Neck Update

Last Monday I went for a second set of the terrible injections into my neck and they. were. awful. The kind of steroid that it is was supposed to numb the area which it did accomplish in that it completely froze my neck and I couldn't turn it at all. But the pain level went through the roof and I was completely out of it for a couple of days after that, barely sleeping and just lying on the couch as much as possible. I decided that those injections were dumb and obviously not doing anything but making it worse, so I stopped going and broke up with that doctor, ha ha. 

I was pretty wary of trying anything else at this point because that experience was.....well, terrible. But we Skyped with Steve's YFC director's son who is a ??? I can't remember! A physiotherapist or massage therapist.....I think but he really knows his stuff anyways! I went through the whole long story with him and he confirmed our thoughts about the injections not being the answer and he confirmed our thoughts about the herniated disc situation and he highly recommended that I seek out a good chiropractor or massage therapist to manually manipulate the discs in my neck. 

Our friend Andre knew of a good chiropractor so we went for my first consultation visit today. I took along my CT scan and as soon as he looked at it he said - you have a prolapsed disc, it is NOT muscles. Soooo......of course at this point I'm wondering why on earth the last doctor declared that it was muscles and NOT a prolapsed disc even after reading the official analysis......but we'll leave those thoughts with the Lord and move forward! He said that there was no 100% guarantee but he strongly felt like he could fix the problem and that it wasn't so bad that surgery would need to be an option. He explained the whole process - a 20 minute massage, an adjustment, MORE INJECTIONS....WHAT is WITH this place and their infatuation with NEEDLES?!?! Obviously I had extreme reservations about the injections but he explained that it's just 3 mm into the skin and it's a papaya extract that goes in there to help boost up the area around the disc (which I googled extensively). And the last step would be to put this lovely contraption on my head: 

....and then hook it up really high so that it stretches out and realigns my entire spine. It. Felt. AH-MAY-ZING. And I look super awesome, obviously. 

The whole course of treatment is 15 sessions in 15 days (but we'll skip Sunday) and it's a bit more pricey than seeing the neurologist doctor ?!?!?! (still far cheaper than seeing a chiropractor in Canada!!!) but it didn't make me feel any worse so far and it felt like what he was saying about everything really confirmed what we had read for ourselves from the CT scan. 

I'm SO THANKFUL that those awful injections are done even though they've been replaced with more injections.....but they were so painless and easy, I don't even mind. So we're headed back there tomorrow and we're praying for some good results!! 

It really is God's perfect timing because our friend Craig arrived on Monday and he was able to stay with the boys so that Steve could go with me to the appointment....which of course the boys LOVE.