April 27, 2018, 1:30 p.m.
Today is my third individual session for physical therapy with Francis.
When I checked in, the girl did not ask for a co-pay, so I’m sure someone down the line will bill me. I hate doing it like this. I would rather just pay with my card at the time of the appointment, because I have to rack my brain later, trying to remember what date I had an appointment on that I was supposed to be billed for.
When Francis came into the waiting room, I had my back to him and was attempting to perform acupressure on my neck. This did not escape his notice! He mentioned it and applauded me for doing it.
I followed him back to his office, now a familiar place. We talked briefly, as usual. I verbalized my frustration with gabapentin causing headaches but followed rather quickly with, “But I have an appointment with the pain pharmacist next week.” He nodded.
I sat on the patient table and he checked my range of motion in my neck and said he thought I was making progress! He asked me to do various movements, and then he manipulated my head and neck in different ways, asking if what he was doing made it feel better, feel worse, or no different.
He gave me a new neck exercise and then showed me a hard rubber massage ball with rounded nubs, which he placed under my neck on the right side and showed me how I could use a ball like this for acupressure. Great idea!
Finally, he scheduled me for another appointment on the second Friday of June.