One of the toughest things about severe back pain was occupying myself during the long days at home and keeping myself from getting too depressed about my situation. It was also tough to figure out how to run our lives with only one of us able to get up and make things happen.

Occupying my time
It was hard to feel like a person and really hard to keep myself happy while I was stuck in bed all day. Here's some of the things I did:

• I watched as much comedy TV & movies as I could stand.

• I signed up for NetFlix so that I had a constant stream of new DVDs.

• The drugs kept me from reading anything too serious, but I loved having magazines to flip through our pulp fiction to read. Reading did a better job of keeping my mind occupied than TV

Sleeping Comfortably

One of the most frustrating things about back pain was not being able to sleep comfortably. I tried a number of different things. I bought a memory foam mattress pad to support my back and fill in all the little gaps between my body and the mattress.  I bought a down body pillow which I could use to lay on my side or put under my legs.  I also rolled up a towel and placed it under the small of my back when I was lying on my back - this helped to support the natural curve of my back. 

 

Food

One of the big hassles for us was getting some decent, nutritious meals in the house. We found a food delivery service that made healthy, re-heatable food at a reasonable price (cheaper than pizza). I live in the Seattle area and used dancingwomen, blueplateinnovations, and luckypalate. All three let me order my food once a week and did a weekly delivery to my house - the food was ready to be reheated in the microwave.

 

Home Healthcare/ Home Help

With all the running around, taking me to the doctor, bringing me ice packs, helping with my meals, etc, etc, etc there was a lot of work to do just to keep me at a minimum level of comfort.  Finally we realized that there must be a way to get help.  We found a company called Home Instead Senior Care (they're a national company with a location in our area).  They'll do anything around the house: errands, take you to the doctor, take you out of the house, prepare meals, etc.  Having someone to attend to all the little stuff really helped take some of the pressure off of my husband & also helped me feel like I could ask for more than just the minimum that I needed.  It was also nice just to have someone in the house during the day.  They don't normally work with young people, but accommodated me just fine.