water (and other!) therapy :: relief and renewal

EDIT--- so this original post (water therapy was written yesterday afternoon but then was busy the rest of the day and then by the end of the evening was too tired and physically in too much pain and wiped out to post, so I went to bed.

Well, then the addendum that I inserted at the beginning this evening while waiting for the chicken to cook, now all feels hilarious because I WAS feeling amazing, but then making the cookies after dinner about did me in.

Was miserably in pain at girls' nite and realized when I was leaving already way late that I was out of icee hots, (those usually get me through and are a must for more than 1 or multiple hours out of the house, but I didn't want to be even more late so I just hoped ice would get me through.)

But I got more icee hots on the way home so I could have a little more juice in me and start getting out some of these posts as I have lots more that I've also wanted to post in the last week, and then lots more I've been writing and pondering that eventually I'd also like to get out on here, so if I don't start now we'll be in big trouble and I will be way too backlogged.

So, “closing some windows,” as we like to say in the Lewton household (a reference from something we read when we were dating that women can have multiple windows open at the same time, while guys can have one or two), but those windows take a lot of emotional energy because they are still open. They get closed when we do the task or run the errand. So here I am "closing some windows" and beginning the process.

So it's not going to be edited, there's probably a lot of typos or unfinished thoughts, but it doesn't have to be perfect, if I don't start getting some of this out, I literally will burst. And also, I am really wanting to share some of the latest things churning around in this head of mine that I've been processing and writing about this week, so here goes nothing! (consider yourself forewarned ;)

So I felt amazing, but on the way home tonight it was literally as if my flurry of activity from after my appointment up until So You Think You Can Dance night at Stevi's all caught up with me. Well, still, it is exciting even if my body is now quitting one me :)

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WRITTEN TONITE AROUND 6 PM:

OMG, I feel AMAZING!!! Before I even get to the post below that I wrote when I felt the same way coming back from the pool – just got out of a chiropractor appointment 45 minutes ago, drove to Walmart, got a few things for dinner tonight and then dessert to take to girls' nite later, made dinner and I STILL feel great!! Now, that is the true test – a trip to Walmart, granted it was only for a couple of things, but that on top of working on dinner the last 30 minutes... to STILL be feeling this great is totally unheard of!

I wanted to write all about the chiro on Monday because seriously, it feels so good afterward I just don't want to move or do anything the rest of the day to ruin it!

Well, I am now with my third chiropractor and so far this guy and his place, has won me over.

It's the best of both worlds, a combination of a chiropractor and physical therapy and I am really on board with their treatment plans as well as their multi-faceted techniques. They have all these machines and gizmos and gadgets that I've heard people talk about before but have not personally experienced, and having been through a ton of treatment plans, and about a million proposals from various doctors or medical professionals on how to manage the pain – none of it has even lit a match compared to this.

I plan to write more about my experiences soon and more about their approach and the hope I feel in this new treatment plan, but for now I will just say, if you're having neck or back pain, I know it is miserable. Don't waste any more time, these people have been the FIRST to really be able to give me some RELIEF from the pain!

Trust me, I've had my hopes up before and things have worked or seemed to work or I would experience some relief or success with a variety of ways to treat and manage the pain, but these people are not messing around. And they attack the pain and the problem areas from a variety of perspectives and techniques, not just giving you medication or pain relieving creams or just doing a few pops on your neck and back and calling it a day.

I have been so impressed but the proof will be in the pudding, but I was so miserable and have been in the worst of the pain in these last two months with this recent relapse, so to feel the difference NOW... I cannot even tell you.

Now, rarely, or actually I think this is the first time on here I have publicly praised anyone in the medical field, whether they are able to help me feel completely better or if it gives me relief from the pain and better pain management and ways to treat and provide relief for my neck, back and legs... I still have high praise and respect for these people.

PLUS, they are brilliant. They have solved one of the most frustrating problems we have run into in all of this. There are hardly any insurance companies that will cover chiropractor visits, and if they do, it is only for the first 10-15 visits. But, say you are in a situation like mine where you are experiencing chronic pain, for any period of time, you know just as well as I do, as I loved how Piet said this in his sermon last week, OH validated my SOUL... that chronic pain is no joke.

It's not fun and it presents challenges in nearly every aspect of your daily existence, even simple normal things around the house can cause so much pain moving doesn't even feel worth it.

So, say that going to the chiropractor is one of the most effective ways to not only manage the pain, but to work on the muscular and skeletal issues that have come as a result of whatever activating event triggered it, whether a work or automobile accident, an onset of a disease, or other injury.

Well, even though we have learned how to jump through all the hoops of even if something is technically “out of network,” being able to persuade the insurance company that you actually need this just as you would any other of the clinic visits that are covered and considered “in network,” it still ends up being something that eventually if you're like us and the medical expenses of co-pays for various visits, medications, and tests just on the weekly is already a financial nightmare, eventually sadly things like seeing a chiropractor or a massage therapist, in relation to the other medical priorities, eventually gets cut.

So I have been DY-ING to find and see a new chiropractor and the increased level of pain by this recent onset since May, in addition to more tests and seeing a ton of doctors just in the last two months of all of this, a recent neurologist we've been seeing referred us to this chiropractor, which that ALONE nearly made our jaws drop...

Because from all our experiences, doctors don't like chiropractors and chiropractors don't like doctors. This has been one of many pains throughout all of this, not just that fact, but doctors of different specialties not wanting to work together. Mostly, there is just a lot of skepticism and distrust between those in the mainstream medical field of doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, surgeons, and then those in alternative medicine such as chiropractors, Doctors of Osteopathy (DO's), Neuropaths, etc.

BUT, this place is amazing (and this is kinda shady which is why I omitted the place from this post because how I feel about it or my experience there could change), but they have an MD on staff, that Ben got them to admit is strictly for insurance purposes lol. Like, not even lying, when we went through and drilled with our list of questions (or as Ben called it, OUR interview with THEM... as he's described we've been interviewing chiropractors)

... Because it's like buying a car, everyone is going to make their car sound good, but it's a big investment (lots of time and money), so we have no problem in making sure we know as much as possible upfront and then make an informed decision, mostly because there has been a ton of controversy in even including a chiropractor in my treatment plans. 

But, this brilliant in that having an MD on staff, insurance will see it and it gets billed as doctor visits, which are in network at an unlimited amount, so I do not have to discontinue services or start paying more after 10 visits strictly because of the steep bill. 

But, I have wanted to see one because seriously, I love going to the chiropractor... they are the only ones who can fully validate my pain and point to muscular and skeletal issues in my neck and back and touch the places where I am in the most pain and be able to explain why my legs are doing what they're doing, why my neck is feeling this way, etc. and they don't have to run a single test to know that something is wrong, they can feel it and see it!

So for a doctor to recommend and say he worked with a chiropractor, it was like okay, I am liking this already.

So we started and went over a new treatment plan Friday and I am seriously so relieved, thankful and impressed. A combination of radiation therapies, neuro-rehabilitation, a bunch of various technologies and machines I never knew were out there, strengthening and conditioning, and the end is the best, like one of my physical therapists always told me, we do the massage part at the end so you guys will come back, so yes, this place ends with a couple different massages and hooking my neck up to more electrodes that stimulate relaxation and healing, I walk out of there feeling like I'm walking on a cloud – oh it feels SO good.

Now, despite whether this gets me to a certain point, but not completely better or if this works entirely to reverse or stop whatever is damaging my body, I do not know. But, much like I am at the start of every new treatment plan, that ends up like this, feeling good in the beginning, then plateauing or begin to go downward, I am holding on to hope because to experience this kind of relief in and of itself is a miracle.

So many times when someone is explaining a treatment plan to us or about something, in the back of our heads is always, yeah but will that work... for me. So many things that are supposed to work or help, we have found as it is obvious that my body is anything but normal right now, end up not working for me... so there is a hesitancy mixed with hope as we begin a new relationship and a new plan.

But I am clinging to hope.

Not just in relief or feeling better or in a remedy, as all those things would be amazing, I am clinging to my God of Hope who is the One who will continue to lead us to relief, to better pain management as this last week has afforded us, to answers, and to healing.

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CONTINUED IN... "new beginnings :: water (and other!) therapy, pt. 2"