Fadedwords

In August I was helping our school secretary deliver boxes of classroom supplies to the teachers’ rooms. While lifting one of the heavier boxes, I wrenched my back. At the time I thought I had just pulled a muscle, and went about my business. It hurt for about 5 days and then the pain subsided, except for at night when laying on my back caused serious pain. I also continued to have a very uncomfortable pain/burning sensation in my right knee.

Ever since then the pain has returned monthly, and sometimes more often. For awhile, due to the pain it was causing in my sides, we suspected it was endometriosis. This was especially concerning, because Jake and I want to have children someday and we were worried that if I did have endo it would make it extremely difficult… or impossible. Tests came back negative for endo though, and so I just figured I was being silly.

On Sunday the pain came back full force… worse than it’s been since it originally happened. I couldn’t sit, lay or stand comfortably. I was in tears most of the day. It was agonizing. Monday it was no better and I decided I was through telling myself I was making something out of nothing.

I went to the chiropractor here in town, which wasn’t my first choice because I knew to start they wouldn’t prescribe me meds to help deal with the pain. The chiropractor was very nice. He did a thorough examination, took x-rays, and then set me up with ultrasound and heat therapy. After that he brought me into the adjustment room and we looked at my film together. My back is screwed up. My L4 and L5 vertebrae are twisted, which is compressing my sciatic nerve and also causing my right hip to lean down. He said, after viewing the x-rays, that he was shocked I could walk without crying. I told him it had been a struggle. He did the first of what could be 5 adjustments on my back, gave me some herbal icy hot, and told me to make good use of ice and the topical medicine.

Today I’m in severe pain; everyone here at work has told me that I should go home because I look so bad. We’re doing computer skills testing this week though, and my place is here. I go back to the chiropractor for my second adjustment tomorrow, and then maybe one more on Friday. He’s instructed me that I should do no lifting and as little walking as possible. He expressly told me to forego walking the dog, which really upsets me and Merlin.

Worst case scenario is that the chiropractic intervention doesn’t work, and I need surgery to fix the damage. The thing that makes this obnoxious (other than the whole scalpal applied to my spine idea) is that I didn’t fill out accident paperwork at the time of the injury because I really didn’t think it was a big thing. So if I need surgery, it’ll be coming out of my pocket even though I injured myself at work. The chiropractor was fairly optimistic, although he did say that there’s a big possibility that even if he gets the vertebrae back where they belong, they might shift back and the pain will come back.

In any case… not a fun time for this girl. I would kill for a heating pad and an ice pack.