It Has Been A Long 3 Weeks

The last 3 weeks has been a whirlwind of activity. I have been dealing with some medical issues which have been having an impact on my lifestyle.
I have 2 hernias which I have actually had for at least a year if not longer and there are just now starting to let me know that they are here and want to be repaired. I went to a doctor who can do both hernias at the same time. According to him there hopefully should be minimal pain and minimal downtime. Unfortunately it isn't the right time to have them taken care of but they are on the list. I went to a spine specialist because my back has taken a turn for the worse and the pain has become chronic...a daily thing from the moment my feet touch the ground until I go to bed at night. They took some xrays and the first thing the doctor said when he looked at the xrays was that "this will be a job to fix". According to the doctor the only way to rectify my issues is by surgery...internal brace and assorted pins. I am not willing to give up a year of my life for back surgery, healing time and extensive rehab. So this issue will not go on my list but pain management and physical therapy will. This back issue is causing me to have severe pain at times...to the point of hardly being able to walk and also with nerve issues in my lower extremities. Below are 2 comparison photos of my back showing the changes that have occurred over the last 4 1/2 - 5 years.

This one was taken in July of 2011

This one was recently taken on 5/19/2016

Then there are the 2 trigger fingers on my right hand that are progressively getting worse and causing two fingers to lock up along with my hand being swollen each morning when I wake up. I went to a hand doctor and obtained information and the needed surgery. This too got put on my list of body parts that need repair.
Unfortunately there have been several jobs around the house that needed to be done and I have had to deal with the pain resulting from my doing these jobs.
I around the outside of our wooden fence, which is quite lengthy and I had to pound nails into each and every cedar slat the was either loose or just needed a little reinforcement. The up and down movement of this job did my back no favors.
When that was complete I had to finish trimming several trees in our yard.
Then it was time for our fence to be pressure washed so I had to take everything off of the patio...outdoor furniture and lots of pots filled with soil and vegetables that I am growing. Had to put everything in the middle of the yard or at least far enough away from the patio so that the washing of the patio deck would not harm the plants.
After the fence and deck were finished I took the patio swing down and put it in the garage and then my next job was to waterproof/seal the wood on the deck. This took me a solid 2 days and once again my b.ck paid the price. After 2 coats and waiting for everything to dry I proceeded to waterproof/seal the swing. When in was dry Veronica and I put the swing back up where it belonged and then brought all of the furniture and vegetable pots back onto the porch.
The only thing on my immediate things to do list was to put out some new grass seed, which I completed yesterday.
With the last of my jobs completed I am now in my take it easy at give my back a break mode.
Below are some photos that I took this afternoon of both the deck and also of my garden showing how well everything has grown since my last blog entry 3 weeks ago.