Monday, September 25, 2006

A job interview, and 60 lbs. of dog food

I had a working job interview to be a vet tech, and the three hour process was surprisingly physical.  It seems that everyone owns large dogs!  I restrained Samoyeds and Akitas and Collies and Rottweilers just in that three hour time span, as well as numerous cats, and one nippy Jack Russell terrier.  I helped lift a 65 lb. dog onto an operating table, and did lots of other bending and crouching.  Surprisingly, I finished the day feeling pretty good, and I didn’t even feel too poorly on Friday.  The biggest stress I felt was in my legs (crouching/kneeling is painful for me), but I felt much better than anticipated.  If I get offered the job, I don’t know if I’ll still feel good after a 12 hour shift, but my 3 hour trial bodes well.

The day after my job interview, we went to a trade show for pet retailers, where we were given piles and piles of samples as the show closed down.  We were offered far more than we could carry, but I was determined to fill every last bag I had with me to the brim with freebies.  This resulted in us having to carry literally 50 or 60 lbs. of food back to our car, which was about a half-mile walk away.  I didn’t want Flippy to carry too much because of her back problems, so I took the bulk of the load, spread across my shoulders and arms.  Wow, it was heavy!  By the time we were halfway to the car I could barely lift my legs, and when we finally got to the car, my legs were like jelly and my shoulders were on fire.  I took half a Lortab and imagined the worst, but when I woke up the next morning I still felt pretty good.  Sure, I had muscle pain in my shoulders, biceps, forearms, and thighs, but it was that elusive “good pain” that I haven’t felt in years.  It was very isolated, targeted pain which felt like overworked muscles, and not the familiar fibromyalgia ache.  It was sort of exhilarating smile I was moving pretty slowly on Sunday, but again, I felt pretty good considering the circumstances.

Is this why FMS patients are always being told to exercise?  If I can motivate myself to exercise to the point of really working a muscle, might that muscle repair in a normal way and help lower my overall pain?  How on earth could I find the energy to lift weights every day, without the dangling carrot of free dog food?!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/25 at 12:01 PM
Tired Girls • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages