Pain in the neck

I am so glad that Sylvia is now (most likely) over 17 lb. That said, I wish my body were more capable of handling that weight. Thursday my neck started to hurt. The pain started in one spot fairly high up on my neck, just on the left side, and then started to spread down into my shoulders. By Friday my neck hurt badly enough in spite of my heating and icing it that I took ibuprofen for the pain. Since Saturday the only way I've been functional (or able to sleep) is with pain killers (something that was made clear when I didn't take anything before church and couldn't make it through sacrament meeting).

I don't normally think of myself as a pain woos. I mean, I went through 21 hours of un-medicated labor, 11 of which were on pitocin, so I think I can handle pain. The thing is, this pain, though probably not as intense, is just so constant, and it interferes so much with my daily life. I can't pick things up without pain, or sometimes even hold them. Holding my arm or my head in certain ways is nearly unbearable. I don't want to drive because I don't want to turn my head either direction for fear of twinging my neck. I am being driven to distraction by simple discomfort.

So why am I blogging about this, you may ask? Am I hoping for sympathy? Not really (though it's always appreciated). Everyone feels pain sometimes--of that I am well aware. My current pain situation is hardly unique. I'm sure this pain is far from the worst I've felt, and there may be people out there who are in much worse, even people reading this blog. So again, why am I talking about this?

It's because I made tamales and awesome red mole this weekend that I haven't even eaten yet, and all I want to do is take a pain killer and lie down. Argh.