Things are looking up.

As I said in an earlier post, I've been back and forth to doctors about chronic pain in my neck and back.  I've seen two of the GPs at our local clinic, the chiropractor, remedial massage therapists, accupuncturist, and today I saw an osteopath.  Next week I'm booked into see a neuro surgeon.  The reason I'm consulting all of them is to get all the opinions from the various fields of medicine, then make a decision about how I am going to manage the pain and degeneration of my vertebrae.   Typical GPs - they prescribe valium and panadol forte;  chiro does the usual manipulations;  massage therapists do a great job in un-knotting the muscles and tendons; and the accupuncturist has fixed some other problems along the way.

 But I was very happy with the osteopath I saw today as he spent about an hour with me discussing all the treatments and how they can benefit me (or not), then giving me his own treatment which is like a combined remedial massage/chiropractic session.   He found much the same as the accupuncturist - it wasn't my neck bones that were giving me trouble, it was a set of muscles in the neck and shoulder  blades that were in spasm.  One thing most of the alternative therapy people have all agreed on is that I do not need surgery on my neck (at this stage) especially in view of the presence of osteopenia (precursor to osteoporosis).  But I will still see this neuro surgeon, and take on board whatever he has to tell me.  In the meantime, I will continue with the traction, and start doing my exercises again that I neglected to do over December and January, and the pain is already settling down to a dull ache that a bit of stretching will usually fix.

Unfortunately, bending over the sewing machine for any length of time does not help, nor does cleaning out the chook house or other heavy housework, so I am hoping the council will send a helper to me soon for the vac and mopping side of housework.  I don't expect them to clean the chook house - that will be Ken's job from now on!  As for my sewing, I'll just have to pace myself, and do the sewing in 15 minute time frames with resting or stretching in between.