Surprise Wake Up Call

I was prepared to enjoy one last day of sleeping late; I've been snoozing in until 10 am. Sadly, my body did not decide to cooperate, and I woke with very high pain in my left "breast" and numbness in my right hand. It not only hurt, it scared me. I think I probably just overdid my activities yesterday-I carried 3 loads of firewood upstairs and did some very gentle modified yoga, as well as some increased stretching. Didn't feel like anything at the time, but that's the challenge with getting back to a normal activity level. Today the left sided pain has been up around 8 or so and the right hand stayed numb until after dinner.

I had already made an appointment with Luby, my chiropractor/acupuncturist, who I like to try to see regularly just to stay "tuned up", so I felt very fortunate that it was planned for today already. Luby seemed to think that I just overdid it, which was comforting, and even immediately after the treatment I felt a bit better, and by now, a few hours later, I'm much better. Of course I finally gave in and used the Ox and half of a Valium, but even before those kicked in I was aware of feeling better. What had been a sharp, stabbing pain and sort-of searing feeling with motion on the left, as though my expander were aggravating the heck out of the pec minor. Now it feels like there is a small marble underneath the expander; certain motions, such as elevating my chest and pulling my shoulder blades down my back elicits the pain, but it is now down to about 4-5/10 and tolerable. It's still the left side bugging me, but the focal point of the pain has moved.

It was such a sharp pain when I woke that I really thought I'd damaged myself. Even thought for a bit about whether I was going to have to go to the ER. If it's similarly high tomorrow morning, I'll contact the surgeon, but I think it's probably going to feel a lot better when I can get some manual therapy. Something about that referred pain between the pec and the rhomboids seems likely to be involved here; if it were a rib out of alignment I think Luby would've sussed it out, but that sense of something being lodged underneath the expander is odd, and pain is relieved by grabbing the mound and gently pulling it toward center.  Reducing inflammation by laying off the last of the holiday sweets might help...but there are only a few chocolates left...

So today  I was extremely careful about exercise, making sure to do some, but to avoid lifting anything heavier than my purse, which is not saying much, but I didn't want to just stop moving around at all. Frankly the amount of laying around by the fire the last few days of enjoying our White Christmas has probably not done me any favors in the pain department, despite being spiritually valuable. So I'm glad I went to the Y today and did a gentle elliptical workout, and did the isometrics for my arms that are part of my rehab routine, but I did not do the shoulder stretches. I'm trying to decide if any are in order today; I think it is probably as well to skip this session.