I know. I know. Asleep at the wheel. For a week. I plead pain and euphoria.

Pain: On Halloween (samain) my right hip began to ache, then throb. Walking was not bad but any other movements had me grimacing. Moving in bed required will power and teeth gritting. At night the pain moved between my right hip and my usually uninvolved left hip. Sleep fragmentary, elusive.

Surprised me. A lot. Pain radiating from the center of the buttocks, down the outside of the leg and terminating at the knee. Sciatica or piriformis. The latter more likely. Fits the symptoms.

The acute phase lasted into Tuesday night.  When. While standing in the bathroom, I collapsed backwards, whacking my already abused occipital lobe yet again. Blood. Of course. Head wound. I lay there, wanting nothing more than to go back to bed. Knew for my own sake I needed to call it in. I pressed the blue button as cold night air seeped around me

Melody came. “I’m going to have to send you out. Protocol. Head injuries go the ER.

And so this one did. Imaging. No fracture. No bleeds. Four staples to close a 2+ inch gash. Once the again the only pain when the doc numbed me up. Lidocaine, lidocaine coursing through my veins. Give me more of that lidocaine.

A blue tsunami got me through the night. At points I’d peek at my phone, get a goofy grin. The House and the Senate? As one commentator said, “Suddenly the air in the U.S. is easier to breathe.”

By Wednesday the piriformis and the fall had drained what little energy I had cobbled together. Election news offered a great, positive distraction.

Today I fell better rested. Pain has subsided. Shadow is home. The haze has begun to lift.