I felt it was appropriate for my first real post (yesterday's didn't count) to kind of tell you guys how I got started on this journey... because that is exactly what it is! A journey to natural wellness.
A few years ago I started having severe pain in my right shoulder. I thought it was something that I could ignore but when it got to the point that I couldn't even lay on my right side anymore or lift my arm above shoulder level, I knew I needed to get it checked out.
I was told that my shoulder bone was sloping and hooked on the end, causing it to fray my rotator cuff like a rope every time I lifted it. I got a few cortisone injections and was still in constant pain. Surgery was my next option. I was not thrilled about it but was in so much pain I would have done anything to fix it.
Soooo December 2012 I had my FIRST shoulder surgery.
It was a pretty simple surgery that included shaving the bone off that was causing the fraying and cleaning up the ropy Rotator Cuff. Recovery was going pretty good the first couple of weeks but about a month in I was realizing that my pain was getting worse and worse even as I rehabbed, etc. I followed my instructions to a T. I iced like they told me, did my exercises exactly as instructed, took the meds they told me to take... Why in the world was I getting worse?? I continued for months thinking surely this is going to turn a corner. My neck and upper back started bothering me from compensation. I couldn't do anything without my neck hurting SO BAD. It started locking up- it was like my muscles started refusing to do what I asked anymore because it was causing them so much stress and pain. I ended up in March back under an MRI machine- my neck had stopped moving. For two weeks. Talk about scared!
Over the next few months I bounced from rheumatologists to neurologists back to orthapedists to internists to YOU NAME IT. Nobody could figure anything out! My MRI's (shoulder, thoracic spine, cervical spine, etc.) and brain scans were all coming back normal. I continued trying therapy at this point for my neck and shoulder.
Sometime during all of those crazy escapades I ended up getting introduced to a wonderful woman named Crystal. Check out her blog, Homestead on the Hill. We talked on the phone for hours. Crystal has been through so much in her journey to health. For the last few years she has used Young Living Essential Oils for herself and her family and has seen some AMAZING results. She is such a spiritual person and I will never forget when she said "I have been praying about what to recommend for you and the Lord is telling me, Aroma Siez". Done. Ordered. I would have rubbed snake oil all over my body at this point if someone told me it might help!
A week or so later this baby arrived:
While Aroma Siez offered me the most relief, the damage was already done. It was too late. Another neck flare up occurred lasting several weeks again and I couldn't take it anymore. Here I was, a 26 year old, pretty much home bound in pain and spending 3 x a week in therapy. I was losing my social life. How can you have a social life when you are going straight from a painful work day to therapy, coming home exhausted and hurting? I was getting bitter. I was mad. I cried all the time. I had completely lost the ability to be active and work out over the previous year. I was getting to a point where I wasn't even sure I could keep teaching. I really was sent over the edge when I had to leave an Auburn football game at halftime because I had tears streaming down my face from pain and discomfort. We ended up having a crazy second half and winning on a last second play and I was FURIOUS that I had to miss it.
I ended up at the Andrews' Institute in Birmingham with one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the world. He was convinced that nothing was structurally wrong with my neck or upper back but that my shoulder was still the problem. He got some confirmation of that when closely inspecting new MRI's and Xrays. He told me that my shoulder had some cysts from the previous surgery, that the bone was jaggedy and that it needed to be cleaned up, but that he also thought something was wrong with my bicep tendon. He couldn't tell exactly but knew surgery was going to be required.
Round 2... October 2013.
A few years ago I started having severe pain in my right shoulder. I thought it was something that I could ignore but when it got to the point that I couldn't even lay on my right side anymore or lift my arm above shoulder level, I knew I needed to get it checked out.
I was told that my shoulder bone was sloping and hooked on the end, causing it to fray my rotator cuff like a rope every time I lifted it. I got a few cortisone injections and was still in constant pain. Surgery was my next option. I was not thrilled about it but was in so much pain I would have done anything to fix it.
Soooo December 2012 I had my FIRST shoulder surgery.
(Christmas day wrapped up in my ice sling. 1 Week post op)
It was a pretty simple surgery that included shaving the bone off that was causing the fraying and cleaning up the ropy Rotator Cuff. Recovery was going pretty good the first couple of weeks but about a month in I was realizing that my pain was getting worse and worse even as I rehabbed, etc. I followed my instructions to a T. I iced like they told me, did my exercises exactly as instructed, took the meds they told me to take... Why in the world was I getting worse?? I continued for months thinking surely this is going to turn a corner. My neck and upper back started bothering me from compensation. I couldn't do anything without my neck hurting SO BAD. It started locking up- it was like my muscles started refusing to do what I asked anymore because it was causing them so much stress and pain. I ended up in March back under an MRI machine- my neck had stopped moving. For two weeks. Talk about scared!
(This was what I did 3 X a week at therapy)
Over the next few months I bounced from rheumatologists to neurologists back to orthapedists to internists to YOU NAME IT. Nobody could figure anything out! My MRI's (shoulder, thoracic spine, cervical spine, etc.) and brain scans were all coming back normal. I continued trying therapy at this point for my neck and shoulder.
Sometime during all of those crazy escapades I ended up getting introduced to a wonderful woman named Crystal. Check out her blog, Homestead on the Hill. We talked on the phone for hours. Crystal has been through so much in her journey to health. For the last few years she has used Young Living Essential Oils for herself and her family and has seen some AMAZING results. She is such a spiritual person and I will never forget when she said "I have been praying about what to recommend for you and the Lord is telling me, Aroma Siez". Done. Ordered. I would have rubbed snake oil all over my body at this point if someone told me it might help!
A week or so later this baby arrived:
(Aroma Siez oil is a blend made up of Basil, Cypress, Peppermint, Marjoram, and Lavender.)
The first night that I put it on my neck and shoulder within MINUTES my muscles were loosening up so much that my neck started popping while sitting in the recliner watching TV. I was hooked. I started putting it in Epsom Salt baths. This was the first relief I had felt yet- even after months and months of pain medicine, muscle relaxers, antispasmodics, etc. God's medicine gave me the first relief! I remember thinking "DUH!!!" I ended up ordering the Premium Starter Kit immediately and have since become a complete EOA (essential oils addict of course!). Thieves has kept me from getting sick. I literally haven't been sick ONE TIME in the last year (which is saying a lot if you know me well!) and I attribute that completely to Thieves. Peace and Calming and Valor have allowed me to SLEEP! Sleep is a hard thing to come by when you have a messed up shoulder, neck, and back. I remember laughing so hard when I woke up the first morning after using P&C. I rubbed it on my feet and diffused it in the room and woke up the next morning with light still on, book on chest, phone by hand. HA! I haven't looked back since and have discovered other oils that work great for sleep as well. No medicine hangoverrr! If I was to sit here and list all the ways they have benefitted my health and my families health we would be here all day.
While Aroma Siez offered me the most relief, the damage was already done. It was too late. Another neck flare up occurred lasting several weeks again and I couldn't take it anymore. Here I was, a 26 year old, pretty much home bound in pain and spending 3 x a week in therapy. I was losing my social life. How can you have a social life when you are going straight from a painful work day to therapy, coming home exhausted and hurting? I was getting bitter. I was mad. I cried all the time. I had completely lost the ability to be active and work out over the previous year. I was getting to a point where I wasn't even sure I could keep teaching. I really was sent over the edge when I had to leave an Auburn football game at halftime because I had tears streaming down my face from pain and discomfort. We ended up having a crazy second half and winning on a last second play and I was FURIOUS that I had to miss it.
I ended up at the Andrews' Institute in Birmingham with one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the world. He was convinced that nothing was structurally wrong with my neck or upper back but that my shoulder was still the problem. He got some confirmation of that when closely inspecting new MRI's and Xrays. He told me that my shoulder had some cysts from the previous surgery, that the bone was jaggedy and that it needed to be cleaned up, but that he also thought something was wrong with my bicep tendon. He couldn't tell exactly but knew surgery was going to be required.
Round 2... October 2013.
(Spent a couple months in the Ultra Sling 3!)
This surgery ended up being a doozy. A major doozy. There was a lot wrong with my shoulder- mainly the fact that when he got in there he saw that my bicep tendon was completely unattached from the shoulder, twisted 360 degrees, and scarred down into the back of my rotator cuff. This answered all questions as to why therapy, etc. wasn't helping!! He had to pop it out, untwist it and cut out about 2/3 of it because it was so damaged from the twisting, and reattach it in the correct place. The crazy thing was it was hidden in a way that was really not visible in my MRIs. I basically ended up having 3 surgeries in 1 and was sent home for a grueling several month recovery. I had to take a medical leave for the first semester and spent 8 weeks completely bound in the big ol' immobilizer pictured above. I went to therapy 2-3 times a week for 8 weeks also. I truly believe I was able to stop taking pain medicine way earlier than I should have because of the "pain bomb" and the pain cream that I made with coconut oil, Valor, Panaway, Peppermint and Lemongrass.
(Pain bomb- Copaiba, Frankincense, and Idaho Balsam Fir in a capsule)
I will not say the road to recovery has been easy. I am almost a year out from surgery round two and still am very limited in what I can do because of the size of my bicep tendon now. I am definitely not in the place I once was but I am on the journey to natural wellness. As you can see it has reallllly been a journey but I am so thankful for Young Living and the role they have played in my life and my recovery. I couldn't do life without ya, YL ;)
Until next time,
Haley
