Holiday Pain

So my back has been hurting for the last 2 weeks or so ... I've been trying to work it out or more likely ... wait it out, but ... it wasn't happening. It's similar to the pain I had when I took a nasty spill while ice skating in cali. So I guess it flared up 3 years after the fact. I think it might have been due to the onset of the EXTREMELY cold weather or atleast it helped aggravate it. So I couldn't take it anymore on Monday (12/9) and I scheduled a doctor's appointment with what I thought was a family practice physician but turned out to be a chiropractor. I'm OK with a chiropractor b/c they specialize in the back but this woman turned out to be a NIGHTMARE! One I found out (only after I left) that she went to medical school at Osteo of Niyt (WTF?!) and she didn't even speak good English ... which should not be a factor but only served to make things worse for me b/c I couldn't always understand her and she couldn't properly communicate with me. This is a problem. Anyways so she takes me into a room and does a scan of my spine and I can clearly see (although I already pointed out to many of my friends that this pain I was feeling was very localized and acute. It also felt just like a severely pinched nerve.) That between L1 and L2 of my lumbar vertebrae that there is clearly a swelling of the disc in between the two vertebrae which would account for the pinched nerve and my source of discomfort and pain. Then she takes me into a room and has me lay down on this table which massages and rolls my back much like those chairs you can sit in and feed a dollar to and it massages your back. I'm there for about 10 minutes which I assume she's doing to loosen my spine and the muscles up. Then she puts me on this table and puts this hot lamp on my back well ... the light being emitted by the lamp is really hot ... so the actual lamp wasn't on my back and she proceeds to massage my back with her ELBOW!!!!! This is EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE AND PAINFUL! But that's exactly what a deep tissue massage is anyways so i'm thinking to myself ... "I can deal with this, this is OK. I'll just bite my tongue off, but I'll be OK". Then she takes something in a box that clinks and says "I do chinese cups!" and no sooner had she completed this sentence she HAMMERS into my back these "cups" that happen to have NEEDLES (a la acupuncture) INTO MY BACK!!!!! She puts about 4 small ones and 4 large ones into my back and I'm laying there trying desperately NOT to FREAK OUT! What I really wanted to do was jump up and brush these cups off of my back and run out of that office screaming. But I didn't know about these things on my back and if I jumped up and freaked out God knows I could have possibly pulled the flesh off my back and been bleeding to death on my way back to work! Anyways so I stayed in place, lying on that table ... freaking out silently. Then her assistant comes into the room and removes the cups and "wipes" off my back to which i'm almost certain was bleeding! THen she brings out these pads that are connected to a machine and eerily looks similar to an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and she tells me that the doctor is going to do "electrophysiology" on me.
I was absolutely beside myself at that point! No way in hell were you going to electrically SHOCK me! Not after putting needles in my back and not telling me you were goign to do before you did it! Zis vy ze 'ol Russian ting iz no vork for me! Good grief! Well apparently the doc ran out of time and said that she would have to do the "electrical" thing at another appointment. She tells me that I have to come back on wednesday for a prescription for physical therapy and that I need 15 more sessions! WTF?!?!?!?! The first 12 will be at her office and then the last 3 at a hospital where they're going to put me under anesthesia while they manipulate my back. Ummmm.... let me see ... hmmmm .... 'ow do I say zis, NOOOOO!!!!!!!!! When I got back to work I ran straight for the bathroom where the full-length mirror is and looked at my back and sho'nuff there were bruises on my back and they're STILL there and today is THURSDAY (12/13)!!!! Needless to say, I will NOT be going back to a chiropractor, especially her, anytime soon. I actually went to a DO yesterday and she did some osteopathic (Shaunte this is for you) spine manipulations and my back feels much better and she told me that I couldn't do any strenuous exercise(s), to keep my back warm and to take Motrin for the pain. That old hag chiropractor who I call and shall be henceforth named "fluffy", didn't give me ANY advice all she said was, "I vill feex you!" I feel immensely better today and I have another session scheduled for next wednesday (12/19) ... I should be back to normal soon. *^_^*