myjourneysinsight

The checker in the market looked very concerned. “You look like you are in pain. Do you need to sit down?” she asked me.

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I realized that my eyes were closed. I was grimacing while holding onto the checkout stand as I replied. “Thank you for caring. My leg hurts but I’ll be fine – we’re almost done.”

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Waves of pain were shooting through my thigh and my brain was burning from the agony. I gritted my teeth and accepted help with the groceries. I quickly sat down in my car while a young girl put the bags in my trunk. My leg continued to ache, but gradually the pain ebbed away.

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This was crazy! How in the world had this happened? I was just celebrating that my eyes had gotten better and now I had a sore leg.

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I had gone to my doctor on the afternoon of Halloween. A physical therapist told me I had an “inflamed femoral nerve” in my thigh. A few days later I was relieved when the pain seemed to have gone away.

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I was hesitant about playing tennis, but had been pain-free since Sunday. So on a lovely Tuesday morning, I was swatting a tennis ball. I was very grateful to be outdoors and actually played better than I expected.

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After two hours of tennis, I stopped at a nearby superstore before driving home. I was exhausted when I finished shopping and that afternoon my leg started aching again. I took Motrin and held an ice pack to my thigh for hours.

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This time, the pain didn’t go away. I became very irritable because it was definitely hard to deal with. It looked like I had made a mistake playing tennis. Now I could barely get to the mailbox.

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I remembered how the pain had gone away when I rested a lot the first time. No more tennis for me for a while. I gave myself permission to be lazy.

vul·ner·a·ble (adjective)

physically or psychologically weak, extremely susceptible

For three days, I pretty much sat at home.

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This was such a twist for me – usually I had to push myself to be active at least once a day. Now I couldn’t do that and I sure missed what I had taken for granted!

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I told a good friend about my predicament and she recommended a chiropractor. She said he had worked a miracle for a friend of hers. I was enthused because he wasn’t too expensive and his office was very close to my house.

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This was going to be my very first experience seeing a chiropractor. I was pleased to get a same day appointment and anticipated I’d get some relief.

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When I arrived, the office looked comfy and the receptionist was very friendly.

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This chiropractor practically danced around me with his abundant energy. His large, magnified eyes bulged behind his glasses and he announced with enthusiasm that I was his “number one project.”

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He recommended an x-ray, which I decided to have at the cost of $125 additional dollars. I did not want to wait a week to see if my insurance would pay for one. I just prayed I would receive some remarkable results from this man.

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A few moments later, he was pointing to my x-ray. (On a side note – I wasn’t too thrilled seeing my belly shadow behind the lit up bones.) He deftly connected a few dots to create lines and get measurements.

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Then he announced, “No wonder you are a mess, my dear. Your hip is twisted and a nerve is squeezed; that is why your leg is hurting. It was most likely from an injury that happened years ago – I’m amazed you haven’t had any problems before this!”

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I was impressed how he was absolutely certain he could help me by putting things back into position. With his precise adjustments, my vertebrae needed to move by almost ¾ of an inch. It was a non-surgical approach that he was very experienced with and he reassured me that he had helped many other patients.

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I was slightly nervous and asked him if it was going to hurt. But if this would help me, that seemed like such a silly question.

He said, “Honestly, what I’m going to do is a temporary thing – but you will be so happy afterwards because it is going to make your problem go away.

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I looked at him with glazed eyes and blinked back my tears. It seemed that my leg pain had affected my dry eyes; they were foggy and painful again. I was at a very low point.

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I was completely vulnerable and surrendered to his confidence.

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He told me to lie on my side. I was to straighten out my bottom leg and cross the other over it. His voice was chipper when he called out to his receptionist. He said, “I need a leg holder.” I wasn’t sure what that meant.

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He asked me to scoot on my side closer to him. He said, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall off. I just want you to lean towards me.”

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I followed his instructions and closed my eyes. He held me in a hug-like position with one finger from his other hand poking my back.

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And then . . .

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WHAM!!!

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I was stunned. Horrific pain screamed through me with his powerful impact. I almost passed out from shock. My body was slammed while twisted in a strange position.

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His voice was still chipper when he said, “Now turn over for the other side.” I was queasy and sweat dripped from my face co-mingled with my tears.

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I took a deep breath and my body was slammed a second time. I hadn’t experienced such horrific trauma since childbirth. But I had to give him credit – it happened so fast.

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A moment later, he pulled me into a sitting position. I was softly crying and praying this was my miracle cure.

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He said, “Tomorrow I want you to come back two more times. We made a lot of progress today but it’s still going to take more adjusting to move those vertebrae.”

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All three of my children were laughing around the dining room table when I walked in the door. “Hey mom, how’s your leg?” they all asked.

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I heard their voices hushed with worry when I ran past them into my bedroom. I threw the covers over my head and cried.

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“Mom, is there something we can do for you?” They all stood in the doorway and were quite worried about me. I reassured them that I would be fine – I needed to rest after my traumatic experience.

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Gradually, my sweat dried and my shaking stopped. It was nice hearing my children happily banter and fix their own dinners.

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Now there was a knock on my bedroom door. It was my former housekeeper, Rosa. She came in with her boyfriend, Orlando. They had driven to see me because they were very concerned.

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Rosa had brought with her a special supplement that she insisted I take. I swallowed two capsules of super vitamins. Then Orlando wanted to give me a leg massage. Rosa said, “Judy, he did this for me when my leg hurt and the next day my pain was gone!”

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Orlando firmed gripped my thigh and started to press and squeeze it. I let out a few loud moans as he kneaded my flesh. My large teenage son came running down the hallway.

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“Mom! Why don’t you tell him to stop if it hurts? You sound awful!”

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Through my clenched teeth I muttered, “Don’t worry – I’ll be fine.” I let out a few more yelps as Orlando massaged my aching thigh.

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Rosa hugged me goodbye. She told me to let her know how my leg was the following day. I promised her I would.

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The next day, I was nervous about going back to the chiropractor. My friend, Joni sent me a text message offering to take me to my appointment. It was so thoughtful of her to want to help me and I decided to take her up on it.

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Joni was still recovering from open-heart surgery only a few months before. She had been going through a lot of ups and downs with her recovery.

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I gingerly got into her car and she said, “I am so glad I could do this! It feels wonderful to be able to help you.” Joni had one of my CD’s playing in her car as she drove. I felt so lucky to have her at that moment.

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Once again, I was lying on the adjustment table. The chiropractor showed Joni my x-ray and explained to her what he was doing. I could hardly concentrate because my eyes were so painful at that moment. I closed them and tried to escape in my mind.

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I let out a loud scream with the first slamming adjustment. I turned over for the second one and Joni tenderly grabbed my hand, “Jude, take deep breaths!”

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When the chiropractor crushed me the second time, I yelled. Tears dripped down my cheeks.

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I heard him announce, “Congratulations! Did you hear that loud cracking noise? That is a sign of movement, which means we made even more progress today!”

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I felt queasy when Joni dropped me off back at home. I walked slowly into my apartment and collapsed upon my bed.

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An hour later, I sat up and began practicing my singing. I wanted to record vocals later in the day.

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Nothing was going to stop the music for me. Nothing.

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Only two days earlier, I had sung vocals for my song “Hang On.” I easily became emotional with my lyric line of “one day your pain will go away!” Pain didn’t matter to me as long as I could make it to my car and into the place where I sang.

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I drove to Darrin’s studio; it was only a few minutes away. My leg was still numb from the ice pack I carried with me. I casually mentioned to Darrin that I was having some problems with my leg and he was very sympathetic.

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I quickly sat down and was excited to sing vocals for my newest song arrangement. I put on headphones and anyone who saw me would have noticed how one leg was awkwardly stretched to the side.

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But for 30 minutes I sang my heart out. I went to place far away from my own body. It was magical and very healing.

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When I was finished singing, I drove from the recording studio to the chiropractor for my second day’s round of adjustments. Because I knew what to expect, it wasn’t as shocking now. But it certainly wasn’t pleasant.

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When I came home, I wrote a message to my doctor requesting an MRI.

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CORRESPONDENCE WITH MY GOOD FRIEND, DR. SAM (his words are in brown):

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On Nov 17, 2014, Dr. Sam wrote:

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Hope that you feel better…just remember that chiropractors are notorious for sucking people into extended treatment plans with multiple “sessions.”

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How many chiropractors does it take to change a light bulb?

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Just one, but it will take him eight visits!

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Well, Sam, I won’t mind if it helps. Unfortunately, I wish it were a light bulb that my doctor could take care of instead.

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I am telling you that every day I am more and more grateful for good health! I want so badly to have everything in decent working order – not perfect by any means. But I need to be able to walk without screaming in pain.

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Hope all is well with you.

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Judy

ps. All of this has become the biggest pain in the ass!

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Agree that walking without screaming in pain is a good thing…just make sure that you watch your budget and don’t get taken advantage of.

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Thanks, Sam. It would be nice if my HMO helped “foot” the bill. I am trying to “stand up” for myself.

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I wish I knew what I’m supposed to do – rest or move! The chiropractor said he’d have me fixed up in no time and I would love to believe that! I hope he’s not just “pulling my leg.”

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Judy