Physical Therapy

On Monday I went to my first physical therapy appointment. I woke up that morning feeling defeated and angry because I hadn't been able to sleep much the night before but I also felt the tiniest bit of hope that the physical therapist would be able to help me. I've also been having nightmares every night about having surgery on my neck which is also exhausting.

In one dream I was sitting in a lobby with Tony waiting for my surgery and we were talking about what the incision would look like. Then, next to us, a nurse comes out of an office and tells a woman to stand up and turn around. The woman does and then the nurse starts turning what looks like a gas cap on the back of the woman's neck to release steam. In my dream I'm doing everything I can to not stare while also trying to get Tony's attention so that he knows that he'll have to release my steam every once in awhile...weird, I know.

Anyhow, after being introduced to the therapist we went into a small exam room where she asked me tons of questions about the pain I was feeling. She then had me use a tens machine plus a heating pad on my neck for about 10 minutes. (It felt SOOO good!) Once that was done she set up a cervical traction machine for me to use for 5 minutes. I was a little wary of it when I saw it, it's kind of medieval looking, but it turned out to be nothing to worry about. You put your head on the machine they adjust it to fit to your neck size, attach a strap over your forehead to prevent movement. Finally, using a pump, the therapist adds traction to the machine which kind of pulls your neck/spine into position for stretching. It wasn't painful at all but you can definitely feel a difference while lying like that. After 5 minutes they removed the machine but told me to rest my neck for about a minute.

That was it. I'm scheduled to go back in tomorrow morning and have several other appointments scheduled as well. I was terribly sore Monday night and all day Tuesday and I'm guessing it was from the therapy. The therapist told me that the way they know if this is working is that I'll begin to notice the pain localizing to one spot. So now I have pain from my neck down into my left shoulder and all the way to my fingers on my left hand. She said I'd begin to notice less pain and tingling/numbness in my hand, then less in my elbow up to my shoulder and eventually the pain would only be in my neck which is where the root of all this is. I guess after that the pain will go away from my neck as well and I'll be good as new. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

I still have to get the epidural this coming Monday and fingers crossed that will also help with the pain. I slept a little better last night than before and didn't use the heating pad at all which was nice. I woke up stiff and with a throbbing in my neck and arm but it was nice to be able to sleep comfortably. That stupid heating pad makes me so darn hot and my arm always ends up tangled in the cord. So annoying!