c6-7

well, now it's my turn. apparently i have a disc injury in my neck. c6-7, says my physical therapist. the symptoms? numbness along my inner right arm, and down into my thumb and index finger. the treatment? lying on my back as much as possible.

this problem started close to a month ago. i woke up with neck pain, and thought i'd just slept funny. i got a massage a couple of days later, and i felt good for a few hours... but then the pain (which at that time was exclusively focused in my neck and shoulder) returned.

i don't have much pain anymore, though i do have some tenderness in my neck along the right side of my spine... instead, the problem now manifests itself mostly as numbness. my doctor took some x-rays (negative) and prescribed some anti-inflammatories and muscle-relaxants and then she sent me to the physical therapist. in addition to lying on my back (which seems to be the only surefire way of getting the numbness to go away) i'm also supposed to ice my neck at least three times a day.

today is about day 5 of treatment, and i think it's getting a bit better. i have 3 more sessions (one a week) with the physical therapist. but i can't ride my bike (instant numbness) and i'm pretty bummed about the loss of that exercise -- especially since the weather here is frickin' perfect.

the only up-side is that i can now begin to understand what stephen is going through with his disc problems. he has constant numbness in his leg, but that's a mere trifle compared to the shooting pains he experiences. his physical therapist tells him to lie on his stomach as often as possible, so right now we make a great pair.