Oh, thank goodness for my husband’s knee
Well, good news.
I’ve gotten some pain relief from the intense back pain plaguing me today.
I’m a firm believer in chiropractic, just not necessarily going to the chiropractor.
That may sound terribly odd, but here’s my experience...
When I first started going, things were fine. I could do the once a week, or once every two weeks thing, like a “normal.” (What we fibromyalgics call the rest of you.)
But, as the disease progressed, and my muscles gradually locked up and stiffened more and more, the adjustments began to pop out very quickly.
Soon, I had to come twice a week.
Then, three times.
By the time I was living in the cold damp climate of Morro Bay, I had to go everyday.
The financial drain was horrific.
The chiropractor joked that I was his #1 patient.
Nice joke for him. He drove a very expensive car.
But, it caused terrible marital strife for us at home. That was the closest my husband and I ever came to divorce, and thankfully, the only time we’ve ever had disagreements like that.
Unfortunately, those adjustments were the only thing that gave me a few hours of pain relief, even if the darned things only last three or four hours. At least, it was three or four hours where i felt a little better, rather than being in agony ALL the time. I could at least get SOME housework done during that time, or the grocery shopping, or take Alex to the park, or do something constructive, before my back popped out and I was useless again. (At this point, I’d already been laid off from my job, so I had nothing more useful to do than the usual Mommy stuff. I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense. I’m still a full-time Mom now. But, I no longer was bringing in an income, so I could not offer to pay for my own medical, nor did I have my own medical insurance anymore. And, my days really did just consist of trying to get through activities like the ones above.)
I wondered if I shouldn’t have married a chiropractor.
Seriously, I mean, I dearly loved my husband, and always have, but I needed adjusting every few hours. It sure would be handy to have a chiropractor in the house.
Ironically, I was just starting to date somebody in chiropractic school when I met Jovani.
The chiropractic student and I had met playing guitars on the beach in Santa Cruz, (we were both playing at different spots on the beach, and started up a conversation,) and we went to a party together. So, I guess you could say we had one date. I helped him with one project on the computer. Not sure if that counted as a date, but we were friends. We never kissed or anything, but I could tell he liked me.
But, then, boom, a week later, I meet Jovani, and it truly was love at first sight. I had to break the news to my new chiropractic student friend. I even introduced him to Jovani, since we all hung out at the same beaches in Santa Cruz. He shook hands with Jovani, told him: “Take good care of her, dude. And, really, I saw her first.”
It was pretty funny. He was willing to concede defeat-- that he had lost the girl, but wanted to point out that he had found me first.
I felt flattered, like I was sort of a “prize,” that two gentlemen both wanted.
Ironically, that several years later I would be in terrible pain in Morro Bay wishing I had married a chiropractor, eh?
But, of course, I married Jovani because deep-down inside I knew he was my soulmate, and always will be.
So, I guess the only thing left to do was to see if Jovani could crack my back.
He had been with me enough times to the chiropractor.
I think it was our nanny, Nanny Valesha who tried it first. She was brave and bold and outspoken. She had worked for us regularly, back when I still had a job, but now just babysat for us now and again, when we went out on a date. She knew I suffered from terrible headaches and backaches, and would often offer to give me neckrub. Her Mom suffered from headaches, so she was very good at giving neckrubs. I was always greatly appreciative of this. Jovani wasn’t crazy about giving neckrubs as he said it made his hands hurt. (He suspects he has arthritis in his hands.) (But, he’ll still do it anyway, if I plead enough.)
I had decided NOT to go to the chiropractor anymore, because it was causing too many fights in our marriage. I decided i’d rather be in a lot of pain, than lose my marriage over the chiropractic bills. So, I’d just suffer through, double-up on the Vicodin or Ultram or whatever, and just make it through, no matter what it took.
But, then Nanny Valesha offered to crack my back for me.
And, it worked. She pressed in just the right spot, (my troublesome T4-T5 area,) and with a satisfying pop, it gently slid right back into place.
The pressure of the vertebrae was off the nerves, and I felt much, much better.
Jovani watched this a few times, and then he began to try. It was trial and error at first, but now he is very good at getting my T4-T5 to slide back into place.
Lately, he’s been having to do it four or five times a day.
When my back is not cycling, he doesn’t have to do it at all. I can stretch my back into place on my own by reaching up and hanging off a door jamb, hanging off the monkeybars on our swingset, or reaching up and pulling on the luggage rack on our minivan. All those things PULL my back into place with a nice satisfying POP! and the pain is gone.
Yup, you wouldn’t think vertebrae jabbing into sensitive nerves would hurt, but it does...
I’m supposed to be finishing up a 750-word guest column for the town paper, but I couldn’t concentrate worth a darn because I was in too much pain.
So, I went upstairs. Jovani tried to adjust me the usual way. I lay spread eagle on the floor, and he leans down over my back, and presses down with two hands, forming a sort of “X” with his hands. I relax my body as much as I can, breathing out as he pushes down. It is very important to relax. If you tighten up your muscles, things won’t slide back into place. You will be too rigid, and things won’t move.
But, it didn’t work. Things were still too tight.
“Sorry, honey, it didn’t go,” he said, preparing to go back to his computer.
“Wait, wait!” I pleaded, still in so much pain, “can we try the knee thing?”
The knee thing is painful on me, and I guess on him, too, because he doesn’t offer to do it much.
But, he kneels and I lean back against his knee. He pulls me into his knee, basically “kneeing” me in the back. He uses the force and strength of his leg muscles to do what his arm muscles could not do.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
I heard four different vertebrae pop one after the other.
And, then, an immense sense of relief.
“Thank goodness,” I said, slowly getting up, “thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
(One thank you for every vertebrae he just put back into place. I guess my T3 and T7 must have joined the party this time, too)
Well, I’d best get going as there is much to do tonight. I’m glad I won’t have to do it all in such pain.
I am thankful for my husband’s knee, and that I did sort of marry a chiropractor after all...
Ah, the pressure is off the nerves....
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
