Maybe struck lucky

Literally. And literally-literally, not literally-figuratively, considering that I "struck" the ground yesterday.

The arm is way, way less painful this morning, and the stiffness is a lot less. There IS a goose egg where I hit on the underside, so I'm assuming in the absence of other evidence that it was simply a bad bump, maybe coupled with stressed muscles (I have a tendency to tighten up when I fall, and pull muscles). My left shoulder clicks a little but then that shoulder often clicks. Most of the pain seems to be muscular.

I was able to practice piano without pain, and I was able to do my normal workout.

Also, the last time I was at this rodeo (some 20 years ago now, when I was in grad school), the arm got progressively more painful, to the point that I couldn't let it hang normally, until I got it casted. So I'm assuming this time it was a bad bump and no more. (Back then, having a broken arm was so much easier. I lived with my parents at the time so I didn't have to worry about driving. And my mom took a couple of my blouses and slit the left sleeve seam and hemmed it so I could wear something comfortably over the cast. And the woman who cut my hair arranged to wash it for me (cheaply, because I was a grad students and was mostly broke). And I didn't have things like exams to type. I wonder if one can type with a cast? I don't remember even trying back then.....I was just beginning my graduate work so I was mostly taking classes and doing literature review, nothing that couldn't be done longhand, and as I'm right-handed, having the left one out of commission wasn't such a big deal. Oh, sure, now I bet I could ask the church secretary - she sews - to do the slit-sleeve thing for me (if I couldn't do it myself, in the cast), and I could find a place to wash my hair, but I'd worry about my teaching duties and also fieldwork. I have a mess of fieldwork to do this week....)

(If it's not much better in a few more days I'll get it checked out, but at this point it looks like minor damage)

I've got to be more careful about things like steps and step stools. I notice the metoprolol seems to affect my balance at times. Especially when I'm already feeling a little warm and dehydrated like I was yesterday.

I also noticed bad mold reactions last night - lots of hives, and alternating chills and sweats, kind of like what I got with that antibiotic that was no bueno for me. I'm assuming the chills and sweats had to be part of an allergic reaction. (They are also better this morning). I had raked up all the leaves and mung that had accumulated along the south wall of the house (where it adjoins the driveway) and I know there was tons of mold mixed in with that. Probably next time I should hire someone to do it for me. (I used to be able to hire my Youth Group guys to deal with my leaves, but they all grew up and graduated and are off at college or in the military or working and married....)

ETA: I also didn't sleep well, had crazy dreams (In one of them, I was explaining to my biostats class how Don McLean's "American Pie" was a type of meta-analysis. WAT?), and in general felt freaked out and unhappy - which I think must be how mold allergies manifest in me, thinking about how I reacted to that sulfa stuff this summer, and how I've reacted to other moldy things (miso) over the years. (I'm quite convinced now that eating miso could probably kill me - better never go to Japan.) I also feel not unlike the way I feel in an aftermath of a migraine - not sure if this is like being hungover (I have never been) but my brain processes stuff slowly, I feel dehydrated, and my stomach is slightly upset. And I'm making lots of typos as I type.