The moral of the story is...

[UGetPaid]

My wife has had back issues for her entire adult life, which have hampered our ability to do some outdoor activities and put limits on her driving/riding and other household activities.  Everything must be in moderation and taking care not to overdo it.  Still, she is very hands on when it comes to DIY projects in our house -- even when I try to limit her involvement in effort to save her from back pain, she is a very TYPE A personality when it comes to that sort of thing. She knows how she wants it done and she takes charge...


We just finished the bedroom to office conversion of our adult daughter's old room, which included my wife sanding and refinishing the hardwood floor and the door, among other things.  Last Friday we put the door back on its hinges (I took sole control of the door's weight and she just guided it onto the bottom hinge -- then the door nearly broke her finger when it drop slid onto the hinge and partially fell on her hand).  I also wheeled our fully loaded full sized filing cabinet into the room on a dolly (heavy bugger when you leave the full drawers inside of it when you move it).


I loaded up a heavy, but manageable old TV stand into our car trunk and drove solo to my mother's house 150 miles away to pick up our younger daughter who spent the week down there while on break from school.  My wife's back has been flaring up (cannot imagine why) so she stayed behind to avoid the inevitable back pain exacerbation from the long car ride.


I got to mom's and carried in the TV table.  After a bite to eat, I moved out two heavy end tables that I planned to take back to my house and my mom got her vacuum cleaner to hit a few dust bunnies who had taken up residence in the carpet corners.  I started to lift that 5-10 pound stick vacuum over top of the TV cable wire and twisted just the right way and I knew right away that I was done!  All of those 20, 30, 40+ pound items and it was the itty bitty vacuum that disabled my lower back!


I literally had to use my dad's old walker to shuffle around the house!  That night it took me about 15 minutes to walk 20 feet from the couch to the bathroom and back.  I managed the drive back on Saturday (it was only when I was upright and walking that my back pain shot out -- I felt about 95% fine while in a seated position) and went to our urgent care center up here. X-rays were good and they determined it to be a muscle strain. I got some meds and took things easy the rest of the weekend. I needed a cane to get in and out of the car or a chair, but by today, I am walking without a cane and only get the occasional back and hip hitch.


But after all of that you can probably guess the moral of the story...


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Don't ever touch the vacuum cleaner!!!

[Penwoir]

Oh my goodness, that is funny! (The vacuum cleaner I mean, not the sore back!). I remember a young lady I worked with, she was only in her mid twenties, called in sick one day saying she'd hurt her back. That's odd, I thought. She's only young. It turns out she slipped a disc getting into her car. You wouldn't think that the slight twisting and lowering of the body into a car seat would make you slip a disc in your mid twenties would you? She had to lie on the floor for many weeks until she was healed and ready to return to work.

[UGetPaid]

Oh my goodness, that is funny! (The vacuum cleaner I mean, not the sore back!). I remember a young lady I worked with, she was only in her mid twenties, called in sick one day saying she'd hurt her back. That's odd, I thought. She's only young. It turns out she slipped a disc getting into her car. You wouldn't think that the slight twisting and lowering of the body into a car seat would make you slip a disc in your mid twenties would you? She had to lie on the floor for many weeks until she was healed and ready to return to work.

You wouldn't think it no, but it happens.  My wife's injury happened when she was in her early 20s - she was young, thin, and not an obvious candidate for back problems just from looking at her.  Although she insisted something was wrong, her doctor told her it was all in her head and that she was too skinny to have back trouble.  Shortly after that something popped in her back one night when she rolled over in bed and 25 years and one back surgery later, she has chronic issues which will never fully resolve.  All because a doctor thought he knew better than his patient and was too arrogant to actually do his job.

[vickysue]

Pain in the back is something you don't mess with. I had 2 major car wrecks in 3 months. all because people had their heads up their you know what plus on had been out party  all night. that was in 1986 and as time has gone on and I have aged, it has really gotten bad. I still want to help  my husband do things, beside I like most of my ways better. But he does do the vacuuming for me and once in a while the steam cleaner, but again  I don't like the way he does it he gets in a hurry and does not take  his time but it helps.  Oh yeah I spent 6 months in intensive therapy and am still getting help.  Never goes  away.

[michele2042]

Great story, very engaging and how I loved the end of it.   

[dinkydawes]

Sorry about the back, I should've read this before I Vacuumed for 4 hours Today,lol.