FYI, Fellow Babies

To begin with, here's some necessary but probably not too interesting information for y'all:

For the past week, I've been experiencing various types of pain in my left arm and shoulder, along with some numbness on the edge of my left hand, from my little finger to slightly beyond my wrist. This has made blogging a real chore, not to mention a pain in the... arm.

And for those who say "Uh-oh, left arm? That's a heart attack warning!"... calm down. please. Someone with my medical history is well aware of that, and these weren't "those kinds" of pain.

Besides, it's been over a week. I would have had the freakin' heart attack by now.

At first, I was thinking carpal tunnel syndrome, or perhaps a pinched nerve, or even thoracic outlet syndrome (and you can thank the internet search I did for the inclusion of that third one). And since my medical degree is non-existent, I did the sensible thing for a change, and made an appointment with my doctor.

He decided I have three different things going on, as follows:

1. Rotator cuff tendonitis... or tendinitis, depending on your preferred spelling. (I prefer "tendonitis," cuz thar ain't no sech thang as a "tendin." But that's just me.) That means that my recent replacement of my computer chair was causing me to look down too much, causing an unnatural bend of my neck. I have since corrected that problem.

2. Ulnar neuritis. This problem with my ulnar nerve, colloquially known as the "funny bone," is causing the numbness I mentioned. Also, it causes occasional, intense pain all along my arm. Try to think of Derek Jeter hitting your so-called "funny bone" with a baseball bat.

3. My doctor added that my trapezius muscles are "tight." I think this means that I can give up hopes of someday running away from home and joining the circus.

What this means for you, fellow babies -- and Lord knows, I feel like such an effin' wimp for even mentioning all of this after yesterday's post! -- is that there will be a lot less blogging from Ye Olde Silver Fox while these ailments are correcting themselves. Unlike internet porn addicts, I'm not really good at typing with one hand, y'see...

I'm signed up to contribute to tomorrow's Sepia Saturday entries, and I should manage that entry well enough, but after that... I dunno. And I'm still struggling -- typing-wise, not creatively -- with my share of the "duties" on the Simpson/Lynch Studios: Pleasantview site.

Oh, crap. The arm's acting up again, and I'm just getting to the lighter side of this post. See how I sacrifice for my loyal readers?

(Pay me.)

In my life, I have been flattered by being the occasional inspiration for others to write things -- usually poems -- expressly with me in mind. The last time such was done publicly was when "Dreamhaven" of the Tangled Webs blog posted a poem which was about me, although not specifically labelled as such.

Well, Thursday night, I received yet another compliment when Betsy of My Five Men fame sent the following acrostic to me:

Decades of comic books he has collected.

Articles, poems, and tales he has written. A

Very nice rock-n-roll voice...

In fact, you'd bet your bottom

Dollar it was

Meatloaf!

Loves Rom's Pizza. Not as icy as

You may think...'cause when he's

Not ranting or

Cracking a joke, you may get a glimpse of his big, soft

Heart!

To say I was impressed would be putting it mildly. Betsy certainly did her research, too, and I know where she got some of that lesser-known stuff. That'll teach me to be late with the hush money I send Skip Simpson each month so he'll keep his big flappin' mouth shut!

Due to her acrostic's construction, it wouldn't fit comfortably in my sidebar on the left -- the effect would be lost, pretty much -- so I've opted instead to place it at the top of the stuff I place immediately after the post or posts you see when you view this page... if that makes any sense. Scroll down, and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks, Betsy!

Now I'm going to post this and go medicate myself.

Thanks for your time.