Snap, Crackle, Pop!

So, I haven't been good about writing - I feel like I've been on hiatus, even though I really should be boot-camping my ass off. In the three weeks since my Biggest Loser Group ended, I probably did four boot camps. Not great.

On Wednesday, I happened to be driving past Grandpa Niesen's former house and saw that Mom and Aunt Karen were cleaning out the shed or, "Dat Shet" as Grandpa would say. I stopped to say 'Hi' just when they were trying to lift a garbage bag full up junk into a bin. Strong youngster that I am (right), I chipped right in and hefted that bag up and over. It must have been 60-70 pounds. Anyway, since that day, my shoulder has been burning with a pinched nerve. (Also, I found out that that bag was full of, among other things, raccoon poop...great to have had my face right up against that! No wonder I had the urge that night to prowl after dark, poking through the neighbors' garbage.)

On Sunday, I decided to find a massage therapist to see if she could manipulate it out. Nope! Ninety dollars later, and all I have to show for it is a back that feels like it was peppered by paint capsules shot from a paintball gun.

This morning, after a fitful night of not being able to find a comfortable position, I made an appointment with a chiropractor. My first visit ever, and holy crap, what a crazy business that is. The doctor was super personable, took X-rays, talked me through how, where and when I was experiencing pain. He showed me the X-ray of my neck, and interestingly my neck is curved to the right and also rotated to the right. So, up-and-down there's a convex curve, and side-to-side, there's a twist of the vertabrae. He also found evidence that, as a youngster, my neck must have been snapped back, like a whiplash injury as there is calcification of the tissues at the base of my throat. Interesting. So, he has me sit on his little chair, and he starts gently probing my neck, jaw, cradling my head in his hands. "Kari, inhale a deep breath then let it all out." In breath....ooouuuuutttt breath....SNAP! He wrenched my neck and it snapped and popped in three or four places. It didn't hurt, but I wondered if I was dead or paralized. What an odd feeling, to say the least. Then I laid down on an adjustment table, and we did the 'breath in/breath out/SNAP' game in two more places on my back.

So, am I better? Well, I felt a lot better for an hour or so afterward, but then the pinching started up again. I'm going back tomorrow.