Oops, now I'm paying the price

I went for my massage session yesterday.

My therapist asked how I had fared following the previous session two weeks earlier and I reported that I had in fact suffered, feeling much like she had beaten me up.

But the effect only last some 24 hours.

Because of that, she said that she again could only massage me lightly and if I experienced the same phenomonen this time, I would have to let her know immediatley.

I asked how long that might be the case; i.e. how long after having taken that steroid shot should I be "avoiding" massage therapy.

The answer, of course, is four to six weeks (six weeks is the assumed effect of the shot).

As we discussed the issue, she was gently stroking me and explaining that because of the way my body responds to such gentle touch (and she was remarking on the many bruises she was seeing), she was concerned that she probably should not be giving me the massage at all.

And she made me promise that if I was sore as a result of the session, I would call and cancel my next scheduled treatment with her, possibly the next two.

I came home after the massage and John went out to his meeting and I was my usual sleepy (I'm always very relaxed after a massage) so I just sat around and relaxed; I really didn't feel like doing anything.

By the time John got home, I knew I was in trouble -- my body was already starting to feel like I'd been run over by a mack truck.

I woke at my usual hour to put on the TENs machine and I could barely walk!

John even woke up, which doesn't usually happen but I guess I was having great difficulty moving about so I disturbed him.  He asked if he could help, and I brushed him off, telling him I was just going to go put on the TENs machine, I'd be fine.

But I knew for sure I was in big doo-doo.

At each of the next two wake-ups (remember, I wake every two, two and half hours) the pain had spread and it seemed that more mack trucks had been running over me.

By the time I got up for the day, movement was almost impossible.

Obviously, I was paying the piper, big time, for having had that massage -- no matter how gentle she had been!

So the day in Ottawa that John and I had planned for today is now cancelled.

And I will have to stay put until the pain subsides.  I hope it doesn't last more than 24 hours.

And my massage therapist will receive a call today, letting her know that I did in fact respond negatively to the session so we will have to cancel my next appointment.  I'll let her advise if the following one should also be cancelled (it is scheduled for six weeks plus one day following the date I received that steroid shot).