Eric's Beijing Diary

Back in Beihai. Got in last night at midnight. Speaking of "back," I have really been in pain for the past week. It confused me a bit at first, because I felt a deep pain in my back. I was wondering if I had a kidney infection or something. But that was just a stab (no pun intended) in the dark, because I have never had any such malady. Well, I thought about it and thought about it, and did some snooping around on the Internet. Something I read about Sciatica caught my attention:

"Sciatica occurs most frequently in people between 30 and 50 years of age. Often a particular event or injury does not cause sciatica, but rather it may develop as a result of general wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine."

Yep, that's me. I just seem to have problems that did not seem to be an issue when I was younger. I think I must have gotten out of the trucking industry just in time. Then again, maybe not. Maybe I stayed in it a little too long. I always tried to guard my back when I was trucking, but sometimes it is hard. I jumped down from trailer beds more times than I can count, and that cannot be good for your spine. I remember one time I was chaining a load and carelessly using my body as a fulcrum. I felt my back snap like a whip. I let go immediately, and didn't seem to have any injury, but that sort of thing is not very good for you.

I don't have sciatica, by the way. Nothing wrong with my legs. But I probably did manage to get a pinched nerve somehow. Just not sure how it happened. I called Rachel and asked her about the massage hospital she had told me about previously. I described the condition to her, and she texted the Chinese version to my phone, as well as the address to the hospital. That way I could go to the hospital on my own and explain to them what was wrong with me. But I procrastinated, and since I was leaving for Beihai, I decided to just let it go. Slowly get better. Well, Sunday night she called me and said that Eason had twisted his back, so he was going to be going there anyway. Lucky for me, but not for him. He couldn't bend over.

So, that's how I ended up going to the traditional medicine hospital yesterday morning. I had lots to do before I left, so I really didn't want to go, but I don't like pain, so I decided to go ahead and take the opportunity. One of my students told me I could take Bus #47 and get off at the Huguosi stop. Eason met me at the bus stop, and we walked to the hospital, where Rachel's mother was waiting. She knows that place really well, and she was able to get us right in to see the doctor. Good thing, because it might have been a long wait otherwise. In fact, I probably would have left. I just didn't have time to wait.

The massage doctor was a great big guy with powerful hands. If what he did to me could be called massage, I am going to have to change my whole view of the subject. 'Course, I have never been to a massage therapist of any kind, legitimate or otherwise, so perhaps I am not a judge, but this was definitely not a soothing back rub. I laid first on my stomach, while he dug into my back. I couldn't believe it. I started to grab the table, but Eason kept telling me to relax. Yeah, right. Then this guy turned me on my side and dug his elbow into my hip socket. Wow. Believe me, it's pretty brutal treatment. The last thing he did was to pick me up by one leg and snap my body. This job could not be done by a small person. It was a painful process, but believe it or not, I felt better afterward. Somehow all that pounding and grinding and shaking managed to convince those pesky, delinquent vertebra to let go of the nerve they were pinching. OK, I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm trying to picture it in my mind.

After he was through torturing Eason, we both went to the other side of the hospital to do the porcupine thing. I have never had acupuncture needles stuck in me, and I have to honestly say that I don't really know if they help or not. After the acupuncture came the hot bottle treatment. They put these hot jars upside down on your skin and it sucks your skin into the bottle. Very weird looking. I think perhaps the acupunture and hot bottle treatments did help as pain relievers, but I just can't say whether they had any other effect. It was good for me, though, because I had a long flight ahead of me. The flight was uneventful, except that when I got off for a few minutes while we were on the ground in Changsha, the ground crew took my Wall Street Journal. Oh, well. Have to go online and get caught up.