Battle of the Bulge. An Update

The other day, and by that I mean Monday, I left work early and drove the 43 excruiciating miles home. The nerves down my left leg were letting me know in no uncertain terms that they have had enough of this bulging disk impinging on their space. Let me try and describe the sensation I was having.

Have you ever looked into the slots of a toaster when its doing its toasty thing and seen the orange glowing hot wires? Yes? Okay good. Now imagine one of those wires about twelve inches long and a little thicker... oh say about the thickness of a pencil and inside your leg between your hip and your knee and towards the front of your leg. You get the picture? Yes? Okay good. That's what I had in my leg yesterday and the toaster was set to dark. It was a burning sensation and it was making me one miserable and snappy mo-fo. At 10:00 AM I called my physical therapist. He wouldn't be in until noon, so they took a message. I called my primary care provider and got the receptionist. As I started to tell her that I needed to speak with, or at least leave an emergency message for my doctor she cut me off and told me, "Sir, I can't take a message right now."
"What? What do you mean you can't take a message? Why not?" I snapped back.
"Our computer system is down and I can't get your message into the system so it will automatically notify your doctor," she explains. The distance from the front desk to my doctor's litte box of an office is... maybe... thirty feet.
"Miss, not to long ago AND in our very own world we didn't have computers and this was in my lifetime and I am only thirty-nine. We used something called pencil and paper. Or pens. Do you have a pen and paper?"
"Yes, sir I do, but I need..." she stammers.
"What you need to do is write down my message and walk it the thirty feet to my doctor's office and hand it to him. I am in pain and I am not in the mood for this. Your computer is down. Big deal. MY LEG IS ON FIRE AND I WANT THE DOCTOR TO CALL ME ASAP!" I take a deep breath and settle down. "Can you do that?"
"Yes, sir. I can do that. What is your name and phone number," she says. I give her the information. I thank her and tell her to have a pleasant day. ARGH! Our computer is down... whine... it's the end of the world as we know it! Give me a freaking break. My doctor calls me back in fifteen minutes. I explain the situation. He says this is one of the sensations a prson can get with a bulging disk pressing on the nerves. He advises me to go home, lay on my back and take pain meds. At noon I do just that. My buddy Clark describes my afternoon at home. At 5:30 I go to the physical therapist and for two hours I am treated to heat, electric stimulation, which I like, massage, which I really like, spinal manipulation, stretches, and as a finale, cold packs on my lower back. Result... the burning sensation is gone and I can actually walk with a barely noticeable limp. I am by no means back to 100%, but I am better than I have been in over two weeks. Today, meaning Wednesday, I go back to the Orthopedic doctor where I will likely get a cortizone shot and then to the physical therapist. It's going to be a fun afternoon.

About that last line... in case you couldn't tell I was being sarcastic.