Wake-Up Call

Yesterday I was feeling “eh.” My hands were hurting, every single joint, and they were swollen. Usually I would chalk that up to accidental gluten ingestion, but since I’m on a healing fast right now – that wasn’t possible. Then my right forearm started hurting. Weird. By the time I went to bed, my whole arm was hurting from my shoulder blade to my upper arm, through my elbow, down my forearm, and down to my fingertips. I attempted to sleep, but couldn’t. My husband massaged my arm, hands, and neck. It relieved some of the pain long enough to let me nod off. But then I got a wake-up call.

When The Pain Won’t Stop Coming

The pain was super intense. I was writhing about, unable to make it go away. Finally, I got up and went into the kitchen to avoid waking up my husband. Wracking my brain for causes I drank a detox tea, took electrolytes and pain medicine, used a mechanical massager, and finally wrapped my arm in an icepack, all in the desperate hope that I would be able to reduce the pain enough to go back to sleep. The hours ticked by. Surely, I thought, the ice would numb the pain. I lay on the couch wrapped in blankets shivering in the 3 am chill until I nodded off again for an hour and a bit.

Forced To Pay Attention

The pain woke me up again, and I got up to get everyone ready for work and school, but my arm was so weak I could barely use it. It felt like when you hit your funny bone, and your whole arm goes numb. The pain was getting worse. A quick google search didn’t help much; normally, I’d just muscle through, but the pain was forcing me to pay attention to the problem. After everyone was off, I tried to get more sleep by taking more pain medication. Just as I nodded off, I got two texts and a phone call. And then the pain kicked into high gear.

Pain You Can’t Ignore

My daughter heard me crying and came down to check. She has so seldom seen me cry in pain and that was years ago. She was completely freaked out and insisted I go to the doctor. My doctor was away and urgent care was booked. For some reason I thought about a chiropractor and found that my insurance didn’t cover it. But I looked for a good one near me anyway. Suddenly, I got the idea that this might also be a good thing for my daughter too. Quick google search and the answer was yes.

I called to ask their non-insurance rate and he replied, “Is $25 ok?” I gasped. He quickly answered, “Is that too much?”  I couldn’t believe someone was actually interested in helping. I’ve spent so much out of pocket money in the last seven months trying to help my daughter get better that I was stunned at his reasonable price. I actually got choked up. I told him my issue and hers and I made the first appointment for her.

New Direction

The funny thing is that you’re probably thinking – wasn’t this whole thing about your excruciating pain in your arm? Yes and no. The pain slowly started to dissipate in the right arm and then went to the left. I thought I was in for another terrible night but the pain is totally gone this morning. My daughter however, got instant relief of some of her pain. she was giddy. He was the first doctor who had produced immediate results – actually any results. The only things that have helped her are the herbal homeopathic remedies I have researched, and now, the chiropractor. So as far as I’m concerned those days of agony were all worth it to get additional help for her so that she can get back to life as normal. As my mom would oft repeat, All things work together for good for those who love the Lord.