I was left with knowing there was “nothing new” outside of health issues uncovered a decade ago and those health issues were not going away – ever. I was looking at a rather bleak picture of declining health, mobility, activity and freedom to do what I want, when I want.
When you have to plan an expedition to go to the market, you lose the fun of spontaneous outings.
I could barely face another day knowing that there was nothing outside of a lot of Advil, that was going to mitigate even a bit of the pain, so I decided to try something, anything, to minimize the discomfort.
I didn't know I was about to embark on an amazing journey.
Being assured by my doctors that, even though I had a lot of pain, I wasn't going to injure anything, I went to the pool at the local gym. I've been going to the gym off and on for years and like most people I would go for awhile and then stop. When I was younger, I could do a big workout but as my weight increased and health declined the workouts were less and less.
My local gym is extremely well equipped and has a lap and walking pool. I'd gone to their water aerobics classes in the past, so I decided to try to walk the pool again. I hobbled in with my cane and headed to the pool. I took my cane right up to the edge with me and began slowly going down the steps. I didn't know if I would be able to get up the steps when I was finished. I knew the gym had a disability chair lift available and that they would eventually be able to haul me out of the pool.
I did my walking routine and then headed for the steps. From the bottom, it looked like the top of Everest and the 3 steps were as difficult to me as the summit would be to a mountain climber. I put my foot on the first step and hauled on the hand rail. As I moved up out of the water I heard a loud POP! I froze in place. I wasn't sure what happened.
I took stock of my situation. It wasn't a backfire or gunshot. Everything seemed fine. There weren't any new pains. My toes and fingers wiggled OK. I stood on the step for a moment longer and realized: the pain in my back was GONE.
Getting out of the water with 210 pounds of traction, had realigned something.
I went home with no pain in my back and a realization that I COULD do something about this after all. I could make sure that this “kink” in my back did not return.
We went to Costco and I bought one of those memory foam mattress toppers. Friends had already purchased similar items for their back problems, so I knew that they had some benefit. We lugged the box home and got it placed on the bed.
The first morning was amazing. Not only did my back not hurt but the pains in other parts of my body had also decreased. Over the next few days, each morning the overall pain index was less. So much of the existing pain was inter-related that when those muscles were finally able to relax into a more normal state, the effect was instantly recognizable.
I wasn't pain-free, but I had a lot less-pain.
On a follow up trip to Costco I spotted some pillows with the same memory foam material and I threw those in my shopping cart too. I had no expectations about what such a pillow would do, as we normally use very good “health grade” style pillows.
More than 30 years ago, I'd gotten a whiplash from a car accident. The pain never really went away and over the years I'd sorted out a way to sleep to support my neck and head. On occasion, if I didn't get the pillows “just right”, I'd be in for a whole day of neck pain too.
I was taking a chance on trying these new pillows – it might not work out.
The pillows were hard as rocks and Allen tossed his right away. I didn't find mine uncomfortable and figured I'd try it for the night.
The next morning was amazing. After 30 years of neck pain – there wasn't any. The difference was astonishing. That rock hard pillow allowed some muscles in my neck to relax and after 30 years of “cramp” it was hard to believe that I could have that much pain free movement.
The amount of overall pain declined over a few weeks but didn't go away completely. I still had pain, a lot less than before, but I could deal with what I had. I made a decision that would change my views on a lot of things.
Having experienced what was coming in the future, I resolved to delay what was inevitable and heading my way, as long as possible.
More TIME is not an option in life; I had to do something NOW.
[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB and is part 2 of a 6 part series.]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Kim so happy for you. Having had back problems as well I can relate to the experience of what you have been going through. I hope that as time goes on it will continue to be even less pain.
Post a Comment