Sometimes the answer is right in front of my face but I keep missing it. Then suddenly I see it and slap myself upside the head and say “fool!”

I realized this week that the only thing that was still really bothering me was my back. The pain was constant. Couldn’t find a comfortable position for sitting or sleeping. Couldn’t sleep more than two hours at a time even with sleeping pills. I realized that unless this got dealt with, I would never get back to “me.”

I kept asking my doctor for stronger pain killers. He kept upping the ante, finally something with a bit of codeine in it, but wouldn’t agree to morphine. He said if it kept up, next week he’d send me for an x-ray. The massage I got on Monday helped for a day. Hot baths were giving temporary relief. Those heat patches they sell at Watson’s did practically nothing. I knew I couldn’t make it till next week.

And then Thursday night it hit me. I used to go see a chiropractor regularly when I lived in San Francisco and that guy worked miracles for me. I had to find one here. I found the HK Chiropractors’ Association web site and looked at the full list of practitioners. Some had web sites so I clicked on those links.

A lot of the people listed were working in Central, in buildings where I knew their monthly rents were probably more than the gross national economy of Guatemala. And I knew that would figure in their fees.

Finally found one, Causeway Bay. Educated in California, board certified in the US. Waited till start of office hours on Friday morning, called and was able to get an appointment that afternoon.

Did a couple of hours in the office, got some lunch, then over to his office. After questioning me closely and doing a quick physical exam, he sent me two blocks away for x-rays. This place (in East Point Centre, above Sogo) was able to take me right away and got the pictures done within 15 minutes. Back to the chiropractor’s office. He looked at the x-rays and then pulled out a pencil and started drawing on them, explaining to me as he went. Then he got out a little model of a spine and started twisting bits and pieces to show what was going on with mine. Very thorough and complete explanation and it was basically the same thing that the San Francisco chiropractor had told me 10 years ago. And that this was coming back to haunt me now after more than 4 weeks of laying in bed, slumping in chairs … basically I’d done this to myself.

So he gave me an adjustment and I started to feel a little better right away. Then he told me to get a heating pad. I told him I had those patches and he kind of made a face but said I could try those. “Honestly,” I asked him, “would a heating pad be that much better than the patches?” Yes, no doubt.

I told him I didn’t feel strong enough to deal with going through Sogo and he said he thought Watsons or Mannings might sell them. That was his only mistake of the day. I went to a nearby large Watsons and they only sell those chemical patches and hot water bottles. I had to go pick up something at Rock Gallery and remembered an “ergonomics” shop on the top floor of that mall, but they only sold chairs and pillows.

It was getting close to 7 PM, time to pick up my girlfriend and head home, but I wasn’t going to head home without a heating pad. But where to go? Then I remembered a medical supply store on the far western end of Johnston Road. Zoomed over there, praying they don’t close early, they’re still open. “Do you have heating pads?” “So many! What kind do you want?” Got an electric one, medium size. I have a feeling the price they charged was double what this would cost in the US but I wasn’t going to quibble. And while I was there, got a back support cushion for my desk chair at home.

So, ten minutes every hour with the heating pad. And taking that cushion with me for wherever I’m sitting. And the result is that today is the first day in weeks that I’ve had no back pain without the use of drugs. Maybe, dare I say it, I can sleep tonight?

One visit to the chiropractor + 1 heating pad and that’s it? Can it really be so simple? And I completely didn’t think about this for a week, 2 weeks?

So, I’m not 100% yet. Still need rest, the right food, etc. But this is the first time in a week that I feel I’ve made some progress against all this.

So … have a great weekend y’all. I ain’t pushing my luck, staying home and continuing to rest and take care of my back.