Week's Update

I took my husband to the ER on Monday because his back had been bothering him for at least 2 weeks, to the point he could hardly walk. By last weekend it provided no relief at all to lay in bed and do nothing. He doesn't have a family doctor (yet), and we figured even if we contacted a doctor they'd want him to get an X-ray or something anyway and he'd have to go somewhere else too, so Monday I took him. He could barely walk down the stairs.

They took a CT scan and gave him 2 shots, one for pain one for the inflammation in his back. The doctor came in and sort of scolded him for using the ER for back pain. But I don't care. I had been hearing hubby moan in pain and also be in so much pain he could hardly breath at times and/or was nauseated. Hubby could hardly move at all and I certainly couldn't help him (even though he refused my help as he didn't want to lean on me and hurt me ). LOL.

The doctor said it appeared he has a herniated disk but needed an X-ray. They took a CT scan which I guess can't determine that.  Gave him prescription for pain and also said to take Ibuprofen. It took a few days but he finally was better by Wednesday so he opened the store (antique) and stayed all day.  He got through it okay. He is doing much better now, with just some stiffness. The acupuncture doc he's been going to said he had a lot of inflammation in his lower back and I think it was just beyond the point of the acupuncture helping him much more than a hour or two. 

Hubby didn't call any doctor. He wanted to wait and see if he is better and he is.  He is not lifting anything heavy and limiting the amount of time he bends over which apparently is when it hurts most now.  I'm not going to force him to call a doctor. It will be his decision.  He's had back problems as long as I've known him, just not to this extent. So we'll see what happens. At least he is better and I'm very grateful for that.


Hubby and I had talked about getting the tile floor replaced with the same tile we had back in East. It is called saltillo tile and actually I am surprised it isn't more prevalent in Texas since it is Mexican tile. But then again I haven't been in a whole lot of houses here I suppose. We had this job scheduled for close to a month (scheduled it right after bathroom remodel), and hubby said to go ahead with it so we did. 

Here's a picture of part of our new floor, but it is not cleaned and varnished yet. They have to let the grout cure over the weekend. We had accent tiles put in at the kitchen entryways and the tile put in on a diagonal in the kitchen.  I love it!!

It is the last project that we have planned for this year and likely the last of the big projects for a while.  At some point, probably Spring we may get a new fence on the one remaining side that is rather rickety wood. 

It has been fun finally doing some major improvements to the house the last couple years. We've lived here 10 years as of this past August. Many folks around here tend to do massive rehabs or remodels as soon as they buy a 'used' home. We are in awe with how much money those people must have because they had to put something down on the house they buy and yet they still have tons left to do remodels/rehabs.  I'm fine that it took us 10 years to do as much as we did. We can appreciate it more.