One Reason For My Crankiness in 2011

Shortly after our first daughter was born, I began experiencing pain in my arms.  My husband suggested that it might be bursitis, which is what I suggested to my doctor when I eventually went to see him.  He said that the pain was actually from tension in my neck, and suggested massage therapy.

I had a few massages, but the pain was always there.  I also tried my husband's physiotherapist.  I ended up sticking with physio.  My husband and I spent so much time in physio during this time that we actually got invited to our therapist's wedding! And we found it appropriate to attend!  That aside, any benefit I got from physio was always temporary.  I did end up with a lovely centre piece from the wedding though!  The suckers who actually won it couldn't fit it in their Porsche, so they offered it to me.  Score!

After about five years of living with arm pain of varying degrees, I woke up one day with no pain at all.  This lasted about six months, until last Christmas when I woke up all messed up again.  Being Christmas time, my physiotherapist was on vacation, although my massage therapist was still around.  I went to see her instead.  In retrospect, I'm thinking that this was a bad choice.

I don't want to accuse the massage therapist as being the cause for any of my subsequent woes, but boy did my life start to suck large after seeing her! I distinctly remember last new year's eve being unable to extend my right arm in any direction.  I also remember a throat infection that I sincerely hope had nothing to do with my massage therapist, despite the onset of the infection being just hours after my massage.

My massage therapist is rather chatty, and often tells me waaaaayyyy to much about herself.  On this particular occasion, she was telling me about how she was on antibiotics for an infection in her 'area'.  Her doctor told her that it was strep.

If you know me at all, you'll be aware of my germaphobia, as inconsistent as it is.  Picture me lying on a table while the hands of a woman with strep woo woo rubbed my neck and shoulders.

CRINGE!!!!

So yeah,  I really hope that the timing of the massage and the onset of my throat infection were purely coincidental.

To put your mind somewhat at ease, I don't believe that I had strep throat.  I went to a walk in clinic where the doctor admitted that my throat looked terrible, but he didn't see the telltale signs of strep.  He gave me antibiotics to take in case white spots emerged, realizing that the lab might not get back to him fast enough given that it was during the Christmas holidays.

The pain compelled me to take the antibiotics without confirming that I had strep.  The doctor/lab never called to tell me to go ahead and take them.  Either way, I recovered, but not before breaking out in an itchy, red rash caused from an allergy to the antibiotics.  Awesome!

Then the real fun started!

To be continued...