Welcome to the third issue of the Fair Oaks Health Newsletter.
I am getting to write this newsletter from a prone position on my bed on my laptop. The last week and a half has been an opportunity for me to learn compassion and deep appreciation for all my patients that have experienced back pain that seems to go on forever. I have experienced brief periods of back pain due to a lifting strain or really intense back pain with kidney stones, but never debilitating pain that just does not get better. Well, I am now getting that special opportunity. Just like I have heard a thousand times, I didn’t do a thing to cause it.
I was standing at the kitchen counter about to spray some organic cleaner on a cabinet door to take off some dust when bam – my low back goes out. I mean it drops me right now, like somebody set off a small explosive in my low back. I drop to my elbows and hang on to the counter for dear life for about 20 minutes. When I can breathe normally, almost, my sweetheart Ellen slides a chair under me for me to collapse into. So now I am stuck in a chair and can’t get up. Curiously in about half an hour I am supposed to be at my weekly Chiropractic adjustment trade I do with Dr. Fisher. Ellen calls Dr. Fisher and he graciously offers to come over and do what he can with me stuck in the chair. He does so and about an hour later I am able to slowly hobble to my bed. As my back is in complete spasm, Ellen then calls Susan McDonald, the excellent massage therapist at the office, to plead for help. Being an angle of mercy she arrives and works on me forever. Before she leaves I am able to hoist myself upright and hang on to my dresser and do pelvic circles and rocking to increase mobility in the hips and low back. By the next day I am gingerly mobile and able to work slowly at the office. Everything seems to be progressing nicely as I get a little better each day.
I week goes by and only a little pain is left. I am currently refinishing my kitchen cabinets. I had stripped them the weekend before and n ow I was ready to do the 3 grades of sanding and start the first paint coat. All is good. I have set up a table and chair on the back porch so I can be working in a good back protective position. Everything goes well until the late afternoon. I am getting tired after 8 hours of sanding and painting…but do I stop – no. My ego override says “You only have 2 doors left”. “Your back will last just fine.” I shouldn’t have listened to my ego. My back started to seize up. I immediately laid down and put a cold pack on it but to no avail. By the next morning I couldn’t get out of bed and I have basically have been flat on my back for the last 4 days. Lots of friends have been offering to help and Susan and Dr. Fisher have both been over several times to work on me, but the pain and spasm is just being stubborn. The last time Dr. Fisher checked me out everything was “in place”, but just in pain…a sure sign that the cause was an emotional, mental, or spiritual conflict causing the pain. Yeah, I knew that. But knowing that is not the same as being able to identify it and bring it to complete resolution. Exploring the causes behind the pain using the Heartflow process I developed has been unfolding some deep change for me. The pain is better in most positions, but standing or sitting for more than 3 or 4 minutes still is a problem. I was not able to work Thursday and Friday last week. We shall see tomorrow morning if I will be at work for Monday. My processing continues… more to come.