Wednesday, July 17, 2019

An Update On My Neck Problem

So, I know some of you have been waiting on the edge of your seats to hear what ever happened to me and my weird neck problem from a few weeks ago (ha ha), so here's the update.

After being completely panicked and stressed out over it from Thursday July 4th to Tuesday July 9th, the problem seemed to, for the most part, go away.  Throughout that weekend, strange and painful pulses were going off on the left side of neck and running up behind my ear.  The pains didn't last long, but after it happened, I was left feeling kind of fuzzy and dazed, and my neck and left shoulder seemed sore and almost seized up.  It wasn't fun.  So I called my doctor's office and got a squeeze-in appointment for yesterday.  Of course, not long after making the appointment, the issue seemed to disappear.  I've had some twinges of pain since then, but nothing like what happened throughout that weekend.  I was pretty sure my doctor was going to just nod and say, "Ah yes, here's Jillian, the nut bar."

Of course he didn't.  He's too kind and too good at being a doctor to just brush me off as crazy. And for that, I am deeply grateful.

First of all, my doctor's office experience in this case was probably the best I've ever had in my life.  The fact that they were able to squeeze me in to see him just over a week after I called was a bit of a miracle.  It took a weight off my shoulders knowing I was going to see my trusted and respected doctor, as he is the best at calming me down when I'm "in a state".  Despite that, I was still kind of dreading the visit because my appointment was at 3:50 PM.  I don't think I've ever had an appointment that was actually on time, and I figured by that point in the day he'd be goooood and behind in his schedule.  I expected at LEAST a 45 minute wait.  I got there 10 minutes early, checked in, went to the washroom, and settled in to wait.  Then they called my name.  5 MINUTES EARLY.  I almost fell off my chair.  I actually looked around to see if there was another Jillian jumping up, because surely, this could not be possible?

There were no other Jillians.  It was me.  They were calling me.  I couldn't believe it.

They put me in a room and I thought, "Welp, this is probably where the wait will happen.  He won't show up for half an hour."  And within seconds, he came shuffling into the room.  Literally could.not.believe.it.

We greeted one another and he asked me what was wrong, and I launched into my spiel about what had happened two weekends ago, and he nodded and told me he knew exactly what was going on, because he too has experienced it.  (I think this is one of his calming techniques; I've noticed almost anytime I'm in a tizzy about something medically, he, too, has had that.  And it works.)  He said he was sure I had a pinched Occipital nerve (which my googling diagnosing had also suggested), probably from sleeping the wrong way, or from craning my neck funny to talk on the phone or something like that, and that if the symptoms had gone away I was likely going to be just fine, but should it happen again, the first thing I should do is book a massage with a good RMT (which my sister had suggested at the time, so I think that basically means she and I are practically doctors.)

We chatted a bit about it, what other things he could do if it comes back or gets worse, what the worst-case scenarios could be (which he assured me I don't have), but for the time being, despite the scare I had, it's probably over and I can go back to living life normally.  Which for me is just always kind of mildly worrying I might be dying, rather than really focusing on and fearing it.

While I was there, I had him check my blood pressure, also always kind of a concern at the back of my mind, but apparently that was very normal too. Another little "phewf".

I was walking out of the office by 4 PM.  I felt a million times better. 

Ironically, as I was driving home, an old familiar pressure started building in my head.  Sinus headache.  I have had these off and on for a million years, but I haven't had one for quite a while, so of course it hits when I'm finally getting over this other drama.  Strangely enough, that familiar dull ache that sets in with that pressure was almost welcomed after those other zaps I had a few weeks ago.  I almost felt like saying, "Oh, hello, old friend.  You, I can handle."

All's well that ends well. :)

2 comments:

Rev. Nancy said...

Glad to know you are fine, yeah!

Debbie Johnston said...

Glad everything was good Jill.