Boxing in My Sleep?

Sorry I haven't been writing very much lately. Not a whole lot going on over here. I have been really busy at work though. My days have been going by quickly because of it. On top of that, I have been going to bed around 9:30 every night. Mostly due to the fact that I have run out of things to watch on my DVR for the evening, and then at about 9 I read a magazine in bed. That makes me sleepy. When my dad was here a few months ago, he bought me a book for deck and patio ideas. I found a free subscription to Better Homes and Gardens inside. That got sent out the same day I received the book! I just started getting the magazine in the mail. It was a nice surprise, since I forgot about it right after I sent it.

Yesterday I went to get a tetanus shot. My work is really awesome and offers them free of charge to any employee who wants one. I finally decided to get one. I know I am way overdue for that 10-year mark. Plus, in the past year, I have watched two separate people around me have to get the shot because of an injury. I guess maybe a little over a year ago, Travis was attacked by his friend's German Shepherd. He had been around the dog everyday for years, and he helped feed the dog occasionally. I don't know what happened on this one day to make the dog snap, but she lunged at Travis' hand as he was turning around to go back into the house after putting out her food. The dog latched on and would not let go. He did everything he could to get the dog off, but it wasn't until the owner came out did she finally let go. It was just one bite, but it was deep. Being a typical, stubborn guy, he refused to go to the doctor. At the time, I worked with a woman whose husband was a medical doctor. He looked it over and said that most likely the doctor would just say to keep it clean and get a tetanus shot. Sewing it up would not allow the wound to ooze properly. Travis decided to forego the formal doctor's visit and go straight to a clinic for the tetanus shot.

The other instance was last summer. My sister, Ariel, was walking on the beach at night with her boyfriend when she stepped on something sharp that punctured the arch of her foot. They couldn't find whatever it was she stepped on, but they went on with their walk anyway. By the time she woke up the following morning, her foot had swollen to the size of a softball. No pun intended, but she does play softball and therefore has a bunch of scrapes on her legs from sliding into base. All of her wounds had started to get red and swollen as soon as her foot got infected. I ended up taking her to the emergency room when I got off work that day. They cleaned it up, gave her an injection of antibiotics and a tetanus shot, too. Later, we found out from my mom that whenever Ariel was little, she would sometimes get a lot of scrapes and cuts. She was a wild child. They would eventually all become infected and my parents would have to cover each one with triple antibiotic ointment and a band aid. I guess it has been so long since Ariel has had this many cuts that she didn't know this problem existed.

Anyhoo, it seemed like a good time to get a tetanus shot. I would rather do it while it is free anyways. The nurse told me my arm would be sore (as Travis had already warned me) and recommended taking ibuprofen as soon as I had a chance. I did so immediately and didn't have too much pain by the end of the day. It just felt a little sore, like I had worked out only my left arm. This morning was a totally different story. When my alarm went off, I attempted to hit the snooze button, but was instead jerked awake by sudden searing pain. I had the feeling that some boxer had repeatedly beat my arm with a left hook. I took more ibuprofen right away. Getting ready this morning has been quite the task. Shampooing my hair was a slow, laborious process. Lifting my arm to put on deodorant was surprisingly difficult. I even winced when I pulled a box of cereal from the shelf. The pain is slowly subsiding. Looks like my best friend today is going to be a bottle of ibuprofen.