Instant Miracle

Monday, November 17th — Eight and a half months ago, I began going to Dr. David Klein at Seaside Chiropractic three or four times a week. At that point, I had no idea how much was going to be possible to accomplish with my painful, elderly, and titanium-permeated body through regular chiropractic adjustments. David said he was “pretty confident” that, given enough time (he guessed a year or so), he could restore adequate range of motion and reduce the pain level in my shoulders sufficiently that I’d be able to avoid having the shoulders replaced. (That was anticipated during the next couple of years by my orthopedic surgeons, due to the almost complete disintegration of the shoulder joints from osteoarthritis.) About the right foot, which was like a piece of wood at the end of my leg, swollen and inflexible, he was less hopeful. I had been told that all they could do for that foot was to “fuse” it, and that was expected to happen sometime after the two shoulder surgeries.

But I had read the many, many letters of  gratitude and amazement that lined the office walls and filled an enormous binder on a table in the waiting room; and I promised myself I’d give chiropractic a full year, and see where I was at the end of that time, before I decided it was a scam. So many of those patient testimonials spoke of something almost like a spiritual experience, the first or second time that Dr. Klein “adjusted” them. Heightened senses, feelings of astonishing well-being, sudden ability to move freely where before there had been constriction… I saw all these described in many different handwritings. Surely all those people couldn’t have been kidding around!

I have to admit it was a little disappointing when none of those epiphanies happened for me. What I did see was steady improvement — somewhat dramatic and rapid in the first couple of months, then slowing down, but always moving upward. That’s what I’ve been chronicling in this blog since mid-March 2008.

Today, eight and a half months later, I had my Instant Miracle.

Dr. Klein and his staff were out of the office all last week. A week without chiropractic was not fun for me, and I could hardly wait for my appointment this afternoon. For maybe four days, my right shoulder — which is always rather sore, but which has improved quite a bit in ROM — had been more painful than ever. When I reached my right hand over to the left, across my body, a streak of pain would shoot down my upper arm, as far as the elbow. Same thing when I reached up high enough to get the oatmeal canister down from the top pantry shelf (and I’m six feet tall, so top shelves hold no terrors for me). In fact, as I lay prone on the moving table and DK began working his hands into my shoulders and down my back, I told him about the streaky pain and asked if there was anything he could do for the right shoulder today.

He finished the first part of the treatment. Time for “cracking the neck”, when I turn my head to the right and he snaps the neck a couple of times, then I turn it to the left, same thing. This time, when I turned to the left and he took my head in his hands and twisted — there was a distinct cracking sound. We both said, “Wow, that was a good one!” And DK announced, “It was that C7 vertebra that has been stuck ever since the beginning. It moved for the first time, just now. And — guess where the nerve runs, that is close to that vertebra?” I guessed correctly: the right shoulder and arm.

So I struggled to turn over, and then I sat up and moved my shoulder around a little. And there was my Miracle. I could reach across my body; I could reach up almost over my head. It’s not pain-free, but that streaky nerve pain that’s been driving me nuts for days just… wasn’t… there.

Yeah, I did, I started to cry. Couldn’t help it. There was David Klein, grinning ear to ear, and his eyes were a little damp too. Jeez, I was so happy, I could hardly believe it. I’ve been a believer in the efficacy of chiropractic for months, ever since I began seeing slow improvement; but this was really astonishing. Suddenly I REALLY believed that in time, some months from now, I WILL be able to reach over my head without pain. I will be able to quit the pain medications.  I will be able to move normally, and find my old familiar quick swinging stride again, and use my arms to lift and carry things, and hug a large person all the way around without wincing… it really felt true, at last.

So I hugged a large person almost all the way around, and I was content with that, for now. And so was Dr. Klein.

PS — Maybe the best part of all was that my Beloved Spouse was sitting not four feet away, awaiting his own treatment with the little CAM robot. He got to see and hear the whole amazing episode. It would have lacked a great deal if I’d had to explain it to him later, I’m sure. He even got to hear me say, “I love you, David Klein!” And he didn’t mind a bit.

Thanks for reading — Betsy