Giddy? Yes!

This is crazy, just nuts but I feel like myself for the first time in 2 years or more.

The reason?

I changed chiropractors. That isn't a big deal. Naw, it really isn't. What the big deal is? He took x-rays of my back. Nobody has ever bothered to do that. Turns out I have a 17° curvature of the lumbar area. The WHOLE lumbar area. Ouch. (This Doctor specializes in scoliosis. Wow. Luck of the draw? Don't think so.)

We have known for a while that there was something really, really wrong but couldn't find anyone who was willing to do anything about it.* I couldn't stand straight, was horribly tired all of the time from being in constant pain, couldn't walk because everything hurt every time I took a step. Things had deteriorated to the point that I couldn't lever myself out of bed, get in the car, bend over... I'd say it was time for a change.

Today, after reviewing the x-ray and finding out my right hip is 1 1/2 inches lower than my left because of the spine, we took action. The new chiropractor lined everything up properly and then gave ma a small lift, about 1/16" thick, to put in my right shoe. I have been wearing it only since around 11:45 this morning and am already standing taller, very little pain. I can walk normally! That is a miracle for me.

After years of feeling just awful, not every now and again, but all the time, day after day, year after year, I have come to a turning point. I can bend easily and painlessly, turn from the hips, sit down and stand up without holding on the something. Incredible.

It isn't like there is no discomfort, because there is. Every muscle in my body feels as if I have been hauling 50 pound sacks of feed all day. I am tired but not sick/tired. When I think about it, this muscle-fatigue makes perfect sense. All the muscles in my body, starting with the lumbar region, are being realigned. All by a small thingie under my right heel.

Not only did the new Doc actually take action in regards to the scoliosis, he gave me some botanicals to help my adrenals handle and recover from the constant stress I have been living with. He also gave me another botanical which he takes himself. That one is for the chronic sinusitis.** I have lived for years with sinus infections, dizziness, ringing ears, vision problems. I have risen in the morning and had to run to the bathroom, vomiting up horrible mucus-stuff which had drained from my sinuses during the night. And the headaches... Oh, the headaches. Days when it was so bad that merely touching my face would almost knock me out, it hurt so bad. Should mention that the new Doctor did something (not sure what) to my neck and my nose immediately stopped running. I could breathe through it. Weird. He guarantees that in 3 weeks I will notice a difference. Money-back. Wow. Amazingly enough. it should also help with the damage caused by the inflammatory infection in my lungs last fall. WooHoo!

As if the back wasn't enough? Bonus! It's like winning the lottery, honest! I can WALK! Really. Just walking without limping? Without having my back seize up? My knee lock? Without my hips burning like fire? Miracle.

I am looking forward to getting back to myself. Yes, I am. I think everyone, my partner, my children, my friends, have been missing me. The real me, not this hobbling old lady. I have endured and lived through a lot. Even so, this last couple of years has been one of the hardest things I have had to deal with. Watching myself as it seemed that my body and mind were failing and there was nothing to do? Despair, that's the only way I can describe it, despair. The constant pain, the seeming unsurmountable difficulty of just caring for everyday tasks, has taken a huge toll on my self-esteem and my confidence, not only in the future but more fundamentally, in myself.

My dear daughter mentioned to me a day or so ago that it is hard to see your Mama fall apart in front of your eyes. Yes, Once, it is. I know that. It has hurt and worried me and I have wished that there were some way I could fix all this. Not being able to pick up the Grandies? Having no endurance, no strength, no energy? It has been one of the worst things I have experienced in my life and you know that I have been through some pretty bad things. Now, though? Just watch me come back. And I will.

I do wish, truly wish, I could understand why my trusted doctor never bothered to tell me that I had scoliosis. Doc, why? Did you think so little of me that it seemed pointless to even tell me? You knew. You knew. Was I worth so little to you as a person that it didn't matter that I would be incapacitated in a matter of years? This knowledge hurts and it hurts badly. Did you think that I would be able to overcome this by sheer force of will, as I have overcome so much? I couldn't do that any more than I can change my faulty heart valves through sheer force of will. Doc, I have been betrayed. By you.

The other chiropractor? Well, whatever. Just let me say that most of his clients are elderly and he gets his Medicare payments but I suppose that the $20 a week I was spending was handy. Who knows?

I expect that I will be back, as me, the original one-and-only QDM fairly soon. Right now, today? I am hugely thankful just to be able to get up out of this office chair, walk to the kitchen, step out on the deck, without blinding pain.

Thank you, Dr. Nelson. Thank you from all of us. I don't believe that you know that you are giving a great gift to anyone other than me, but you are. You are giving "Me" back to my partner, my kids, my grandchildren, my friends.

You want to fix this mess without having to put me in a brace. Thank you.

You don't want me to take all the drugs the doctor prescribed for the sinusitis that do nothing but mask the symptoms. Thank you.

You don't want me to experience any more adrenal fatigue. Thank you.

Thank you from people who you will probably never meet. Thank you.





*My regular doctor knew that I have scoliosis and never told me. The chiropractor I have been going to for 2 years never did an x-ray. So who is the idiot? Me.
**Something about bacteria and all...