Well, I must say that I am feeling rested and refreshed. It all started Friday afternoon, when I went for my first chiropractic appointment. I have had chronic pain in my right shoulder ever since May 95, when I had surgery to remove my right first rib after all my blood clot problems. We moved almost immediately after the surgery, and I never had any kind of follow-up with physical therapy or anything, and I have had such problems with that shoulder--hot, burning pain when it is stressed, and just sort of a dull ache most other times. Things that set it off include nursing, carrying a baby around, etc., so obviously things that don't impact my daily life. LOL!! You may wonder why I never got help before, but frankly, I think I have a high tolerance level for pain, and also I didn't know that anyone could really help me. I just thought it was my cross to bear, so to speak. Also, the military doesn't cover any sort of chiropractic care, so that never even really option. When we were in Colorado, I did get massages frequently from a massage therapy school, and those did help manage the pain.
What tipped me over to really look into chiropractic care was that last March, when I was 7 months pregnant with Grace, I started having real problems with my right hip. It felt like I had pulled something, but I just figured it was pregnancy-related and would go away after I had the baby. But it didn't. In fact, the pain got worse, and I felt like I was sort of hobbling around. Well, at this point I thought I was well on my way to becoming a crooked little old woman, and I was pretty desperate for relief. Also, this all came to a head in December, when I wasn't getting any sleep, and I thought I was going to have some kind of whole-body breakdown! I started asking around for chiropractor recommendations, since I was pretty worried about getting some crazy neck-cracker. I dithered around for awhile, but eventually I settled on a man that several people in our homeschool co-op go to. His website talked about the technique he specializes in, and it was for soft-tissue injuries such as chronic muscle problems. Hey! That's me!
When I found out my parents were coming, I sprang into action and scheduled my first appointment for Friday afternoon so they could watch the kids. The appointment went really well, and I finally have hope that I will be able to find relief from all this pain. He did a lot of stretching and muscle manipulation, as well as electric stimulation of the muscles, both in my shoulder and my hip. He did some adjusting, but nothing violent. I really felt a difference after he finished, although the problems are not completely gone. He said that after maybe 2 or 3 weeks, I should be straightened out enough that he can give me exercises to do to strengthen my shoulder muscles so they don't roll forward like they have been. Also, he said that it is very common for your pelvis to rotate and shift during especially the last trimester of pregnancy, and that is what happened to mine. It just never shifted back.
So I was feeling pretty relaxed and happy by the time Bob came home. The only fly in my ointment was that our dishwasher had chosen Friday morning to give up the ghost. What timing, although is there ever a convenient time for a dishwasher to go out?! We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, where Bob and I split a salad so that we would have room for us to each get a piece of cheesecake for dessert. As Bob said, "This is not the 'Chinese Chicken Salad Factory'; it's the Cheesecake Factory!" So we both thoroughly enjoyed cheesecake: caramel pecan turtle cheesecake for me, and chocolate coconut creme for Bob.
After dinner, we checked out dishwashers at Best Buy. Then we came home so I could nurse one last time, and when we set out again, we looked at Home Depot and Lowes. Hey, that might not seem very romantic to you, but let me tell you, anything that keeps us from having to bring all 6 kids to several different stores, just for us to look around and get an idea of prices and features is VERY romantic in my book! Then we had a very restful night of sleep--from 11:00 to after 7:00 with no interruptions!! I will cherish this memory . . . sigh . . .
Meanwhile, the kids reprised their night-time restlessness for Grandma and Grandma. First Anna and Grace fussed around off and on for quite a while. Then Jonathan was up to his old early morning stand-by-the-bed-for-attention potty routine. Caleb got up a little while later feeling wheezy. After an unsuccessful search for his inhaler, Grandma sent him back to bed. Obviously he must not have been too bad off because he did go right back to sleep. The other boys took turns coughing through the night as well. At least Grace (who had gotten shots Friday morning) did not wake up in the middle of the night wanting to be nursed! She did very well with a sippy cup.
After Bob and I had a nice big breakfast at the hotel, we were off again, this time to Sears for more dishwashers. The good news is I think we have narrowed down our choices. The bad news is, if we get one from Sears, then we will probably wait until Feb. 15 to get one, since the salesman told me they were having a 15% off sale starting then. Mom and Dad will be gone by then (and Dad happens to have experience installing dishwashers!), and I am not looking forward to another week without a dishwasher. Even with paper plates, 8 people use up a lot of dishes! But I am looking forward to a nice, new dishwasher. Ironically, a new dishwasher has been on our list for quite a while already. Our old one, a GE, has been recalled for some kind of electrical problem, and we also were having some problems with the seal. New ones are so much bigger and quieter. Almost anything we get will be a real step up! Of course, as long as the old one was still working, replacing it just didn't have the same sense of urgency that it does now, LOL. Hopefully I will have something concrete to report to you within the next week. In the meantime, I am hoping for another restful night sleep, this time in my own bed. We'll see . . .
2 comments:
I think the ability to go shopping -- for anything -- and actually complete a coherent thought without being interupted by a child -- is under rated. Sounds like you guys had a much deserved rest, and a happy birthday for you.
I hear ya on the dishwasher thing! Our base house here has no dishwasher so we thankfully bought a portable one from our neighbors who were moving away. I only have one kid and I can't imagine being without one when Matt's gone!
I took Henry for his 6 month appointment the other week and the pediatrician told me I was nursing Henry purely for comfort at this point!!! At 6 months?! I was really shocked. She's not the normal doctor I take him to thankfully. That is so wild that you were told the same thing with Grace!!!
We couldn't even get all of Henry's shots this last time because they were out of some of the vaccines and they can't get anymore until the weather stays above 0 enough days in a row!
Post a Comment