If I'm ever in a position of power and you need to bribe me...

 ...OFFER JAFFA CAKES.

You _can_ find them, occasionally, around these parts, but Jaffa Cakes are kind of a UK thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cakes. I fell in love with them only recently when my friend in Wales randomly stuck a box into a care package of other things.  Shawn doesn't particularly like them.  Mason thinks they're pretty okay, for cookies, but I'm CRAZY about them.  

CRAZY.

As an example, Maggie (nee Jackson) and her new husband Ogie brought me about five boxes when they came visiting for Thanksgiving and there are now only three and a half boxes left (these are double boxes, at least, so I'm not panicking yet, but I'm going to be out of Jaffa Cakes before Christmas, guaranteed.)

I'm sure when I go to the doctor later this week, she's going to give me a look after I hop on the scale and mutter, "Thanksgiving, eh?" And, I'm going to be like, "No, Jaffa Cakes. Entirely Jaffa Cakes."

Speaking of doctors and things, I'm happy to report that I'm nearly pain free. The only concerning thing that remained is that, while I've gone down to a muscle ache I can cope with, I'm now experiencing numbness in a couple of fingers on my left hand. When I told my chiropractor about that last Wednesday, he asked if we'd done X-rays.  I said that we hadn't and I was actually going to ask him if I should ask my doctor to take some.  But, apparently, Charon Chiropractic has a X-ray machine right there, so they took a picture of my neck and shoulders.  Yesterday, he showed me the film and we talked about it. He was so relaxed as we were headed in to look at them, he was saying, "Oh, the films are so much better than I expected," and I thought, "Okay, great, so maybe it's all just muscle related...."

And then he starts talking about how your spinal bones are all supposed to make this nice line where they all match up, so the spinal cord continues uninterrupted, and he starts drawing down with his finger to show me on my x-ray and then... his fingers jog over where there's this sudden.... break, a shift to the left for two of the bones, and then back to the original line.  It's very clear; even to me, that that's not right.  He looks at me and asks, "Have you been in a car accident?"  

I'm like, "No.  Seriously.  I told you.  I literally woke up with this."

He says, "This is an impact injury.  This is a MAJOR impact injury."

So, I'm thinking about it and I say, "Okay, so... a couple of years ago, I fell down the icy concrete stairs outside my house.  I didn't have medical insurance at the time, so I just kind of shook it off.  I'd whacked my elbow pretty good, but otherwise I didn't think much about it, because I'd rolled in a way that felt like I'd protected my brain, you know? So now I'm thinking: I protected my brain all right, but NOT my neck."

And he nods, "That could be it." (And, then, being the helpful guy Dr. Matt is, goes on to tell me that I probably could have gotten the money to pay for medical expenses out of my home insurance because it doesn't have to be a stranger who hurts themselves on your property, it can be the owner.  Sometimes, anyway.  He thought I should check my policy, because, you know, insurance guys don't want to tell you that stuff.  Have I mentioned much about Dr. Matt?  He's like that jolly wrestling coach from your high school, if that guy was a lot smarter, way more interesting, and slightly better socialized.  He'll talk to me about golfing and ski chalets and his opinion on the current Pope.  This conversation led him to telling me all about the time his house got robbed, twice--all while he's cracking my joints and stuff. I kind of love him. Of course, I told him I was a writer right away and gave the office copies of my novels. So maybe he's just open with me because I am with him. Plus, I came on a recommendation of someone from his former church....)

Anyway, so as far as we can figure, I've been living with this major impact damage for years and, when I was lifting the loom and whatnot the weekend right before I woke up in pain--even though I never felt like I strained anything--I must have finally jiggered the wrong thing loose, and WHAMMO.

But, it's the sort of thing Dr. Matt sees all the time, and, as he kept stressing, not nearly as bad as he thought it was going to be, so that's all to the good.

I have to have faith considering that he's taken me from constant 24/7, screaming agony to "meh, it's the end of the day and I feel like I've been punched in the back a bunch times.  A couple of aspirin ought to kill that."  I mean, that's fantastic.  As I told him on Monday, I can live with this.  It's not ideal, but I can cope, you know?  

And, of course, Dr. Matt just smiles ands says, "We can make it better than that, Lyda.  See you next week."