“I never want you to be comfortable…” . WHAT??? Were these words really rolling off Dr. Cris’ tongue? I was stunned. Ever since I entered her office, my main mission was to be pain free, comfortable, and get my life back. Isn’t it human nature to strive for a minimalistic status of comfortable, and beyond?
When this whole thing first started five years ago, I viewed it as a sprint, not a marathon. Striving to swiftly return to how things used to be; an unhealthy comfortable. Basked in uninformed nutritional ignorance, all I had to do was conquer the injury and return to my acceptedly content life living with a neuromuscular disease.
But, like a pancake, that perspective has been flipped on it’s head. After an informal, yet profound education and a hard reality check, I’ve made peace with the fact that this is a marathon. A competition against myself in which comfort elicits complacency. Leaving me no choice but to reach beyond minimalistic expectations. The benefits of this often exhausting race outweigh the negative, and I am too committed to quit now. In other words; uncomfortable means progress!
Continual progress is Dr.Cris’ message and positive progression is obvious under Dr. Cris’ care. It’s my belief that my body, as well as the Holy Spirit, navigate her decisions during each adjustment, signaling whether to move forward in a more aggressive manner, or back off when needed. Every adjustment is purposeful. Even through my cloudy understanding, she foresees the end result and how it will benefit me in the long run.
The month of March was fantastic! Glimpses of my old self returned with little pain and more mobility. My body felt the best it had felt in months. Things were finally turning around! I almost dare to say, I felt comfortable…
Well, comfortable was Dr. Cris’ green flag. I was strong enough and ready for more. In early April, she used a whole new adjustment on my body.
This drastic change felt like I was instantaneously morphed into an entirely new shell. Years of sitting obliviously took an unknown toll on my hips, splaying them out, instead of under. Dr. Cris repositioned me by turning my femoral heads of my legs inward, correctly placing them under my pelvis. Everything felt good, yet weirdly different! Freaky, yet fantastic. Is this what “normal” felt like?
This new adjustment, conversely, produced its yings with its yangs.
Precisely aligning my spine with my pelvis, allowed the sacrum or tailbone to essentially float away from the nerve bundle which I’d been sitting on for countless years. Thus, freeing this bundle of nerves allowed for greater blood flow, and improved circulation and sensations to my feet.
In addition, due to more mobility, muscle was building faster (now, when I say faster, I mean more like a snail than a slug!), better assisting that stubborn SI to stay in its happier, natural position.
Oddly, hot sensations were penetrating along my spinal cord. At times, I felt like I was in a boiling cauldron. Giant ice packs along my spine provided cool and much welcomed relief. I thought the menace of menopause, or hot flashes, finally invaded this already tormented body, but Dr Cris just smiled at the news of regenerating nerves!
The process of the body reacclimating itself, often, is the toughest part of these major adjustments, virtually returning to square one.This usually means relearning how to maneuver, as well as rethinking how to do the simplest of activities. Much patience is required as my old body desperately struggles to reacquaint with the newly adjusted body.
Blessed to say, my body always finds it’s way back! Small adjustments take a few days, major ones a few months. But, several years of slow, extremely uncomfortable changes have begun culminating into fruition with my body looking and feeling stronger. Change is always uncomfortable, but change and growth go hand in hand. Daily, I am reminded, through God’s grace, of this powerful life lesson! I guess Dr. Cris might be on to something after all.
*If yeou would like to receive a free subscription to Laurel’s* blog, Strides of Faith, enter your e-mail address in the box under “Don’t Miss My Updates”, and new blogs will be sent directly to your e-mail.