So, at some point during our summer vacation I tweaked my back. It was painful but I could deal with it. Sometimes it hurt worse and sometimes the pain was nearly gone. I explained where it hurt to my mum and she thought it sounded like I had a problem with my sciatic nerve. I tried stretching excercises and a massage, but nothing made it better.
For 2 months, I was trying to get rid of the pain myself but to no avail. Listening to my wife, I went to a doctor who took an X-ray. Well, no wonder my sciatic nerve wasn't easing up, it turns out I had a bulging disc between my 4th and 5th lumbar. My doctor told me I need to go to traction. That scared me. Traction is not something anyone wants to go through and I thought it was a bit extreme, but he's the doc and I figured he knows what he's talking about. He gave me a prescription and told me to go downstairs for therapy. When I get down the steps, I walk into a room with a bunch of cubbies with two narrow beds in each. To my immense relief, I discovered that traction in America and traction in Korea are two very different things. Apparently, here it just means they stick 4 suction cups on you and give you an electrical massage.
After 2 weeks of going, I realized that this wasn't working. All it did was make it feel better for about 30 minutes. One day I was complaining to my co-teacher about my back and he found a different style of therapy. This is a Korean therapy that combines oriental medicinal practices with a form of chiropracy and massage. That sounded great. So I went on a Friday afternoon.
When I get there, I discover that the doctor and the 3 nurses speak less English than I speak Korean. This can't be easy. Now, I know that I'm married to a Korean who is incredibly fluent in English, but I really hate to use her for this. After over 5 years in Korea, my Korean speaking fluency is embarassingly low. However, the doctor told me to call Yoon mi and he talks to her for about 5 minutes.
He wants to use bee venom as an anti-inflamatory. He will inject it into key areas and allow the venom to do its job in my lower back. While he does that, he will also provide acupuncture treatment and stretch and pull on my back. However, because I'm bigger than anyone he has ever seen, he can't be precise. His acupuncture needles won't be able to penetrate all the layers of fat to be able to get to the proper areas either. So, along with all the treatment, he also told me that I must lose weight. This is my first goal.
When I first moved to Korea, I was huge. I weighed in at roughly 145kg. After two years, I had dropped as low as 108kg. However, once I got comfortable and lazy, I gained quite a bit of that back. Its amazing at how easily one can gain weight without really noticing it until it seems like it is too late. So, when I started at this place, I weighed in at 130kg. yeah, I'm not too proud about that.
He created a drink for me that was made out of roots and berries I suppose. I have no idea what is in it but it cost $150 for 15 days worth of drink. I have to drink this drink 3 times a day one hour before meal time everyday. Luckily the drink doesn't taste bad, there isn't a whole lot of it and I actually kinda like it, even if it does make my pee smell like rabbit urine poured through a garden's compost heap.
As soon as I started this Chuna therapy, my symptoms got worse. Not just a little bit worse, but terribly worse. Before I started going, I could walk around, I went swimming everyday and I could help out around the house. However, after each session of Chuna, my hip started hurting more, my left leg began killing me and after one week, I couldn't stand up straight anymore. The day after my neice left Korea, I went back for therapy and after that session, I couldn't walk without bending over at nearly a 90 degree angle. I can't lay down without nearly crying.
On Friday I went to work and when it came time for me to go home, my co-teacher had to walk with me to be my support. I made it from my office to the main entrance in about 5 minutes (normally about 30 seconds) and had to stop and wait for the pain to decrease enough so that I could walk a little more. All this time, my students were milling around, trying to talk with me and I was trying my hardest to put on a game face, but it was hard.
Sunday, the doctor's office is closed so I went to the public bath and just soaked for a bit. Finally, it dawned on me to sleep with a heating pad on my hip. So, Sunday night I laid down on the floor mat, turned on the heating pad and tried to sleep. I think I slept for a total of 4 hours of intermittent sleep woken up every 30 minutes by the daggers running up and down my leg. On Monday morning, I woke up, called in to work, and when I stood up, I was actually able to stand up nearly straight! I was so happy I even told Yoon mi to look at me! I think she was less than impressed at her 34 year old husband being able to stand up on his own. . .
Its now Wednesday, my school has let me stay home all week to try to get this back problem solved and I can see little bits of improvements everyday. As much as this therapy has hurt me, I feel like it is actually getting to the root of the problem instead of treating the symptoms until it is so bad that I need to get surgery. I hate going to therapy everyday because when he starts the pulling and stretching it hurts super bad, but I know that its all getting better. I just hope it gets better sooner rather than later.
I think the worst thing about this isn't the debilitating pain. It's definitely the inability to help my wife. She goes to work everyday, then comes home and has to cook, clean, take care of the rabbits and by the time she's done with that, she has to take care of herself and go to bed. This is not the way to be a good husband but there is literally nothing I can do to help. I try to wash the dishes but right now I get halfway through and I have to take a break because I can't handle anymore. Yesterday, I made rice and washed the dishes from breakfast and lunch. That meant I poured rice into a bowl, washed it, put in more water and put it in the machine then washed 3 bowls and some chopsticks and spoons. That was the extent of what I could do around the house. I know my wife hates it. I just hope that she can deal with this a little bit longer. I know she will because she is amazing, but I still don't like to put her through all of this.
Oh, and I started the doctor's herbal medicine on Wednesday morning, as of Sunday I am down to 127 kg with no exercise but serious dieting. woot!
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