Massage Anyone?

My home scale shows a 1.4 lb loss from last week!  I'm probably going to Weight Watchers tonight rather than tomorrow and get my official loss recorded.

Yesterday I left work about 2pm and went home to wait for Benny to finish getting ready.  We headed up to Heidelberg Haus.  I ordered Kassler Rippchen (Cooked, warm smoked pork chop, homemade German potato salad, bread & butter).  Benny ordered the Currywurst (Two fried sausages smothered in curry ketchup, homemade German potato salad, bread & butter).  Now, I've tasted potato salad before (many, many years ago) and didn't like it so I figured that I'd give mine to Benny.  Well, their potato salad looked like mashed potatoes so I went ahead and tasted it.  Besides the sour taste (assuming pickle relish) it wasn't bad so I ate mine.  We walked around the shop while we waited for our food.  For dessert I had a slice of one of their cakes...it tasted kind of like a dry version of Boston Crème Pie.  Benny had a cheese Danish.  He bought some bread and a copy of Das Boot.

For the massage I went to see Anna Waggoner of Therapeutic Massage Indy.  When I arrived she greeted me and had me fill out an intake form (for lack of a better term) with my information and pain issues.  She led me to the room and left me to undress and get on the massage table.  I didn't see a stool but surprisingly I didn't need anything to climb on it.

Anna had me start out by laying on my back.  I think there was a lavender scent in the massage cream she was using.  She began with my shoulders and neck.  Anna was immediately able to tell that my right side was tighter than my left.  My arms were next followed by my legs and feet.  The pain that I've been having in my thighs from Jillian's workouts didn't manifest while she worked them.  Once the front side was done she had me turn over on my stomach with my head in the headrest.

At this time my allergies decided to toy with me.  Almost immediately my sinuses started closing up making it difficult to breathe through my nose.  I didn't say anything to Anna but I'm sure she could hear it in the nasal sound of my voice.  Again she started with the shoulders and neck from this side.  I was doing OK until she hit a spot on my back next to my right shoulder blade.  I'd say the knot is between the size of a clementine and a small apple....or at least that's how it felt.  I kind of jumped when she got there.

Image Courtesy of Ambro | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At some point I mentioned that I had foam rolled my legs because of long term pain but never said what side it was.  Anna was massaging the hip and thigh area on the right side and moved to the left.  She asked if I had hip problems on my right side because she could feel the tension there too.  Even though I only feel the pain periodically during TOM Anna could feel a difference right away!  What is with my right side having all these issues?  I think it's been that way all my life....pain/injury starts on my right/dominant side.

When we were all done she gave me a little bottle of water to drink.  I didn't think that I was thirsty but took a sip anyway.  Anna said she could see that I looked more relaxed at the end than I did when I walked in the door.  (A coworker said I looked more relaxed today also!)  We got home and both were hungry again.  I'm not sure what Benny ate but I had an apple and that took care of me for the night.

I fell asleep on the couch while Benny was watching Das Boot; I just can't watch a movie where I spend my time reading the subtitles the whole time and miss out on whatever they're doing.  This morning I woke up feeling a little more rested than normal.  If I could I'd have a massage every day then maybe my sleep would become restorative again!

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