Ouch.

I saw Kent, my PT, this morning for some more visceral manipulation.  If you remember--when I first saw Kent, I had IMMEDIATE and substantial relief from my pain.  Then it began to come back.  Every time I see him, something else is out of whack.  Today, it was my duodenum.

The duodenum is the segment of the small intestine that stems off the stomach.  It is also connected to the gallbladder, as the gallbladder secretes bile directly into the duodenum.  Kent found that the duodenum was somewhat stuck.  And he doesn't find that very often.  In fact, it's so rare that Kent had to go look up how to adjust it.  So he did that.  And while he did it, his hands were on the EXACT spot of my pain.  He remarked that he's had to adjust everything except the duodenum in me, so maybe this is "it."  The underlying problem of it all.  After that, he also found that my ileocecal valve was going the wrong way (again) and he fixed that.

I couldn't wait to run.  Tim and I went out for 10 miles, and Tim was going to be doing some speed work (fartlek workout while pushing a stroller).  My right side/back were still hurting, even after I'd seen Kent, but I didn't know how it'd go on the run.  It started okay and then got MUCH worse.  Right around 1.5 miles, the right side started.  By 2 miles, I was getting the intense referred left shoulder pain that I've had before.  By 3 miles, it was both sides, my right lower back, and the left shoulder.  I was in agony.  It literally felt like someone or something was attacking me while I ran.  I kept running, though.  Then, it got a bit better.  The shoulder let up, and it was just the right side.  It became tolerable.  Then, right around 5 miles, I had a stabbing pain in the right side that stopped me in my tracks.  We pulled to the side of the road and I pressed on the spot that hurt--it was right beneath my rib and it was extremely tender to the touch.  It subsided, I kept going.  It happened again around mile 8.  Subsided, and then stayed pretty mellow the last two miles.

So, the duodenum must not have been "it."  The way it works is that Kent will stop when he finds nothing abnormal--that's how we know we're done.  But every time I go, it' something else.  I'm hoping that some day soon I will go and that will be the adjustment that does it.  For now, I'm sentenced to run in pain.  In fact, I'm in pain all the time.  And I get sharp pains that radiate around the side and back even when I'm sitting on the couch.  It's bizarre, but something is definitely wrong with me.

Oh, I forgot to mention the wind during the run--20 mph headwind with 30 mph gusts.  Talk about adding insult to injury!