Chiropractic Care

In a previous post, I explained all about my scoliosis and loss of cervical lordosis. Well I have been going to the chiropractor for almost 6 weeks now. I have had 11 visits over the course of this time, will go again twice this week, then next week starts my once a week visits. 

Obviously I don’t know if we’ve made any progress in my neck because we are waiting until the end to take new x-rays. But I can tell you in detail about what happens during my adjustments. First, I lay on my stomach and Dr. Dee pushes around on my back to find tension spots. This always is kind of painful but feels good at the same time. I think the pain mostly has to do with my curve, but regardless it feels pretty good and bad, if that makes any sense. He then applies quick, firm pressure starting in the middle of my back working his way to upper back. I’d say its 2-3 times he cracks me in this position. Every now and then there is like one small spot that doesn’t crack with the rest and he applies pressure again. I wouldn’t call this part painful, except for the 2 seconds following the crack. Then relief. 

Next, he has me lay on my right side, left knee bends over right straight leg. He takes my right arm and pulls it to grab my left shoulder. Then he applies pressure, once, twice with his whole body to kind of twist me. Then flip and do same on the other side. I don’t think I ever really feel much of a crack when he does this.

Then, he gets me to lay on my back. This is probably my favorite part because of the pain relief. He comes around to where my head is to sit and uses his fingers in kind of a hook shape to pull up towards the base of my skull on my neck muscles. I’ve tried, but this is really hard to do to myself because my hands cannot come at the same angle he does, but its feels awesome. He usually spends a bit longer on my neck (because this is what we are working to correct), finding knots and applying pressure to get them to release. Every now and then he finds a good one and it’s painful when he’s moving over it and pushing into it, but I know there relief will be so worth it so I suck it up. I’ve only had to say “Ow” twice to get him to lighten up. Once the knot releases, it’s like my whole body just relaxes and turns into jello. Once loose, its time for him to crack my neck. He grabs my head, supporting all the weight. You kind of have to focus on letting him control your movement and not tensing up. Once he feels that he has complete control, he snaps it to the right! I usually feel what I would call and immediate back of head headache when he does this. But he uses his fingers again to apply pressure to the spots on my neck close to my skull and this relieves the headache. Then he repeats the exact same thing to the left. 

Now, he gets me to lay on my stomach again. Sometimes he uses the table to lift up  at my hips and he pushes quick firm pressure on each hip/right above butt. I believe this is supposed to help align my hips, but I think with scoliosis that’s kind of hard to achieve. Plus, I don’t really feel much when he does that either. He also detaches the bottom half of the table, so from my hips down, he has complete control to move them side to side and all around; this always feels good. His last step in my adjustment, he applies pressure in several spots on both sides of my spine from the mid back on down while moving the lower body control portion of the table up and down. I think this is to help loosen up and stretch out my spine and muscles surrounding. This is another one of those painful but feels good at the same time motions. 

Last portion of my appointments is spent on the Wobble chair with head weights strapped to my forehead. The wobble chair is pretty cool, as it allow me to tilt in any direction 360 degrees. I believe it is supposed to help strengthen my back muscles, but I really enjoy the stretching I feel while tilting. My lower back does a lot of “clicking/popping” during this but he said that’s normal. As far as the weights go, I think he is working me up to 15 minutes over time. Not sure what I am at now because we always chit chat during this portion. The weights make me hold my neck back and use my muscles to support my head. The right side of my neck is usually hurting by the time the buzzer goes off, so I feel that it’s working to strengthen everything. The buzzer concludes my appointment. 

The past 2 appointments, Dr. Dee has said that things have improved so much since my first adjustment, and I am cracking the way I am supposed to now. I don’t notice too much of a difference other than I feel like more is cracking at once, and (as weird as this sounds) it’s more of a juicier crack instead of dry like it was in the beginning. I don’t know if that’s the best way to describe it, but it’s what I could come up with. 

There has been two appointments, when my Doc was on vacation and I saw the other, Dr. Geski. His methods are a little bit different. I was super nervous seeing him the first time because I was scared that he didn’t know my history, he hadn’t seen my x-rays, and does he even know that I have scoliosis?! But all was well. He cracked my back while I laid on it, which was strange to me. He handed me this triangle shaped pillow to wrap my arms around. Then he lifts you up, places hand under back (which was scary and painful), but then he applied quick pressure and CRACKKKKK! Felt really good once it was over. Then he does the same thing a bit lower down. My neck being the part we are trying to correct, he did use an Electric Correction Gun/Adjustment tool on my neck; that was an interesting feeling but I enjoyed it. I wish Dr. Dee would use that on me, but I guess every doctor has their own way of doing things. 

Once Dr. Geski moved me to the next table and had me lay on my stomach, I think he realized then that I have scoliosis. He found this one spot to the left of my spine, right at the curve that was all knotted up. (This spot is always super sensitive.) He said “Wow! Are you always this tight right here?” I could barely manage a “yea” through the intense pain I was feeling at the pressure he was applying in a circular motion right on the knot. I continued to breathe through the pain because I knew it would feel even better once he was done, which it did. After that he followed the rest of what Dr. Dee usually does. 

So this is what my chiropractic care has been like up to now. I guess I may be feeling a little different, like I don’t complain about being in pain as much. I haven’t had any of the numbness that I usually get. And now that I think of it, I haven’t really had the pinching burning feeling either that I sometimes get after a long day. I am still tense in my neck and shoulder area, but I work at a desk all day, then come home and work at a desk again for my part time job. I have tried to adjust the position of my computer screens to maybe alleviate it some. But I think as long as I am working at a computer, I will always experience that. So, I have nothing but good things to say about the care I have received so far from First Choice Chiropractic. I look forward to seeing updated x-rays at the end of my treatment plan. And I really look forward to my appointment tomorrow morning. All this writing about being cracked is making me want it to be time for my appointment because I always leave feeling like a million bucks!

Just need to get this off my chest...

Friday night, I went to Target and spent about an hour and a half trying to pick out gifts for a 5 year old little boy and two 2 year old little girls.

Saturday, we went to celebrate Leah’s 2^nd Birthday. Leah is Jonathan’s cousin’s daughter or Jonathan’s 2^nd cousin. We were also really excited to meet Leah’s little sister Madison who was born 4 months ago, but they live in NC which is why we are just now meeting her. Of course Shannon (mom) let me hold her and get some of that baby luvin! She was absolutely adorable and completely content.

At Leah’s party, Jonathan’s grandparents were there and asked are we expecting yet… and I said really quickly “We’re not.” Jonathan then says, “But she wishes we were.” I quickly just whispered please don’t talk about it, and turned my head away from them fighting back tears. Once regaining my composure I was able to continue enjoying the party. 

Shortly after that, Jonathan’s cousin’s fiancé Lynsey showed up. I like her a lot so we stuck together and chit chatted. During our conversation I found out that she also has PCOS. What an awesome feeling when you find someone that not only understands everything your body is going through, but is also going through the same or similar. We didn’t get to talk a whole lot, because it’s not really something you talk about out in public. But I did let her know how long we’ve been trying, and we discovered we are both taking Provera every month to try to regulate our cycles. It felt so nice to have her know what I am going through physically. Plus she said she was going to keep me in her prayers, which just makes me feel so happy to know that not only are my prayers going up, but also friends and family are praying for me as well. 

On top of that, my longtime friend Jessica’s daughter, Remington, also turned two and celebrated her Birthday at the same time. Unfortunately I cannot be in two places at once and we had already committed to Leah’s party. I was sad I missed seeing Remi, but hope to see her and give her her birthday gift soon.

Lastly, my friend Amanda’s son Hayden turned 5 on the 3^rd and of course I’m always late to getting his gift to him, but it’s the thought that counts. I’ll plan on having them over for dinner one night so I can give him his gift and spend some time hanging out. 

Celebrating all of my friends and families children’s birthdays is extremely bittersweet. I see their little families, and the happiness all of them experience at seeing their child happy, and I just can’t help but hurt a little for the child I dream of loving.

Happier news, my best friend is pregnant again! I am so very happy and excited for her. Her daughter Lola is kind of the first baby that I get to see and hang out around regularly and I just love her to pieces. I can’t wait for this new baby to be born so I can love on him or her just as much. Even still, it took me a couple days to be able to go see my friend and give her a huge hug and congratulations. And I truly mean it when I say I am so very happy for them. When she first sent me the picture of her positive pregnancy test I could have jumped and screamed for joy if I wasn’t at work when I got it. Even so, that evening after work when I got home, I literally sobbed for a good 45 minutes. Big old tears, can’t catch your breath, out loud sobbing that resulted in a headache. I was having the hardest time getting a grip. When will it be my turn? Of course her pregnancy is still secret at this time, but I told my husband and cried to him a little when he got home, and he just doesn’t understand. Pull yourself together Katelyn. 

I finally was able to go visit with her and share in the excitement a couple of days later. I am doing much better now but still kind of hard to be around someone who is pregnant, wishing I was going through all of the exciting changes. I dream of the day I can finally experience morning sickness, and I guarantee I will be smiling the whole time I’m puking.

I feel like I cannot get away from the constant reminder that I am not pregnant but want to be more than anything. Next tid bit, there is an older gentleman named Washington that I see quite often in the mornings before work. We both stop at the Wawa regularly and we have kind of developed a friendship over the past 2 years we’ve known each other. We have small talk and wish each other a happy day. Sometimes we go a while without seeing each other, so this morning was probably the first time in about a month that we have seen each other. Saw him in the parking lot as I was headed back to my car, so I went up to chat for a bit. As I was walking up to him, he asked, with his hand on his stomach, “Ohhhh, are we coming along?” Obviously, he was asking if I am pregnant. I told him, “No not pregnant, just gained some weight.” I think he felt bad for asking because he apologized and kind of stuttered a little. I don’t know why I felt the desire to tell him, but I did. I told him that we have been trying since November and it just hasn’t happened yet. He must have sensed the hurt I was feeling because he gave me a big hug (that’s a first) and told me “You’re beautiful as always.” I don’t know why this keeps happening to me. I guess it’s because I am married and everyone expected me to be pregnant by now, or maybe it’s because I’m about 30lbs overweight right now and look like I am expecting, or maybe it’s just that people do not understand… IT’S NOT OKAY TO ASK A WOMAN IF SHE’S PREGNANT! EVER! I got in my car, let out a big sigh and choked back a sob that threatened to escape while at the same time asking “God, why would you put me through this over and over again!?”, then drove my butt to work so I could get busy and be distracted.

Its family, its friends, its policyholders at work, its complete strangers. I promise you I get asked AT LEAST once a week if I am pregnant.

Today was supposed to be a busy Monday at work. My office manager is on vacation this week, so I am manning the office by myself. Past two weeks have been swamped every day. But today, the phone has rang maybe three times, I’ve had only two people come pay bills, and my beginning of day report had not the first late notice for me to do. So its quiet and slow and only making my brain spin. This is why I am writing this blog post while sitting at my office desk, nothing to do except think about not being pregnant.

Okay I am sure this is a long boring post. I got it all out there. Now, let me try to distract myself with something else now. 

Our First Anniversary

This Sunday, Jonathan and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We will exchange cards (we are not doing gifts), we will get dressed up and go out for a nice dinner at a restaurant called Croaker’s Spot. (I have wanted to try this place for over a year.) When we get home, we will pull out our cake topper that I have had thawing in the fridge for the past 2 days and we will give it a taste. It was so delicious on our wedding day, I cannot imagine it tasting bad even after being frozen for a year. And then we will spend the rest of the evening together.

One whole year has come and gone since our wedding, and boy did it fly by. This first year of marriage has been so wonderful. Not much changed from when we were only dating or when we were engaged. But the one difference I notice the most is that I feel like we are on a team. Not that we weren’t before getting married, but after marriage we were just a little bit closer. Our connection means just a little more and our bond has grown tremendously. I think through this first year of marriage we have both sacrificed a little more for one another and we have spent more time doing things together.

Marriage doesn’t change much, and you don’t really feel different after the wedding. But I can say now that we have been married for a year, things did change. These aren’t huge changes, but they are the ones that make a difference and make our marriage just a little bit richer.

Since getting married, I started working for Jonathan part-time.

Since getting married, we have started home improvements.

Since getting married, we have attended a weekly Bible study.

Since getting married, we have become homeowners.

Since getting married, we have started trying to start our family.

Since getting married, nothing and everything has changed.

There are many things that we have done and experienced in this first year of marriage and I would not change any of it.

Dear Jonathan,

These past seven years I have spent with you have been nothing short of amazing, but they cannot compare to the last one we have been together as husband and wife. I am the luckiest girl in the world to call you my husband. You are the kindest, most generous man that I know. You know my heart better than anyone else and it has been an honor to give it to you. I have been so encouraged by your desire to learn about God’s word and your desire to share what we are learning. I hope to always support you and encourage you to continue to grow in our faith. I promise that I am going to be by your side through everything to come. The good and the bad, I am going to be right there with you. You can count on me to be your loyal and loving companion for the rest of your life.

I love you more that I could ever express in words, but it doesn’t stop me from trying.

Love,

Katelyn

Pain in the neck!

I have had scoliosis pretty much all my life. In the 6^th grade, the school had nurses check all the students and if they saw a curve, they sent you home with a note to your parents. I was one of the unlucky students who took a note home. About a year later, mom got me in to see an orthopedic and have x-rays done. The unfortunate thing is at that point it was too late to fix my curve with a brace. He said come back in a year and we will operate if it is worse. I never went back.

I have lived with this curve for the past 15 years. I have a higher pain tolerance than most because of living with back pain has kind of changed the way my brain recognizes pain. Meaning, that something that would feel painful to one person might not really register as pain to me. I have almost become desensitized to certain levels of pain to where I just think its “uncomfortable” and not “painful.” Then there are other things that cause me significant pain (lifting, standing) that wouldn’t faze the next person.

I always sit leaning to the left. I have a hip that sticks out far on the right. My rib cage is kind of awkwardly positioned (ribs hit my hip bone). I toss and turn most nights to find a comfortable position. I cannot stand for long periods of time. I have pinching, stinging, burning, tingling, aching and numbness in different areas, and ALWAYS have a lot of tension. Then, I would say twice a year it flares up on me. It’s never good when that happens because I can barely move without having sharp shooting pains which usually brings tears to my eyes. At that point I end of having to take prescription pain medicine to get me through it.

Because at 26 years old I am not interested in having back surgery, I finally paid a visit to a chiropractor. My initial consult he refused to do any adjusting until he saw X-rays. So we took some pictures of my neck and back and then scheduled for me to come back two days later. Being that I had not seen my scoliosis since age 12, I was very nervous about how it would look. I was relieved when I saw it because I was expecting it to look way worse that it did. My curve is mainly in my lower lumbar area, along with the curve, my spine/vertebrae start to kind of twist. Kind of corkscrew like but not to that extreme. I was upset but not surprised to hear that there is nothing the chiropractor can do for my curve other that try to relieve pain. I teared up and had to apologize to the Dr. I told him that I know there are so many people that have it so much worse than I do, so I am glad for that, but still gets me emotional to think that I will probably have to have back surgery one day to get it corrected.

On the X-ray of my neck, we can see that I have a “loss of cervical thordosis.” Which pretty much means, where my neck should have a backwards curve I am starting to curve forward. This is where he said he saw a problem that is fixable. One thing that concerned him is the gap between my skull and 1^st vertebra is very small. It should be a much larger gap there. This is probably part of the cause of headaches, sinus problems, and pain. He went over the cost of everything and gave me my first adjustment so I could know what it feels like and go home to decide if I want to proceed. (Because it’s not covered by my insurance and can get quite pricey.) After talking with Jonathan, I decided to go forward with the plan the Dr. has worked out for me. I will be going twice a week for the next six weeks, then once a week for the following 6 weeks. After that, twice a month for 2 months. This is the whole plan of 22 visits at $40 a visit, plus $120 of take home equipment (a decompression device, and forehead weights – I will show these once I get them) comes out to be $1,000. Which is not bad but still expensive. Then he says I can probably come once a month for maintenance. I am lucky that I am physically and mentally able to work two jobs and have the money to do something like this for my health.

My 2^nd adjustment was this morning, which I had a headache walking in. The adjustment helped slightly with my headache (I was hoping for complete relief, but I guess it’s not magic) and he got out a huge painful knot in my back another smaller one in my neck. It’s a little scary getting popped and cracked, and even a little painful just for the second or two following the crack, but doesn’t last long and feels good enough to make me want to keep going. I’ve been told that the first 2 or 3 weeks may have me a bit sore and tender, but if just wait it out and keep going it will begin to improve. Just have to make sure that I do the at home stuff, because that will be really important to how significant of results we will see on follow up x-rays. So here’s to spending a lot of time in the chiropractor’s office for the next 4 months!

Weekend Recap 5/19-5/21

This weekend was soooooo B U S Y. But with a bunch of good stuff, so I can’t complain.

My cousin Brian and his wife just welcomed their first child, Dakota Skylar into the world and of course I was dying to meet her. So Friday after work, I picked them up dinner and a bunch of snacks, then headed to their house. Dakota is a precious little angel, and slept in my arms without a peep for about an hour. So I got what I call my “baby fix” for a little while, until I can get my hands on another one.

 Chelsea (Brian’s wife) is such a doll, and I am so glad that her and I get along so well and relate on a lot of things. Age differences have tended to keep me from being close with majority of my cousins, but Brian and Chelsea, along with my husband, we have been able to do some double dates and have gotten really close. I am so thankful for that.

Saturday was RACEDAY!

We drove out to Colonial Beach Dragway for the race. Jonathan’s mother joined us so I had someone to ride around with me on my golf cart for the day. I know she enjoys being able to get out of the house and cheer on her son while he’s racing. (Even if he lost in the 3rd round.) Yes, she can still drive me crazy just like anyone’s mother-in-law can, but we have a great relationship and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Sunday, I woke up bright and early and went to a new church called Hill City with my sister-in-law. The sermon was great. Majority of what he talked about was temptation, with the focus being on building stronger relationships. We discussed how giving into temptation can lead us to worship false idols (money, alcohol, sex, etc.). And we also discussed how we are only able to overcome these temptations if we have a better plan for ourselves and our future. A plan that focuses on God and growing in our faith. Because when we have a plan in place, our thought process is based on commitment to the plan and off of temptation. I thoroughly enjoyed the service, I thought the environment was great, the people were friendly and I will be back.

Jonathan and I then met with a couple that we are friends with for a lunch date at Kabuto’s for some hibachi. It was our first time hanging out just the four of us, so I was somewhat worried if conversation would flow or feel awkward. But it went well, and lunch was of course delicious. I really like the couple that we hung out with, they are good people with a God focus. They are a little bit younger than us, we all don’t know each other well and still learning what our interests are and what to talk about with each other. Sometimes new friends can be difficult to relate to at first, but I think we will get there the more we hang out. Which we will see them again this coming weekend for the points race. Hopefully we will actually follow through with the plans because we are all really busy people and schedules are always crazy. Jonathan and I need a couple to be friends with like them in our lives, so we can learn and grow in our faith and relationship. As they say, Iron sharpens Iron. I hope to always surround myself with people of good integrity and morals.

After lunch, we went to a first birthday party for Jonathan’s niece. Stella was absolutely adorable in her pink tutu!

Her momma did an awesome job throwing her party. I was glad that she wanted us to be there because unfortunately, Stella’s dad (Jonathan’s step brother) is locked up and has never even met his daughter. It is a sad long story that isn’t mine to tell. But I give props to her for being a mom and a dad to Stella and putting on a brave face through it all. I made sure that I let her know that I think she is doing an amazing job raising her daughter on her own.

So, that’s that for the weekend. Its Monday now, and work was hectic today. Glad that I took off Thursday and Friday for vacation and we are closed next Monday for Memorial Day. MY FIRST VACATION SINCE OUR HONEYMOON! – and I cannot wait!