Sinking Fast........ Enter My Hero!

  I have a confession to make.  For most of this trip I have been in pain and trying to struggle through it.  Something happened to my upper back while I was on the transatlantic. It, my arm and elbow hurt constantly.  It hurt to sit up and I have been blogging while propped up in bed.  I have been able to go everywhere but by the end of the day all I wanted to do was go lie down on my bed. 

I kept thinking the pain would magically go away but it didn't. I developed this huge knot on my back and could feel it when I leaned back on a chair.  I had two massages in Italy and all I got was a bunch of bruises around my neck.  I went to the doctor in Chipping Campden.   I got anti-inflammatory medicine and painkillers but it still did not get better.

 I bought a boatload of creams, patches, hot packs, anything I could think of but I was barely getting by (although the knot did go down, I hurt all the time).

 My friends knew I was struggling and tried to help but what could they do???  The drivers could tell I was struggling because as the day wore on I would sink lower and lower into the seat, laying it back, pressing on my shoulder, trying anything to relieve the never ending ache.

The painkillers helped keep me going but I was getting more and more miserable and on the edge of depression.  All I knew was that I had been hurting for six weeks and had four weeks to go before I could get home.

No way I saw this coming.

Enter my hero!

When we arrived into Llanberis, once again I took to my bed and my two friends went out to dinner.  When they came back they said they had found someone to help me.  While walking through town they saw an osteopath's office that specialized in sports injuries, Zac Laraman.

Now as we all know, I am a businesswoman, not an athlete, not with these ankles and feet!  The closest I have ever gotten to a sports injury was the time I tore all the ligaments in my ankle while out dancing all night in Rome.  (Actually I came walking out of the club at 4 AM and went to lean against a glass partition not realizing it had ended about 3 feet earlier.  I did a free fall into the bushes and can still see the surprised look on that doorman's face between my upturned legs right before he fished me out of the flower bed.  After a trip to the hospital, I was shortly on a plane back home.)

Anyway, back to my hero...........

We went by the osteopath's office the next day and got the number on the door.   Come Monday, Idwal called and left a message for him and Zac called back that afternoon.

It was not an auspicious start....

With his British accent, my southern drawl and a cellphone, communication was painful (especially for him).  He was thoroughly frustrated.  I remember handing the phone back to Idwal and saying "That didn't go too well but at least I have an appointment at 11 tomorrow."

The next morning, after a scalding hot shower (I never did learn how to set that thing properly), I took off for his office.  No makeup, hair flying, dark sunglasses on but at least my clothes and I were clean.

Zac brusquely took me back into an examining room.  He was all business and not interested in a wingeing (sp?) moan bug American drama queen. (That would be "crybaby" in American vernacular.)

He gave me a form to fill out and left.  I dutifully filled it out as asked.  When he returned I had managed to totally screw up the form. While he was trying to correct it he reached over and pulled my dark sunglasses off.  He wasn't talking to anyone through dark sunglasses.  When he realized that not only had I screwed up the form, I now couldn't read it, he asked if they were prescription and slid them back on.

I apologized but explained that I had taken some codeine pills earlier.....another mistake.  That got another explosive response as in how was I going to tell him where it hurt.

Things were going downhill fast..........

I explained that I tried not to take the pills but it had been 4 hours earlier and I hurt.  I assured him that I was still hurting and could tell him exactly where the pain was.  I drew it on his back.

Zac is a strong, confident, take no prisoners kind of guy.  I like strong, confident, take no prisoners guys because there is usually a reason.  They are really good at what they do. (No inept, weak men are allowed in my world!)

But this time I hit the jackpot because Zac is also tender hearted.  He may not like to show it, but he is a sweetheart.  Strong, confident and tender hearted is the Triple Crown in my book.


                                      So my treatment began.....holy crap, Batman!