Results!

I went to the orthopedist on Monday to get the results of my MRI and the doctor's final diagnosis.

I waited for 2 1/2 hours to even get in the office.  TWO and 1/2 HOURS.  When I first walked into the waiting room, I was one of maybe 20 people in there.  One and a half hours later, it was just me so I politely asked how much longer - she told me 10 minutes.  THIRTY minutes after that, the front desk lady called to me and asked me if I was just sitting there waiting for someone to come out.

I sat there shocked.  And honestly, it's beyond me how kindly I responded that no, I was still waiting for my 3:00pm appointment since it was now 5:00pm.

I was taken back after another 10 minutes and then waited in the examining room.  By this time, all my questions were out the window.  I was so aggravated I just wanted him to look at my MRI and tell me what he thought.

Finally he came in.  Long story short at this point - the MRI didn't reveal any real damage.  I guess that's good.  He didn't see anything severe enough to be causing all the chaos in my body so we agreed on physical therapy, muscle relaxers and a follow-up in 6 weeks.

I was happy that he didn't find anything severe but was unnerved I didn't get an exact answer.

The next day at work, a co-worker suggested going to this holistic massage therapist he had seen.  I was in so much discomfort I said yes.

Besides, my insurance won't cover physical therapy until I fully reach my deductible which I'm not anywhere close to doing.

I went to see this guy last night and it was pretty amazing.  I told him what the doctor had told me and he seemed to know what was going on.  It was more like physical therapy than a massage.  He poked and prodded and stretched out my muscles and asked me lots of questions.  The next thing I know, he's asking these weird questions like "did you have a cough in the fall?".

I had.  I had had this really bad cough from September til early November.  And then he asked "did your back and neck pain really start after that cough?".

I thought about it and realized that it had.

He told me I had a rib out of place.  He put it back and then I immediately felt the right side of my body give way.  He said it's very common with coughs and sneezing and he said he felt like that was part of my problem.

He said body pain is like a ball of string.  If you can find the end of the string, you can unravel it.  He said my rib was the end of my string.  So from there, he found a couple of other places that needed crazy work.

 I walked out of there like a new woman.  Was I completely healed?  No.  But I felt better than I had in months.  He told me we'd have to wait and see about my elbow pain.  Since it comes and goes I have to wait to see if it comes back. 

I went to bed last night pain free and crazy relaxed.  Today, I feel a little sore from all the work and I can tell there is still a little bit of stuff that needs to be worked out in my upper back, but I definitely feel better.

Even though it was a pain in the butt, I'm glad I did the MRI and found out that nothing major was going on structurally in my spine.  I know now, that I CAN workout.  I also know that I can go back to this guy and have him help me some more.  

So I guess this means that I should start working out.

Today's Menu:
B:  coffee
L:  orange ginger chicken salad + soup au pistou
D:  baked ziti