'I don't want to scare you'

Those are never good words coming from a doctor.

I went to a chiropractor today. I am having severe headaches and loss of sensation in my arms due to what I'm thinking is a giant knotted muscle in my neck. My arms, especially my hands, have been very painful the past couple weeks. My fingers are weak and tingly and they hurt all the time.

The chiropractor did range of motion testing on me, checking to see if I can turn this way or that. She also did a pain test where she would apply light pressure and ask if it hurt. It was interesting for me since I learned that most of my pain originated from the right side of my body. I didn't realize that until today.

She asked me to lay on the table so she could check out my spine. She said my pelvis is rotated (it was painful to move my hip in a certain direction). And as she crawled her fingers up my spine the pain kept getting worse. She said she could tell that my alignment was out of whack and that my muscles were tight. When she got to my neck I was almost crying from the pain. She simply poked in a couple of places and I felt it in my limbs.

I rolled over and she checked out my neck from a different position. Then she asked me to sit up. She said she felt something in my neck and is uncomfortable doing an adjustment. She said she didn't want to scare me but if the breast cancer has metastasized and was working it's way to the brain it wouldn't be good for her to do an adjustment. She gave me a script to get an x-ray and told me to come back on Monday.

Well, I am pretty certain the cancer hasn't spread because we got it early and it never spread to my lymph nodes, but you just never know right? That's the fear I've got to live with for the rest of my life. Err on the side of caution because you just never know.

I am going for x-rays tomorrow and will walk out the door with the films. I'll take a peak when I get home for sure, not that I'll understand what's what.

Before I left the office she offered to give me electronic stimulus on my back which helps loosen the muscles. I had ten minutes on high and didn't feel much. That was an hour ago and my back now feels like I've been repeatedly punched. She said I'll probably feel more pain tomorrow.

Oh joy.