So here's the short of it, 
Today was a sick day for me. 

And here's the long.

This morning I went in for a massage. I was planning to only take off the afternoon, but my lower back, (well my butt) is hurting so terribly that I scheduled a massage and took the morning as well.
I got on the table and Kelly went to work with deep massage.  She's always a little hesitant that she's going to hurt me, but her deep muscle work is really just exactly what I need. I feel much better, but I'll have to say, I'm still not OK.  I'm using the lidocaine patch at night. In a couple of weeks I have a doctor appointment and will see what to do.  In the meantime, next week I have another massage scheduled.

This afternoon I took Mom to Memorial for some tests.  She had an MRI workup on her brain, and some scans on her heart and carotid artery.  She had a scary episode the end of October and these tests will help determine if there is anything such as a stroke or other problem that might have caused it.  I got started on a book

We didn't get home until nearly 5.  I helped Mom make her travel arrangements for San Jose over Christmas, and she made us soup and cornbread for dinner.

Tomorrow I have a heck of a work day scheduled and so I'm going to try to go to sleep early. Looks like I'll take Dianne German's advice and brew a cup of sleepy time tea and tell myself that 4 out of 5 doctors recommend it.