A Bad Back, A good Puppy and a House in progress...

So It has been a few weeks since my last post.

Apart from losing the camera in the move, the main reason was that I did my back in two weeks ago and productivity levels dropped significantly in the fall out.

We moved into the new house and we were busy painting, sanding fireplaces, constructing furniture and moving furniture around.
In the photos I have shown some of the rooms that we have been painting. The living room with the fireplace shows a "before and after", as does the dining room, although that room still has a bit of work to go. We put up some of those white panel frames around the bottom half of the room, painted it the grey blue and will be putting timber floors in soon.

The living room was a tan colour and we painted it the same grey/blue and trimmed the fireplace in white. We will also be putting timber floors in this room over time.

I was planning to paint the master bedroom as well and so we bought all white furniture to contrast against the darker wall but those plans have been put on hold after I hurt my back. So right now it is white, white, white in the bedroom.

So we were really busy in the first week doing all these jobs, and all these things probably contributed to what happened next.
One night Win asked if I could help move our largest (and heaviest) sofa to the other side of the room. I had not even moved it off the ground before I felt a blinding, tearing pain that was like being struck by lightning in my back.
I will admit that I screamed like a maniac, and fell to the floor, unable to move. I lay there yelling at Win to help me because I felt like I was paralysed, and if I moved a millimetre my spine was going to explode with pain. I can only compare the pain to the very very worst moments of child birth- even breathing hurt.
He suggested that it was like a dislocated finger and that he just needed to 'pull my arms' and it would pop right back into place. At that point I told him not to touch me, and that he needed to call his cousin Scott (who does surgery on backs everyday so might be more of an expert on the subject). I knew that Heidi and Scott were out on a date, so Win was reluctant to call them unnecessarily... at this point I think Win thought I was being a big of a hypochondriac. I was on the floor exactly where I fell, shaking with shock, my teeth chattering uncontrollably and Win wanted to help me get on the couch (the one we had been planning to move) that was right next to me. It was an impossibly painful exercise and Win had to pick me up and put me on the couch because I couldn't move on my own. The movement almost made me sick.
He finally got hold of Scott, who said that he would stop by and bring some anti-inflammatory drugs with him.
Heidi and Scott arrived looking all lovely for their date, and I looked like a deranged woman in my pyjamas, with mascara everywhere.
Scott explained that it could be a torn disc but that he would keep an eye on me over the following days and prescribe some medicine if it was still bad the next day.
Well, I couldn't move for the next couple days. Literally I couldn't walk, or stand, or sit. It was like I was paralysed. So I started on some steroids and slowly each day I was able to do a little bit more. After 3 days I could just walk around, holding onto things for support. Scott lent me a really great back brace that helped enormously in the first week.

We were planning to go to Disneyland with Scott, Heidi and their kids the following week, but Scott broke the news that Disneyland was off the cards for me. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement. I begged and bargained with Win all week, and was prepared to go in a wheel chair if I had to, but Scott still said that the long car ride and exertion would only risk further damage to the disc and that his medical advice would be, not to go.
By the time they headed off to Disneyland, I had to admit that I was not physically up for it, as much as I wanted to go I could barely walk around the house for 15 minutes, let alone chasing kids at Disneyland.

In a moment of weakness Win said that maybe instead of going to Disneyland we could get a puppy.
So here we are, two weeks later with a new member of the family; Jack. He is a Havanese puppy. It is a breed that I had never heard of until we mentioned the puppy idea to Heidi and she said that they had had a Havanese and loved it. Smart, easy to train, great with kids and the same hypo-allergenic coat as a poodle, but a little less curly, and a lot more laid back.

Anyway, it turned out that the breeder she had used, had a two available puppies. We googled the breed and went to the breeder's house to see the dogs.

We fell in love with the Dad, who looked like a little old english sheep dog in his markings, and one of the pups had the markings of a border collie. I was sold, especially when she said that they were mostly toilet trained!
We bought him home the next day and it turned out that he was the perfect puppy, he went to the toilet outside every time you took him out, he didn't cry at night, he came when you called him and he would sit if he wanted something.

After two days he had even figured out how to use the cat flap so he can take himself out.
Win has actually become the dog's favourite, in fact George thinks that he has been displaced because at night times now, instead of seeing George snuggled next to Win on the couch when he should be in bed, it is the puppy sitting in the prime spot. The first night George was sent back to bed he looked very displaced.

The kids tried to strangle him with love for the first week and he would retreat to his carrier bed, but now he has warmed up to them and they play happily.

As for my back, I am still not at 100% but I can walk around and do relatively normal day to day activities with minimal discomfort. I do have to be careful but its definately improving with each day.