It’s time for
another weekly recap, and I barely squeaked this one out in time, y’all! Summer is summering, and I haven’t been
spending as much time at my computer, so hopefully there won’t be too many typos
since I rushed through this one!
Monday, June 16
Monday morning, I woke up at 7:15 and I got showered, had breakfast, and
unloaded the dishwasher. Olivia had a
couple of wires poking her in the back of the mouth from her braces, so we had
made an appointment to get those clipped and we had to be out the door
early. We were in and out in literally
under five minutes, and we were back home a little after 9 AM.
I settled in to do some blog work for an hour, and then I took the kids
bowling. One of the places here in town
does “Kids Bowl Free” during the summer, so they get two free games each and every
single day of the summer, and the only thing we have to pay for is the
shoes. It’s a really good deal, so we
plan to utilize it quite a bit this summer.
I can’t bowl right now while doing these neck adjustments, so I watched,
and they both did surprisingly well considering it had been about a year since
they’d last bowled! Jacob actually got a
strike for the very first frame of their very first game!
Their two games lasted about an hour, and then we headed to the library
to pick up Olivia’s book for summer reading.
She has to read one book from an approved list by the teacher, and she
went with Among the Hidden by Maragaret Peterson Haddix. She ended up starting the book and finishing
it within just a few days because she loved it so much, and she typically
doesn’t love to read at all. So that’s
quite an endorsement in case you’re looking for a book for your sixth
grader. :o)
When we got home, we had lunch with Brian since he was working from home,
and then I got back to working on a blog post for Wednesday. These days, I’m just getting work done here
and there whenever I can, so I can focus on the kids. Meanwhile, the kids played in their air tent.
Early in the afternoon, my dad picked me up and drove me to the upper
cervical chiropractor for my second adjustment.
That also happened to be the follow-up for my very first adjustment, and if
you read my weekly post last week, you’ll remember that the first adjustment
did not go well. I had tons of pain
(which was expected), but that adjustment unfortunately brought back my
unsteadiness to the point where I was having to hold on to walls and furniture
to walk, and it brought back my vertigo (thankfully, only two little spins and
one big spin/drop attack, but STILL) after months with no vertigo at all.
I told the doctor about all the unsteadiness, the lingering dizziness
(that was much worse than the dizziness that lingered every day before the
adjustment), and the vertigo, and he told me that it was likely that two things
were happening to cause this as most of his patients do not experience the
vertigo again.
For starters, I am a highly sensitive person, meaning I feel every little
twinge in my body, and a lot of the time, those twinges cause my body to go
into fight or flight mode for no good reason at all. (I actually just found out that there is an
actual medical diagnosis for it and it’s called interoceptive anxiety, but that’s
another conversation for another day.)
So, he said that the adjustment was likely too aggressive for me. He said that he usually does the first
adjustment to get the atlas halfway back in place where it needs to go (and
then he gently taps it further and further back into place at each subsequent
visit), but apparently moving it halfway was too much for me and it threw my
entire body out of whack.
In addition to that, he said that some people go through something called
“retracing” after they start having adjustments, and it’s basically where your
body goes back through all of the horrible symptoms that you had at the
beginning. People had mentioned
retracing in my Facebook group so I knew this was a possibility.
Then, in addition to that, after physically checking me, he found that while
the atlas moved, the axis (C2 – which is also out of alignment) didn’t move at
all. He said it was likely that also
played a contributing factor to all of my dizziness. And since my atlas has to move one way and my
axis has to move in the opposite direction, that’s what makes my case so
complex.
The doctor told me that going forward, he will do much smaller
adjustments, and on Monday, he didn’t adjust my atlas at all… he only adjusted
my axis to get it where it needed to be with the atlas. He did this by using that hand tool to tap
about 12-15 times down the back left side of my neck.
On a positive note, the first adjustment that he had done on Friday held
beautifully all weekend long!!
Adjustments holding = faster healing and fewer visits in the long run!
After my adjustment, I did feel very unsteady walking out of the office
again, but the doctor told me that the first few adjustments are always the worst,
and then they get progressively easier as we go. (After now having four adjustments as I edit
this post, I can say that is 100% true.)
We got home around 5:15, so it was nearing dinner time. Brian made a Digiorno because I couldn't cook
as I had to keep my head straight for the rest of the night again. We also had plans to meet my friends Jeannine
and Khristina and their kids for another round of bowling at 6:15.
I was able to go, but of course, I didn’t bowl as I had to be very stiff
and like a “robot” again. Haha. But I was glad to be able to get out of the
house.
By the time we left, I had started feeling tons of pain again (like I had
the flu or had been in a fender bender) so I took some Ibuprofen since the
doctor did tell me it was okay to do that if I needed it.
On the way home, we stopped by Publix and Brian ran in to grab a few
things we needed, and then we headed home.
By the time we got home, my body felt like a train wreck – soooo much
pain and a really bad headache despite taking the Ibuprofen – so I relaxed the
rest of the night. The problem with the
adjustments is that I either have to lay on my back or sit straight with good
posture with my ears over my shoulders, so there was no way to get comfortable
to watch TV. I alternated between
sitting with pillows behind my back to prop me up to sit properly and standing
behind the couch while we watched Lego Masters.
Brian and I watched an episode of Gracepoint after the kids went
to bed, and I felt awful the whole time.
I had major anxiety, I think because that fight or flight mode had
kicked in again (the doctor said this is pretty typical), so I was really happy
to just go to bed. Lying in bed and
sleeping are, thankfully, the one thing that I don’t have issues with. It’s the only time I don’t have pain or
dizziness.
Tuesday, June 17
Tuesday, I woke up at 8:15 AM which was nearly ten hours of sleep. Lol. I
felt good when I woke – minimal pain and dizziness – but it did get worse again
throughout the day.
I had breakfast, unloaded the dishwasher, and then headed upstairs to
squeeze in a few minutes of work before I had to get on a call with my
therapist. I had planned to see her in
the office, but after my first adjustment went so terribly, I wasn’t sure that
I would be able to drive Tuesday morning, so I texted her Monday evening and
asked if we could just do it over the phone and she was happy to accommodate.
My whole session ended up being me telling her all about this new doctor
and everything that he did, and she told me that she is currently treating 8-9
other patients with vertigo and dizziness, one of whom is very bad off, so she
said she is going to tell all of them about this new treatment. She also told me that it sounds like I’m
finally on the right track with the right doctor, so I hope she’s right! She has been such a rock throughout this
whole journey and I’m grateful to have her.
If you don’t have a good therapist, I highly recommend it. It’s nice to have a professional to talk to
during times like this since she sees things from a different angle than a trusted
family member or a friend would.
After my call ended, I worked on a blog post for a bit, and I also did
three loads of laundry. The kids watched
a show, and then they spent time in their air fort while I was working on all
of that. During the summer, we have time
together where we do organized activities or go on outings to do something fun,
but I also firmly believe in letting them be “bored,” too, because they end up
coming up with the most creative things to do!
The two of them hung out in that fort all morning and they were just as
happy as could be!
We all ate lunch together, and then afterward, it was time to get serious
about summer homework. While Olivia
didn’t have much (she just had to read a book from a specific list that the
teacher gave them and do a math packet), Jacob has a TON, so he needed to get
started on it.
I sat with him as he joined each of his Google Classrooms for next year,
and we went over all of the instructions and printed all of the materials that
needed to be printed. Shockingly, for
his main math class, he doesn’t have to do any IXL or other online work, and
instead, his teacher provided a math packet that needed to be printed. Jacob was SO excited that he didn’t have to
do IXL because he and Olivia both hate it.
Lol.
However, his math packet is EIGHTEEN PAGES, FRONT AND BACK! (Name that show!! Hahahaha.)
But seriously, it really is 18 pages front and back, and it’s 270
problems that he has to do. That is just
insane. And he’s doubling up on his math
next year, and that was just the homework for ONE of the math classes. WOOF.
The other math class does require him to do some work online in Khan
Academy, so he was not excited about that.
In addition to all of that, he also has homework for science and
American Sign Language, and he may have homework for whatever his elective is
(we won’t know for a couple more weeks).
His ELA teacher is super cool, and she just said that the kids can read
a book “if they want to” or they can just do the daily Wordle and/or other word
games. Now that is Jacob’s kind
of summer homework. Haha. He actually did already read an entire book
this summer, so ELA gets a checkmark!
Right after we finished printing aaaallll the math work, a big storm blew
in, so the kids got back in the tent and worked on their summer reading.
Once homework time was done, they had some video game time, and I
finished my blog post for Wednesday while they did that.
When B got home from work, I made sausage, peppers, and onions tacos, and
then we all headed outside to clean out the outdoor cabinet. I had started feeling a little unsteady
earlier in the afternoon, and I was also lightheaded plus I had a headache and
felt kind of “off” all day from the adjustment, so I had to take it easy. My ears also started doing weird things. I’ve had tinnitus for nearly eight years, but
Tuesday, the ringing kept getting louder in my left ear and then it would sound
like cotton was stuffed in my left ear.
It was a little bit alarming at first, but I tried not to let it stress
me out as I know my nervous system is completely out of whack with all of these
adjustments. Sure enough, the tinnitus
eventually went back to normal.
Since I couldn’t do much, I sat on the couch outside and watched the
kids, giving them advice along the way for what to do with certain items when
they needed it. We got rid of so much
stuff and got everything organized, and now their beach buckets actually fit in
the cabinet. Now we just need to wipe
the outsides of the buckets down and relabel a couple of them.
I watered the plants, and we checked on the sunflowers after that, and
the kids sorted our shells from the beach.
They’d brought back so many and some weren’t worth keeping, so they
tossed a lot of them and then divided the rest of them between their
collections, also adding a couple to the family shell bowl in the kitchen that
holds all our shells from all our past beach trips.
When we got back inside, I put the laundry away while the kids played
Oregon Trail (nice to see that game is still alive and well – LOL), and then
they got showered and ready for bed.
We ended the night with some of America’s Got Talent as a family,
and Brian and I watched another episode of Gracepoint.
Wednesday, June 18
Wednesday morning, I slept until 8:15, I had breakfast, and I got
showered. I felt pretty steady, my
headache and backache were gone, and I felt pretty normal. The only time I felt yucky was when I was
getting ready… for some reason putting on my eyeliner and drying my hair sets
me off every single time. I’m sure if I
had flipped upside down or done something drastic with my head that it would
have set off my vertigo, but thankfully, I don’t have to do that. Haha.
Olivia had to get her 11-year-old vaccines Wednesday morning, so she and
I headed to the doctor together late in the morning. Brian worked from home Wednesday since he was
taking me to another adjustment later in the day, so Jacob could have stayed
home with him, but he chose to come with us for moral support for Olivia since
she haaaates getting shots. He even let
her play with his phone while she waited so she could calm her nerves. I just love these two so much. <3
We were in and out fairly quickly as this was just a vaccine appointment
and not a well visit (her well visit isn’t until September, and that’s why we
had to do the vaccines now), so we were back home in under an hour.
It was lunchtime when we got home, so we all ate together, and then the
kids had some screen time for a bit while a thunderstorm rolled through. While they did that, I worked on a blog post
and tied up some loose ends. I also
caught up on some things in my planner, I finished putting away the laundry,
and then it was time to get ready to go to my appointment.
The storm that rolled through had caused a tree to fall across the main
road that our neighborhood is on, and thankfully, we saw that in our
neighborhood Facebook page before we had to leave, so we knew to leave a little
early for my appointment since we had to take a little detour.
The kids came along with us this time, because we didn’t want to bother
anyone to watch them, and they got to watch my adjustment. On Wednesday, I saw the other doctor in the
practice since my doctor wasn’t there, and everything went well. He checked me over and ended up using the
handheld tool to do several taps on the backs of my legs and one on my right
ankle, and then he used the machine to do two taps behind my right ear to
adjust my atlas.
I felt a little unsteady walking out, but more steady than the previous
adjustments, and after this adjustment, I didn’t have any of the back or neck
pain and I didn’t have a headache either.
I also felt pretty steady in the days following. I did have issues with unsteadiness after
tilting my head back, so that’s still an issue, but all in all, the third
adjustment was much easier than the first two.
It seems that the first two were definitely the worst, and hopefully it
will just get better from here!
On the way home, we avoided another really bad storm (my mom had texted
me to ask if we were in it, but we weren’t, thankfully, although we could see
it in the distance), but it was still raining a little when we got home.
I wasn’t allowed to turn my head again for the rest of the day after my
third adjustment, so Brian made dinner.
He doesn’t cook at all, so I walked him through making beef and parmesan
pasta and it turned out great! While it
was simmering, Jacob, Olivia, and I all read our separate books on the
couch. Both kids finished their summer
reading that day, so that was a check off the list!
When dinner was ready, we all ate together, and then I read for about an
hour while the kids played Oregon Trail.
We finished America’s Got Talent from the week, and then we
started watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone together. We’re taking the kids to Universal Studios in
Orlando for the first time in October, and none of us have read or seen all of
the Harry Potter books/movies, so we’re trying to watch all of the movies
before we go.
Brian and I watched an episode of Gracepoint after that, and then
we went to bed.
Thursday, June 19
Thursday, Brian was off for Juneteenth, so we slept in until 8:45… the
doctor told me that sleep is suuuuper important in this healing process, so I
have been taking full advantage and sleeping in as much as possible. Sleeping in is one of my favorite things, so
no complaints here!
We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I worked on my blog post
for Friday.
After that, I got showered and we had a quick lunch, and then we took the
kids to a trampoline park for an hour and a half so they could get some
exercise. It poured down rain again
while we were there – we’ve had a lot of rain this summer so far – so it was a
good way for them to burn some energy indoors.
The kids had music lessons later in the afternoon, and we’d scheduled one
makeup for each of them on top of their regular lessons. We were supposed to be there from 3-4:30 as 30
minutes of their lessons overlapped, but thankfully, Mr. Steve had a
cancellation at 3, so he was able to take Olivia back at the exact same time as
Jacob, so we only had to be there for an hour.
Mr. Steve taught Olivia how to properly fingerpick a guitar, and she
picked it up pretty quickly. She started
learning No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift, and she got the first few
chords down pretty quickly!
When we got home, Brian was playing video games, so the kids watched him
for a bit while I finished my blog post for Friday. Brian and I made breakfast for dinner, and
then we went for a short family walk to see how I would do with that. I felt pretty good most of the day, but
midday, I started having a little bit of pain and dizziness. Most of the pain was at the base of my neck
and under my right shoulder blade. I was
also a little unsteady and I felt a little lightheaded in the evening, but
nothing too terrible.
The heat was gross and definitely didn’t help with my dizziness and
unsteadiness, and I did okay. I did have
to hold Brian’s hand most of the way, and I had to walk slowly, but again, a
lot of that was because my body’s fight or flight response has been off the
charts with all these adjustments and it took a long time for it to all settle
down. I swear, I was winded just from
standing up or walking up the stairs for about a week after we started the adjustments. My heart rate would get SUPER high just from
walking slowly around the house, and I could tell it was just my body’s natural
response to all of it, probably since they were messing with the trillions of
nerves that run through that area, especially the vagus nerve.
I lay in bed and read for a bit while when we got home since the kids
both had to get showered. Laying down usually
helps my body reset, and sure enough, I felt much better when I got up.
Once the kids were ready for bed, Brian made us Manhattans (per my
request) and then we watched some more Harry Potter before the kids went
to bed. B and I finished the night with
another episode of Gracepoint. Olivia also made the cutest Rainbow Loom bracelet and it's a bumblebee!!
Friday, June 20
Friday morning, I woke up at 7:45, had breakfast, unloaded the dishwasher,
caught up on blog reading, and then edited some pictures for my blog post on Monday.
After that, it was time to get showered and ready for the day because I had
my fourth adjustment at 12:15. Brian
drove and the kids came along again, and everything went smoothly.
At this visit, the doctor said that my adjustment had held beautifully
yet again. He checked my leg length at
the beginning, and they looked perfect.
Then he checked all of my vertebrae from top to bottom and everything
was perfect. He used the handheld tool
to tap twice behind my right ear to shift the atlas a little closer to being in
place and then he checked my leg length at the end to make sure everything was
good, and it was! He did another check
of my neck by squeezing the vertebrae from the sides of the neck, and my head
kept automatically tilting back. That
was one of the original tests he did on the first day, and he said it’s not
supposed to be doing that, so apparently, that is still happening.
He sent us on our way, and this was the easiest adjustment yet. I was a little unsteady on my feet when we
got home, but nothing bad at all. I was
able to make lunch for all of us (although, I did have to keep my neck straight
and be a “robot” as much as possible again), and then after lunch, I lay down
to read for a bit. I ended up reading
for 20 minutes, and that made me sleepy, so I indulged in a short little nap
where I was in and out for about 45 minutes, and then I got up to edit some
pictures for a blog post on Monday.
Brian got the whole house ready for guests while I worked – he cleaned
the toilet and cleared the dining room table and then went to pick up pizza. I was very grateful since I’m not supposed to
be doing anything like that after an adjustment.
Our friends Jeannine and James and Khristina and Ian all came over with
their kids, and the kids played all evening and night while all of us adults ate
dinner and played poker. Brian made Manhattans
for all of us, and it was a really fun night.
They all left around 9:15 and then Brian and I cleaned the kitchen and
dining room while the kids cleaned up the playroom and Olivia’s room. I’m happy to report that Olivia has kept her
bedroom and the play room in tip top shape ever since our giant cleanout a few
weeks ago… she has decided that she just really likes things tidy, so she’s
been cleaning up behind herself without me having to ask. I don’t know what made her decide to tidy
every day, but I like it! Haha.
We got the kids in the bed around 10:15 and then Brian and I watched an
episode of Gracepoint before heading to bed.
I felt pretty good all evening, and I even started turning my head a tiny
bit during the poker game, and I was happy to not feel too bad after my fourth
adjustment.
Saturday, June 21
Saturday morning, I woke at 8:45 and then made some eggs for myself for
breakfast. We were eating an early lunch
out with my father-in-law for a late Father’s Day celebration, so we didn’t
want to do a big breakfast.
After that, I worked on my blog post some, and then it was time to get
showered and ready for the day. We met
my FIL and both SIL’s and their kids at the local pub that we frequent after
church and had lunch together. Then after
that, we spent some time at my FIL’s house.
My FIL and all of the grandkids (except for the two adult grandkids who
weren’t able to make it) played a few games while the rest of us sat around and
talked and watched them.
Another thunderstorm rolled through as we headed home, and I spent the next
hour working some more on my blog post while the kids played video games.
We went to church at 5:30 and I felt pretty good the whole time. Church is a big trigger for me and has been
for two years since my vertigo started because we have to stand in place for so
long. For some reason, standing in place
has made me soooo dizzy and unsteady ever since all this started. So, for the last two years, I have had to hold
onto the pew most of the time at church every week. This past Saturday, I decided to let go and
see what happened, and it did make me feel pretty unsteady at first, but I kept
trying throughout Mass and by the end, I felt a little less unsteady. I’m trying to retrain my brain to teach it to
do all the things it has always been able to do, but forgot somewhere along the
way with all of the vertigo and dizziness.
After Mass, our usual group (Momma, Daddy, Mama Cass, Aunt Joy, Uncle
Greg, and the four of us) all went to our favorite Mexican spot for dinner, and
we saw tons of people from church, including my friend Jen and her family.
When we got home, I decided to go for my first solo walk in over a
week! The doctor gave me the green light
to walk, and he said that it’s actually really good for me to do so because it’s
great for the vestibular system.
My pace was pretty slow (for me), and I felt pretty dizzy and a little
lightheaded the whole time, but I never felt at risk of falling. I was determined to make it two miles on my
own. And I did! (Well, close enough anyway. Haha.)
When we got home, all of the news came on about the United States bombing
Iran’s nuclear facilities, and I was just so sad and frustrated. The news just gets worse and worse every day,
and now all of our American soldiers as well as plenty of civilians are in
potential danger in the Middle East from retaliation. I think I speak for many when I say that we
do not want or need another world war, and by the looks of it, we could very
well be headed in that direction.
After we got the kids in bed, Brian and I watched another episode of Gracepoint,
and then we headed to bed. I had a
fitful night of sleep that night because I was just so darn worried about everything
happening in the world.
Sunday, June 22
Sunday morning, we slept in until 8:45, I made homemade waffles, and then
I watched my weekly sermon online while working on a blog post and keeping up
with my few news sources on social media to see what was going on. Olivia popped in and out of my office to show me new bracelets she's been making, and then she came in wearing every single bracelet, ring, and eye mask she's ever made for herself. Hahahaha.
We had lunch at my MIL and step-FIL’s in the early afternoon to celebrate
my nephew’s 20th birthday – yeesh! I
remember when he was born! – and then Jacob and I had to leave early to attend
a meeting at our church for his upcoming Confirmation. And by upcoming, I mean May 2026. Haha.
They have a lot of prep that they do for Confirmation, so they wanted to
give us the info in case we wanted to start working on any of it this summer.
After our meeting, we headed home.
I finished my blog post and transferred pictures from my phone to my computer,
and the kids had some screen time.
We had dinner at my parents’ house, and my mom made her famous vegetable
lasagna that we all love so much, and then it was back home for PJs, Harry
Potter, and more Gracepoint!
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
