dianaschnuth

Had my very first chiropractor visit this evening after work. I declare it a success… if a bit more expensive than Dr. Smith would have been.

I located the building with no problem (apart from irking the guy in the car behind me, who wanted to drive just a little faster). It was, in fact, right across from the Mango Tree restaurant, as promised. Parked the car in the lot behind the building, walked in, and found Dr. Hendricks’ door just inside. I wasn’t prepared for the small receptionist-less waiting room. There was one other man waiting there, and I asked him if I needed to let anyone know I was there. He was friendly, thankfully, and told me that Dr. Hendricks would come out and get me when she was ready. Which she did.

She came out in a polo shirt and shorts. No name tag, no white lab coat, none of that. I told her I was there to see Dr. Hendricks, and she said she was Dr. Hendricks. Casual, low-key, friendly. OK. She gave me paperwork to fill out, then disappeared back behind one of two doors to finish up with her previous patient.

When the patient before me was done, Dr. Sue (as I heard that patient call her) gestured me in. I took off my shirt and put on a back-fastening gown, then laid face-down on the table. She felt along my spine, starting at my neck, all the way down and back up. She identified tense areas I didn’t even know were there — but, once I thought about it, I realized that my neck *does* tend to be a little tense. She mentioned later during the session that it seemed as if this was a long time coming, and the weekend of painting just set my lower back over the edge.

Hopefully I’m not revealing any trade secrets here… She put moist, hot cloths on my neck and lower back, and left them there for a few minutes. Then she took them off my neck and adjusted my neck (that is, gave it a good twist so it popped better than I can ever do). After that, she cracked my upper back — and oooohhhhh, that felt soooo good. I haven’t had a good back-cracking in years. (I figured it might be a good idea not to mention my family’s penchant for back-cracking to the chiropractor, though.)

Then she removed the heat from my lower back and made the back half of the table move around. It was like she was circling my legs around from the hips, stretching out my lower back. That felt pretty good, too. After that, she did ultrasound therapy on my lower back, which felt oddly tingly and was supposed to be loosening and relaxing those muscles. Then she had me flip onto my back so she could properly crack my neck (ohhhh, yeah).

Then I was done. The visit took about a half hour, and I feel much better having done it.

As I was getting ready to leave, I asked her how much I owed her. She said she wasn’t sure, because she didn’t know how my insurance worked. I told her I thought it was an 80-20 thing, so she had me pay her $25, which is much more than Dr. Smith would have cost for a visit. I’m still betting that she just didn’t know how my insurance worked, and that I got overcharged for this visit. No way can she really be three times as expensive as Dr. Smith.

Now, two hours later, my back feels better than it has all week, but still considerably tighter than when I left Dr. Sue’s office.

I have a follow-up appointment on Monday evening at 6pm. I’m looking forward to it.

I really fucked up my back this weekend. Now I know how Aaron felt the few times he messed up his lower back.

I’m still going to work tomorrow, but I’m calling the chiropractor shortly after 9am. Hopefully Dr. Smith can get me in sometime tomorrow. I’d even be willing to take half a day off of work to go get fixed up sooner.

Man. I’m OK as long as I don’t fucking move. As soon as I go to switch position or stand up or whatever, though, my way-lower back hurts like a bitch. I’m not usually one for going to doctors, but I’m definitely going to the chiropractor tomorrow. This is ridiculous.

Update, 7/5/06 12:40pm: Ended up taking the day off of work. Woke up this morning with an improved back, but tired as hell. Called in at 7:30am and told my boss’s voicemail that I screwed up my back painting over the weekend, and that today would be devoted to having quality time with my chiropractor and generally getting better. Promptly went back to bed.

Called the chiropractor’s office at 10:15am. The earliest I’d be able to get in as a new patient would be next week, and that would be with someone other than Dr. Smith, as she’s out of the office. I told the nice receptionist that I’d give it some thought and get back with her. I promptly went upstairs and went back to bed.

My back does feel a little better today. I have plans for maxing and relaxing for a good part of the day, using either the massager or the heating pad on my back to keep it loose. I’m not terribly keen on going to a different chiropractor, as Dr. Smith has been heartily approved by both Aaron and Kris. We’ll see how I feel after today.

Today, I opted against going to dinner in BG with some old co-workers, because I was looking forward to my jog and a healthy dinner instead.

Have I been abducted by aliens? Replaced with a Beta, a la The Last Starfighter?

I think I crave the dopamine or something. I feel soooo much better when I work out, even if I’m no more productive during the rest of the evening. 🙂 What would normally make me all depressed (‘I’m so unproductive; woe is me’) instead makes me look for something to do (like blogging).

I’m also better able to stave off hunger pangs late in the evening (like now). Or, rather, just flat-out ignore them.

I write this as kind of an historical record (yes, Diana finally exercised on a regular basis), but also as a future motivator. I know I’m going to want to slack sometime soon, and hopefully getting these words down on… well, not on paper, I suppose, but in writing of some form — hopefully that will help re-motivate me when I need it.

Just now, I had an itch on my right arm. When I went to scratch it, I could feel my bicep. There was different resistance underneath my scratching fingernails.

That was weird.