Oh Thursday, how you mock me! "One more day until the weekend!" you say, "Yipee!" While under your breath you mutter the painful reality that my chiro weekend has come to a close. That means 4 long days until Dr. Travis puts one hand on my forehead, a foot on the back of my underwear, pushes my spine away with a broom handle and shoots me across the room (thanks Eddie, lol) like a flying squirrel.
Today was epic.
Let's start at the beginning.
Up at 3am with the littlest one. *sob* Got him back down by 4am.
Husband to train by 5:15am. *sniffle*
I made the insane mistake of trying to catch a little more sleep after I got home and before the kids woke up. Zelig came in at 6:15am. *whimper* It was like trying to wake up after a f-u-n night with friends....you know what I mean. OMGOMGOMG! After 5 or so minutes the world finally stopped spinning and my senses started to wake up and work. I got the boys up, dressed and fed, although I never got around to feeding myself. C'est la vie d'une maman. I began to clean. And clean. And clean. It didn't matter in the end. Nothing ever looked picked up. Of. Course. At 1pm I put the Kaschew down for a nap and put Zelig in my bed. I didn't have time to lay down with him to get him to fall asleep, so the hour from 1-2pm consisted of me saying, "Zelig lie down. Zelig put your head on the pillow. PUT. YOUR. HEAD. ON. THE. PILLOW. Stop talking. STOP talking. S-T-O-P talking. Close your eyes. Your eyes. Your E-Y-E-S. Zelig lie down. Get back on the bed and lie down. Lie down. D-O-W-N." Aaaaaaaaaaand repeat. All while preparing packages to send out for my husband. He never did take a nap. And neither did his brother. Both talked the entire time, and Zelig even slipped by me and went downstairs to play...so I naturally gave up because I was in a time crunch to get to the post, then home to gather all their necessaries for minimal insanity at the chiropractor, and them of course, and then out to the train station to get Daddy and then off to our appointments.
So, the post. What can I say about the post. Let me start with something nice. Ummmmm, well, it's close. That's nice. The parking's decent. They have a/c. They didn't have a line this time...well, not a huge one...at least when I got there...only 3 people in front of me (including the one at the desk). But, why, oh WHY Frankfort post must you ALWAYS ONLY have one window open? WHYYYYYYYYY? Today it was the only male I've ever seen at that post working window. What's that you ask? Why yes, he was moving at the speed of...what?...what speed?! If he and a rock raced each other in an uphill 10m dash, the rock would win hands down. And in case you were wondering...yup!...that same token postal worker that popped out to the lobby area every 10 minutes or so to see if anyone was just picking up or dropping off post from the other day made her appearance again today...as the line grew...and grew.
Now, what I really enjoyed about my trip to the post today was not the same brutally slow routine I experience each time I'm there. I know that's a big shock. Rather, it was the gentleman two people behind me in line that beamed when token postal worker popped out to ask about drop off/pick up post and he actually fit in to that category. He skillfully slithered under the dividing rope showcasing his best luau limbo skills and held up a card that had been left by his postman that day for the popper postal worker to take. He then turned around and blushed apologetically conveying his condolences for being lucky enough to move to the head of the class. What happened next I can only guess could be categorized as an epic fail. With a room full of covetous eyes on him, the postal worker returned with his card and informed him that his postman had noted that the package would be available for pickup....tomorrow. HA! I guarantee you every soul in that static line felt vindicated. He tried to recover by telling her that his postman told him he could just come in today and pick it up...but...do you know where I'm going to go with this?....take a second....if his postman had told him, why wouldn't he have just given him the package?! He left looking dejected, eyes on the ground, cheeks pink. Epic. Fail.
After the post I dashed home and ran around collecting toys, diapers, underwear, wipes, food and children. All were thrown into the car and we left to get Daddy. We were running a bit late....thank GOD for my trusty little radar detector...there's no other way to get through Mokena going 60mph...shhh, don't tell anyone ;)
The chiropractor was a welcome relief from a non-stop day. After running around the house, pulling a muscle in my side, beating my head on the counter at the post and trying to get from A to B in one piece and on time, my spine probably looked more like a connect the dots puzzle from the stress than anything that could support a person. I was more than eager for my turn on the table and Dr. Trav's ability to turn me into a rice krispie. Before surrendering myself I let him know my headaches returned in full force. I'm telling you, you can't even begin to fathom my dismay when he told me it was normal to have relapses. Oh dear Father in heaven...nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I'm quite sure a piece of me died when he said that, and it must have shown on my face. I slid onto the table and began the focused effort of relaxing my body so that he wouldn't have to crank on it multiple times to get things to move. Sacrum relocation...ahhhh. So love it! Neck adjustment...progressively more tolerable. It's not that it's uncomfortable...it's just that the movement and pressure on my neck and my face against the hole in the table headrest ring so closely to what I can only imagine birth is like for the infant. I'm pretty certain that one of these days he's going to end up jamming my head through the hole in the headrest, and I'll be the moron on the 6 'o clock news with the chiropractic table around my neck, the fire department using the jaws of life to cut me out. My side adjustments were exceptionally easier than before, even with my severely strained muscle. The towel-back-roll-look-I'm-a-butterfly adjustment...oh my...could we just do that 8 or 10 times over? And then lastly the owl adjustment (yes, that's my nickname for it now), my least favorite, but evidently necessary snap, crackle and pop. It ended up being more comfortable than in the past, thank goodness. Then, THEN came the surprise...sweet mother Mary and Joseph! Neck *gasp* massage *sigh*. Yup, lucky lil' me got a surprise impromptu neck massage to help with the headaches. I'm pretty sure I almost melted off the table it felt so good. Oh Dr. Travis, I promise your basement office in our home in St. Louis will be a thing dreams are made of -- you'll never regret being chiropractor-napped ;)
As fabulous as that all was, I have to say the highlight of my day, and one of the top highlights of my life, was yet to come. I asked Dr. Travis a couple questions I'd been thinking about before the adjustments, but my husband and I both knew there was another one that was burning in me...I just couldn't remember it. After several of my post-adjustment therapies, during the stair stepping actually, it dawned on me...probably more out of pain than anything else. I finished up and hopped of and made sure to wait until his mouth was full of peanut butter and banana before asking his thoughts on using an unloader brace so that I could start working out harder, running and playing sports again, while still working on strengthening the muscles around my knee when I'm not doing those things. One little question turned into a barrage, unfortunately for him, but by the end I was bouncing off the walls inside myself. I finally got real answers about my knee injury and how to re-strengthen myself and meet my strength, sports and weight loss goals. My EX-orthopedic surgeon had told me that if I didn't want to get surgery than I shouldn't come back to see him if I could manage the pain on my own. He also told me I could never do squats again. Let me tell you, that is completely devastating to hear as an athlete and especially as a mom of 2 kids. I've spent months on end trying to figure out how I could possibly get my legs and butt back in shape if I can't incorporate squats. It's my hardest area to control and my most effective exercise was pulled out from under me. My physical therapist told me that I could just do "mini" squats, i.e. squatting a quarter of the way, just doing more reps. I tried it and quit as I found my knee to be worse off after those than full squats. And then Dr. Travis, in all his glory, all his education, all his training, all his endless kindness took the time out of his day, at the very end of his day when I'm sure he wanted to be anywhere but at the office still, to answer my completely un-chiropractic-related questions. God bless Dr. Travis, truly. He talked to me about different factors that come in to play in knee injuries. He even got me back on the table and checked the range of motion on both knees and palpated my legs for contributing issues. He showed me how to use the "whoopin' stick" to work out some of the issues. He told me that I absolutely could do squats and should do squats...and full squats to boot...because it engages and strengthens all the muscles around the knee and in the leg and butt when done properly. He even showed me the proper technique...and I couldn't believe the football coach had been teaching us wrong for years. (I even went home and showed my mother-in-law the closest thing I could to the proper technique and there was such minimal pain!) I'm sure he'll never know, but that day he did something for me that no other doctor or therapist or coach has been able to since my injury in the spring of 1999...he gently picked up those little pieces of my heart that had been devastated and crushed from when my injury happened through every consultation, every doctor, every therapist I've talked to and cleaned them off and so carefully put them back in place where they belong so that I can start healing. I actually cried tonight thinking about his kindness and what he said to me. I've had this part of me that has been so crushed for 11 and a half years that I would never be able to perform at my peak again, or even well. I lost my drive to work out and lift weights because although I can build upper body strength quickly and easily, I felt I would never be able to get my lower body strength anywhere near up to par based on what I'd been told. I left with the biggest high and my heart soaring. One little conversation with the right person and I feel like I have more energy and desire and motivation and strength than I've had in years. He'll never know, never really truly know what he's done, but he'll always be one of those names until my last breath that I remember...and that's saying something considering I couldn't even tell you who delivered my almost 4yr old.
I don't even know how long I was talking to him...much longer than I should have been I'm sure. I'm quite certain he and the techs wanted to hit the pavement. His patience and dedication and thoughtfulness and empathy seem limitless. He's truly a man of quality and strength of character and one of the few people I've know or met that have made such a solid and positive impression on me. I could sing his praises until I'm blue in the face, so I'll stop here....but hopefully you're getting the picture of how highly I think of him, and I hope that will motivate you to utilize him and his practice if you need it (or even if you think you don't).
Anyway, to continue the evening my husband had to remind me of our time crunch so that we (and the techs and clinic director) could get on our way. We zipped home and dropped the kids off before turning right around and heading out to Flossmoor for a new parent orientation at Flossmoor Montessori School. It was great to see Sarah in action. She's a natural at her job as head directress for her room, and I can't wait to see the growth in Zelig from his experiences in her classroom. I can't believe that school starts up next week...I mean, I'm definitely happy about it, but at the same time, the driving does eat a good chunk of time (2hrs total) for just 3hrs of schooling a day. It's worth it, it's worth it, it's worth it.
We got home from the FMS meeting around 8:30pm and Zach headed straight to bed. I talked with his mom a while and then spent time with a screaming 18 month old for an hour trying to get him calm and back to sleep. Now that he's down, of course I'm blogging instead of sleeping, but since we're creeping up on midnight and I have to be up at 4:30am I'm gonna log off and check out for the night.
Although, I've got to say, as utterly exhausted as I am, it's going to be hard to fall asleep with all the questions I have running through my head for Dr. Travis and the ultimate high I'm on from our brief conversation.....
Sweet, sweet dreams in store :)
