"I don't know, what?" I replied through gritted teeth.
"You can negotiate with terrorists," he responded.
"Ha ha ha-AYUGH!" I laughed as he twisted my neck farther and to the right.
"Relax," he reminded me.
Yeah, right. I was seeing huge black spots and could barely keep my entire body from seizing. I actually have super sore muscles in my core and leg, I had been keeping them so tight.
So, I shall never secretly hope in my heart for something interesting to post in this blog. Heavenly Father hears our prayers, and this is a testament to that.
The other day I went to early morning gym and did some exercising. While in the midst of Electronic-Parade-Version Hymns, Waaaay too happy teachers, and jumping sisters, my neck popped. It felt just like any other popping joint, where something just slips with an audible noise. Normally you feel pretty good right after it happens.
I, regrettably, did not feel good. After the pop, I was no longer able to look up or to the right without enduring severe pain. I actually couldn't keep my head straight without any pain, so I found myself leaning my head to the left.
Not wanting to leave the class during such pathetic exercises, I continued with the gym period, just adjusting each time I had to look over the right shoulder. I assumed I had rubbed a muscle the wrong way, and it would feel better if I stretched it out. After gym, I rubbed my neck gently and returned to the room for personal study.
The pain did not abate. When we set out for breakfast, I asked my companion to come back to the gym with me. She agreed quickly. The pain had gotten much worse, and it was difficult not to change my breathing or cry out. I spoke with the physical therapist at the gym, and he took one look at my neck, heard what I was doing, and said, "You probably just strained it. Tilt your head far to the left and gently return it to center position. Stretch that muscle. You'll be fine."
I thanked him for his time and left once again for breakfast. I tried that exercise, and it didn't seem to help. In fact, after 3 times the pain suddenly increased to the point where I was having difficulty thinking straight at all. I could no longer find any position where my neck was not hurting.
I was worried, and did not hesitate when my companion suggested we skip our service activity to go to the health clinic. By the time we arrived, I asked her to explain the problem while I started to cry. I was getting so frustrated---I had been injured and I couldn't figure out why or how. I couldn't understand what was wrong with my neck, and by this point it was a constant and unavoidable 7 on the pain scale.
We waited for an incredibly long time at the clinic. I was put in as an emergency appointment. The doctor still took 20 minutes to see me (this is probably really fast but I was super frustrated). He grabbed my neck roughly and jerked it around, then checked my reflexes. "Your neck muscles have torn. I'll schedule physical therapy." he responded.
We went through some paperwork, my parents were called for insurance information, and I was put on a shuttle and taken to a physical therapist. He finally gave me a full examinationg WITHOUT yanking my head around in any way.
He announced that my spine had locked up in the neck, in 5 different joints. Normally joints slide on top of each other just fine, but mine became locked side by side and wouldn't move. This was causing the pain and the lack of movability.
He then went through a series of INCREDIBLY PAINFUL twists and turns of my neck. I knew this was necessary and put up with it, but it was not pleasant by any meaning of the word. He did this 5 times, one for each locked up joint, and then apologized---some of the joints were so badly locked up that he had to do them again. This was easily a 12 on the pain scale (of 10). It was difficult, but I dealt with it. This lasted for 2 hours.
I was now able to move my neck, but not without severe pain. This all happened Friday. On Monday, I went back to see him and he was able to make it so I have full movement on my neck, but I have to go back the rest of this week in order to fix the problem and prevent it from happening again. I am happy for him to help prevent this from happening again, but I still wish it had never happened in the first place. It's embarrassing to visit doctors and be sick.
And now, you might be wondering what I was doing when this horrible spinal injury occurred. I would love to entertain you with dramtic tales of me leaping up walls to grab the basketball and make the game saving throw only to fall badly, or jumping down stairs and side-kicking to the face only to have the return catch me at a bad angle. I would to regale such impressive stories of how this all came to be, but I am striving to be Honest this week, and so I am left only with the truth:
A jumping jack broke my neck.
