonder why I carry so many things. "Don't you have lockers, Nerdishh?" Well, reader, it just so happens that I don't have a locker. My school is so big that no one has a locker; it's impractical.) All together, my backpack weighed 28 pounds -- not really that unusual at my school.
When I lugged my bookbag off and looked at the front board in Math class, I saw only one thing: "National Honors Society Inductions". Because I was getting inducted, it was very exciting for me. I immediately bent down to pick back up my bookbag, but when I swung it over my shoulder, I dropped it again. Something shot through my back and it felt unpleasant, to say the least. I didn't think about it much, slowly put my backpack away, and headed to the auditorium.
Our class was bunched up on the cold, hard bleachers. For anyone who has had any back pain, you know that sitting up straight does NOT help it at all. I tried to slouch a little to relieve the excruciating pain, but I would always poke somebody with my elbow. I was in so much pain that I couldn't breathe, so it didn't help that I was sick and coughing, causing me to breathe pretty often!
The rest of the day was much of the same, and when I got home, I threw myself on my bed, cried, and took a nap, wishing my back to feel better when I awoke. When I woke up, however, it was much, much worse. Every time I moved the slightest bit, my back tightened up. I tried ice and pain medicine, but that didn't help -- I just ended up being covered with water. Then I tried taking a hot shower -- that helped a bit, but once I got out, it seemed to have not impacted the pain at all.
Finally, my mom returned home from work and almost instantly directed me to the heating pad. Once I felt it, I never moved for the rest of the night. The heating pad relaxed my muscles pleasantly and took the pain away with ease. It was almost like nothing had ever happened to my back -- almost.
So what is the moral of my story? That heating pads are the most wonderful thing invented? No! It's that you need to be careful with your bookbag. My mom always told me that I was going to throw my back out one day because of all my books, but I never actually thought it would happen. It's not like I can just leave all my books home, either. With a locker being out of the question, I've finally decided to transfer my work all into folders instead of binders. I am so grateful that nothing worse or permanent happened, and now I really understand how fragile backs are. Please don't have to go through what I am going through to be careful with your backpack!
You only have one back, so take care of it.
Nerdishh, going to get another tissue . . .
*click*
