I love my job, you probably already know this! But it is a job that strains a lot on your body. Since about a year ago I have a painful right hip that I got after an unsuccessful attempt to spinal tap. At the time I had to go to my PCP a couple of days after the procedure (that was done in the ER) to get muscle relaxers but that didn’t help. I got massage that helped some but couldn’t really afford going there as much as I wanted to. And then last September it became so bad so I looked into a Chiropractor. First of all I found out that my insurance covers some of the visits which helps!

Yesterday we had three calls totally. Two of these were lift assists. If you didn’t know… gravity always wins. We do lift assists all the time but this time one patient was obese and had no use of his legs and the other patient had no use of his left side and he also had a shoulder injury so his left shoulder was extremely painful for him. Well here we are. It’s me and my partner. No fire responded to either of these calls. I have my hurting hip and my partner has a hurting back after 10+ years in EMS. But we got the patients up from the floor. Don’t ask me how. Trying to lift as correct as possible but when you lift a human being that is like a blobb and not able to help at all, it’s dead weight basically. But we got it done.
I could feel how bad my hip took these lifts even though at the time the pain was at least bearable. I could take some Excedrin and push through without any problems. And I did, without thinking more about it.

My partner left early and to not have to use much PTO I stayed and cleaned and sanitized the truck both inside and out. A supply delivery had arrived just before we came back so I unpacked it and restocked our supply room. All this took me about 2 hours. I could feel my hip being sore but it wasn’t bothering me really.

Came home and went to bed… slept awesome all night, 10 hours. And then it hit. And it hit hard. I was going to sit up in bed. I could not move. For the love of God my hip was so painful. The pain radiated down to my right knee. Oh my! This was not good. After some cussing and fussing I finally came to sitting on the side of the bed. That was even more painful. Standing up was the best. Got the dogs out and made it to the bathroom. Next task… that damn low toilet… and I had to sit. Why does women have to sit when they pee? Why couldn’t it be men? It’s not fair! Anyway… got out to the kitchen and was going to get the fruit for my shake in the freezer… so my fridge has a freezer drawer… Why am I so tall? Yeah. I tried to bend my knees to get down to it, I tried to balance on my left leg and keep the right leg straight, I tried to bend over. Nothing worked. I started to laugh hysterically thinking how I must look like right now. From 42 to 92 over night, for sure! I finally had to take a thong to grab the bag with and in that way get it out.

This was not going to work out. I have my first live 5K tomorrow and I can not walk. I had to do something. So I took a hot shower to see if that would ease up the muscles a little bit. Well it did but not enough. Regardless the outcome of this, my next appointment with the chiropractor ain’t until 10 days… 5 more shifts… I had to call and change that at least and I could as well ask if they had an emergency opening today. They did! In an hour! PERFECT!

Dr. Chris looked at me from behind and said “hmmmm”… have in mind, I had my bi-weekly adjustment on Monday, only 4 days ago! So he asked me to lay down and he bend my right leg. He could barely bend it! It was so stiff and painful! He used his weight and a loud pop sound came. And he said “Well that was out of alignment, for sure”. My blood pressure just skyrocketed. I am not a warm person but that made my body rush. Some more alignments with more popping noises and very nice feelings afterwards was done. OMG! That instant pain relief and you realize how painful it really was. My right foot started to tingle when the blood flow started to come through again! I could suddenly walk without limping. Sore yes, but not pain! I could sit in the car without clenching my teeth!

We both agreed that it was very good that they could get me in today or I would have had a lot of problems this weekend and especially at work next week. I am so grateful to have such an awesome chiropractor that can help! Now it’s just up to me how the 5K will go tomorrow… and of course it’s supposed to be super cold… grrrrr