I thought I'd take a shot at going back to leading a normal life today. It almost worked, too.

The sensation in my hip and upper leg is now more a nuisance than a real pain, until I try to do more than I should. It's like a charley horse, as if I'm carrying a medicine ball in my back pocket and it's pressing on my leg. I really wanted to talk myself into being perfectly fine, but by the end of the day I had to admit that I wasn't quite there yet.

Due to sheer strength of will, I got through the day without pain killers and without the ice bag. Unfortunately, this was a mistake caused by false pride. I'd have been better off to drop the stoic act and just be a martyr. It's a role I was born to play.

My big mistake was thinking I could sit in the bleachers at the softball field for an hour and a half, but I wanted to see Eric and David play. They played better than I felt, especially by the end of the extra-inning game. I had to use the railing to get myself back down to ground level, one row at a time.

Tomorrow the plan is to play it smarter. I'll take a pill if I need it, and use the ice for sure. I'll do the right thing and try to remember to keep from overstressing those areas that have been giving me trouble. I know I'll survive this and go back to a normal life. I just tried to be too normal too soon, I guess.

The way I felt today made me think that I've had this condition, sciatica or whatever it is, for a long time. This sensation has been a more or less constant feeling for years. I've always had a tendency to tighten up in the hip joints, and that heavy feeling from the lower back down the leg has come and gone without my really taking any great notice. Now that I know more about it, I'm pretty sure this was just a more serious incident in a long line.