A glimpse into my suffering

Note:  This is one of 2 posts tonight, if you would like to skip down to the cute kids below I wouldn't blame you one bit!  

I laughed when my chiropractor gave me a disk with my xrays.  "Oh good, I can scrapbook them!"  He told me to post them on facebook...but I opted for my blog.  That way only people who might really be interested (since you have to intentionally access the blog) have to see them.  So here it is!  Mind you, this is after days and I was actually standing much straighter than I had been.  

So if you are bored and interested in the details, it all started when I woke up Wednesday morning.  We had been traveling the previous 2 days, and I really wasn't that surprised when I felt tight and sore that morning (the same thing happened when we moved up here from Georgia...I ended up collapsing on the floor of a Mexican restaurant and had to be carried out by two complete strangers.  Dramatic, I know).  I was trying to take it easy and really just chilling on the couch while the kids played, but with a very active 1 year old, that's hard to do for too long.  The kids were down stairs and Austin was getting tired.  He wandered into the kitchen and started crying so I mozied in to see what he needed.  He was pretty much beyond consoling, so I thought I would put him down for a nap.  As i bent down to pick him up I had a sinking feeling I wasn't getting back up.  But I had to try, I couldn't just sit there in crouching position with a 30 lb baby for 2 hours, right?  I grabbed the counter for support and attempted to stand, but as I did so the muscles in my back began to spasm so bad that I dropped to the floor screaming in pain.  Never in my life have I experienced something so horrible, and I have given birth 3 times without drugs.  I laid there on the floor, poor Austin right there with me, screaming "Breah, HELP ME!"  at the top of my lungs.  The slightest movement causing more spasms, but the kids were not coming.  So I began pounding on the floor while screaming, thinking surely they would hear me.  20 minutes later Breah comes running, "I'm sorry, we didn't hear you, what do you need?"  "A phone please, get me a phone!"  Well, of course, Brandon's doesn't answer.  I call again, and again.  If ever there were an emergency, it is now.  Still nothing.  Turns out my calls were not going through.  So Breah gets me the iPad and I message him  "I'm not doing so well.  Tried to pick up Austin and now I am lying on the kitchen floor.  Been screaming for 20 minutes, kids didn't' hear me.  Can you call the dr and get me some steroids asap?"  Send.  Then I see it.  Crap!  The message went to an unfamiliar number..."whoops, sorry, wrong number!"  Then as I read previous texts I realize it was Brandon's coworker.  "Sorry, this is Shaylah, can you please tell Brandon to call me! Thanks"  Well, next time I'll start there, he called within a couple minutes and he was on his way home.  He got home, put Austin to bed and then got me to bed.  So much pain!  I have never felt so much pain, every movement countered by massive spasms in my back.  He finally ended up wrapping my arms around his next and dragging me into the bedroom.  After a couple hours of lying completely still, the drugs had relaxed me enough that I was able to drift off to sleep.  And I slept for hours.  The next morning I was able to crawl to the bathroom, but it about killed me getting up on the toilet, and then I couldn't get off!  (TMI, sorry).  Sorry, I am getting carried away...to make a long story short(er), I was not any better the next day.  I made an appointment with a chiropractor, but then doubted whether they would be able to do anything as I could hardly move.  Brandon called and sure enough, they said to go to the ER.  Brandon got me an appointment with the same Dr. I saw last time, and he carried me out to the car.  Then I got to ride in a wheelchair.  He checked to make sure I didn't have any nerve damage and told me to continue the steroids and muscle relaxer and Ibuprofen and then ordered an MRI.  But in the meantime, he assured me I would get better.  I did get a little better with each day, but after a week I was barely able to walk, and I was completely crippled.  I was miserable and ornery and not very pleasant, but Brandon has been so good to me, always getting me ice, taking care of the kids, and the house and everything, and never complaining.  So Wednesday afternoon I hobbled over to the bus stop to meet Breah, taking the stroller so I had something to lean on.  After the kids got off, I introduced myself to a couple of other moms who were out and in talking to them mentioned I had been stuck in bed for a few days.  Turns out my next door neighbor is a chiropractor and she promised she would send him over when he got home so I could pick his brain about my predicament.  He didn't show up, and I had given up on it when at about 9:30 there was a knock on the door.  What a way to meet your neighbors, huh!  But he came in and examined my crooked spine and determined it was a pretty cut and dry case of something or other and offered to take me back to his office and get me fixed up.  I jumped on it.  I had been waiting til after the MRI, but I was so miserable I couldn't say no.  He cracked me pretty good, but I was not cured!  He told me it would take a few days of treatment be to back to normal.  So then Thursday I called and went in and got the Xrays and another adjustment, then one on Friday, and one today.  I have improved 80% since this xray, and he thinks I'll be good as new after Monday.  I have my doubts because as the day goes on I get more and more crooked again.  But I am at least able to function somewhat normally now.  And it doesn't hurt as bad to pick up Austin.  So I think maybe a couple more treatments before I'm good to go.