The symptoms for this attack started on the saturday before fu's bd (16th Dec), the day of our yellow themed party. My back began to feel not right but i didnt pay much attention to it as it was just some mild discomfort. On sunday, I told my mum while i was at her place that my back's not feeling too good and she asked if I need to go see a doc. I brushed it aside telling her that i'll prob get better as long as long as i manage to go for a swim.
The swim didnt happen but i managed to get an appointment from a regular tuina sinseh i've been seeing on 16th evening. She's very popular and i only managed to get a slot cos a close friend had made that appointment with her and had kindly given up her slot for me feeling that I prob need to see her more than she did. I felt rejuvenated and relaxed after my session with her. Singing praises and telling ky what a pity it is to all men that she only sees female patients (to avoid trouble).
The following morning, I did my usual biz and lifted the heavy pail of water for the flush. As all other mornings, I washed my face before heading to work. While bending down to wash off the facial foam, I could feel a slight strain on my back. Not taking too much notice of it, i proceeded to work.
The direct bus came the moment i arrived at the busstop and i promptly boarded the bus, finding myself a seat, feeling lucky. I sat down and felt something quite wrong. A specific point at my lower back along my spine was hurting. I stood up and adjusted my position twice before sitting down and still felt terrible.
Still i made my way to the office and booted up my laptop. I could feel my movements getting restricted. I couldnt move about with ease. I walked into my immediate boss's room and discussed something with him. I worked on my laptop standing, if u had any bad back experiences before, u'll prob know why. Sitting is the most uncomfortable position when u have a back injury. I didnt feel up to mark to continue working in the office and asked my immediate boss if he could send me back to my mil's pl, which he readily agreed, commenting that no wonder I looked uncomfortable when I walked into his room.
I went to see a rather well-known die da sinseh in the afternoon. I knew this was not the type of injury my regular tuina shi specialises in. Ky took a number for me before picking me up to the clinic. I had spent the morning lying down on mil's bed. The most painful time was when i was getting up from a lying position to a sitting position, ouch, a healthy person will never discover the the magnitude of pressure that action applies on one's back. When i walked to the carpark, my condition had already worsened and i had to apply pressure on the "pain point" before i could really walk.
Having been at the die da clinic several times before, i requested for the old sinseh to help me. After the treatment, i was still in pain but at least i didnt have to press onto my "pain point" when i walked. I called the tuina shi to schedule for my following session, hoping that i can recover asap, more so as it's the holiday season.
So i went for prob two more tuina sessions after the die da.. i spent my christmas holidays mostly on bed. I guess, if not for my 3 previous harrowing back experiences, i would had quite freaked out for this one. So determined to recover quickly, i even went swimming twice (of cos they were reeeaally slow swims) with my bad back, as part of my own physiotherapy. I wished I could spend more quality time with my kids during christmas, instead of just minding my own back on bed. I felt bad rejecting ting's requests to carry her and fu's request to play with him and shower him. I am fortunate and thankful that ky took on the added responsibilities of minding both kids without complaints.
Last weekend, huizi finally came home from erjie's place and to add to the joy, erjie's whole family also came back. I wore a back brace to my mum's and was very glad johann opened up to me the moment i stepped in with his friendly smile and "hello".
In the afternoon, when ky brought fu for his shichida class and ting was taking her nap, i helped en assemble a toy set on the floor. Trust me, sitting on the floor is a very streneous thing to do with a lousy back. It didnt take long before i went up to the bed (he was playing in the bedroom) to help him. I was hanging my arms down from the edge of the bed, while lying on my stomach. Intuitively, with a stomach down position on bed, i lifted my lower legs up to 90 degrees. That was the moment i knew i had aggravated my back. I could almost feel a "click". The pain point came back with great intensity. I was very afraid to get off the bed. It was difficult to even shift my position. Mum came back, asked if i was ok and i only said, "not very ok". She looked a little worried and told me she'll brew the chinese medicine that she brewed for me the previous weekend.
I finally summoned enough courage to leave the bed as i was feeling hungry. Half due to fear, half due to pain, my heartbeat increased. I stood up, quickly tightened my back brace and made my way slowly out of the room. I looked for the medical oil and rubbed it on my back. I took a much smaller portion for my dinner as i didnt have the mood nor appetite to eat anymore after i didnt feel hungry.
I went home that night, feeling very happy that i finally see my nephews and sister after almost a year yet feeling rather worried for my back at the same time. Ky looked at me concerned and asked me if i wanted to do an MRI. I told him that MRI is just a diagnosis which I dont need. What i need is a treatment. Having tried almost everything, short of surgery for back treatments, i knew very well that western treatment pales thoroughly compared to chinese treatment when back is concerned. At night, i laid on bed, troubled, thinking about what to do. Then one name sprung to my mind. The name of a previous sinseh who treated my previous back injury (prolapsed disc) which left me bedridden. She's a chinese national and i was not sure if she had left for home in northern china. As it was almost 10pm, i dropped an sms to her. I waited for a reply but i went to sleep dejected.
The next morning, i felt petrified when i had to get off the bed. Surprisingly, getting up from bed was not too bad. However, when i stood, the paid creeped in slowly but vengefully. My back felt like a lump of plastincine being compressed into a sheet of paper. I could only walk half a step at a time. It was raining heavily when we arrived at mil's carpark. I had asked ky to call mil for help since we didnt bring fu's umbrella down and ky got to carry ting. I got off the car, with a back that felt like concrete that had cured, totally stiffened and in pain. I wished someone could just wheel me to my mil's block but i didnt have much choice other than to walk. Mil looked at me and shook her head sympathetically when we reached the lift lobby.
At mil's, I just took my position on mil's bed, without breakfast. I had checked my mobile when i woke but found no sms reply from the doc. I decided to give her a call. I searched for her name in my contacts, found her no. and dialed, "the starhub number you're calling is not in use". My hopes of the right treatment was almost completely dashed. Wait, i scrolled her contact details further. There's another mobile number stored. Then, i vaguely recalled that she had sent me that new number sometime back. I dialed. It rang! She's still in singapore! She didnt answer, it went to a voicemail which i didnt bother to leave any message. A few minutes later, i heard a beautiful sound that sent my heart racing. My phone rang! It was her! We spoke. I found out that she's not seeing many patients now due to a wrist problem and only sees close friends. I was very lucky that she considered me in that category. She asked me to see her at 2pm on the same day. I was thrilled, almost enough to make me jump on the bed. Haha! Needless to say, i was not competent physically for that.
I called my regular tuina shi to cancel my appointment made 5 days beforehand, feeling a little paiseh to tell her the truth, i told her it's cos the appointment slot clashes with ting's cardio appointment at KKH (which was also true la since we wouldnt be able to make it on time if i went to see her).
To be continued
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