A Tale of Two Ribs

Yesterday Jay left early for work, so I was home with Caden by myself, getting us ready for work/school. I was blow drying my hair and Caden was running around the bathroom like a crazy monkey when I gently (and I seriously mean gently) flipped my head from one side to the other. POP! In between my shoulder blades shot this horrible pain. It scared me and with every breath I tried to take in, it would hurt more and more.
I turned off the hairdryer and thought to myself, "Oh my gosh, I threw my back out!"
I have a lot of back problems for a 25 year old woman...I have a slipped disc in my lower back and scoliosis that I developed from my pregnancy. Lucky, I have a chiropractor who has completely changed the quality of my life so I immediately called his office and left a message. They weren't open for another hour so I left in the message what had happened and asked for them to call me back right away.
I still had to get Caden dressed and his lunch packed for school. I decided to tackle lunch first.
II have never had a more difficult time buttering bread. It was excruciating.
This is another reason why living in Crawfordville is awful...because there is no one that I know close by who can help me in a crisis. I soldiered on.
Next was the hard part. Getting Caden dressed. On a good day this is a nightmare. He likes to kick, wiggle, run in the opposite direction and purposefully do the opposite of what I say. It's like gymnastics trying to get him ready. After many, MANY attempts to have him put his own foot in his pants I lost it. I yelled at him.
I hate yelling at him. I don't believe in yelling...I believe in being stern, I believe in the power of a properly administered wooden spoon :) and sometimes I have to raise my voice in order to be heard over his, but this was an 'I lost my cool' kind of yell.
I apologized to him and asked for his help. He seemed to have been unaffected by my fit of rage, and continued to be impossible. Eventually, he was dressed and in the car.
We headed into town. Every turn I had to make with the steering wheel was like a stab to the upper mid-back. I was starting to get really scared that I would be in pain for our trip to Canada. The timing was not good.
I finally got Jay on the phone and said, "I threw my back out this morning."
To which he replied, "Ok..."
This made me even more angry. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'OK' !!!?!?!"
Innocently enough, he was just waiting for me to finish the story, but he didn't give me the response I wanted and pain makes me irrational. I continued driving, fuming and him, at Caden, at God and mostly at myself for being so mad at everyone.
I got Caden into school. The chiropractors office called me back and told me they had a 2:15 appointment open. It was 8:50 when they called. I said ok and headed to work. Home was too far to retreat to (Crawfordville....Grrr) so I figured I might as well make some money.
On the way from school to work I asked God for forgiveness and grace for blowing it. I'm thankful that he hears me and forgives my short comings when I'm so undeserving.
I work from 9-2 and get to the chiro at 2:10, who is running about 25 minutes behind. Finally, he greets me in the lobby. I told him the problem was in my upper back today and he said, "Really? Turn around."
So in the lobby he felt my spine and then pushed in on a specific area saying, "Does it hurt when I do this?"
My entire body jolt when he touched me should have been an indication that yes, it hurt, A LOT!
"You have a rib out!" he said. He felt around some more and touched another terrible spot just below the first and said, "You have 2 ribs out. You did quite the number on yourself today."
You would think I had been whipping my hair around like I was in a music video or something, but no...I was simply, gently tossing it from one side to the other in an attempt to dry it. A woman in her 20's shouldn't be this fragile.
I went into his office and he proceeded to pop the ribs back into place. Not a fun experience, but a much necessary one. According to his description, the ribs join at the spine and two of mine had slipped from their rightful connecting place and were resting between my spine and lungs...that's why breathing was such a painful task.
From there my darling husband made me a massage appointment (making up for earlier :) and we all went home afterwards instead of going to the church Christmas party, which as sad I was to miss it, was the right decision. After dinner, hot tea, chocolate and the Muppet's Christmas special, I was feeling much better.
Today, I'm sore but in good shape...and my hair is wet and in a pony tail :)