Andy had his month at boot camp, which went fabulously. He now knows how to stand in cross ties without being a ninny, and is much more accepting of contact. I love him again.

Unfortunately, I am forbidden from riding until further notice. I did something to hurt my back on Monday. Maybe it was when I was riding, maybe it was when I was barbecuing. Who really knows. So I was pretty much bedridden, with this sharp shooting pain on one side of my lower back. I ended up going to the doctor on Thursday, in hopes of maybe getting some muscle relaxers and the reassurance that I hadn't slipped a disc. I had x-rays done, because a spot in my spine was tender. The doctor called me back today to tell me that the tender spot is actually a compression fracture of my T11 vertebrae. Suck. The question is whether it is new or old. If it's old, then I can ride pretty soon and maybe do some physical therapy to prevent future problems. If it is new, then no riding for weeks and weeks, and there's the possibility of surgery (injecting medical cement into the vertebrae, yuck!), which I don't even want to think about. So let's hope that it's old. I have an MRI on Thursday, and a bone density test on Friday, because normal 24 year-olds don't get compression fractures of the spine. My suspicion is that it was broken in my nasty fall, and the 4 other falls I've had since then haven't done any good for healing. I am super bummed, because I was supposed to be riding every dad this summer.