Issues...

I just discovered that I have an extra vertebrae in my spine.  Under normal circumstances, you might think this was cool.  I did for a few minutes myself.  Turns out 7% of humanity has an extra vertebrae, and when I saw the x-ray I thought, if only for a brief moment -

"Wow.  I really am an X-Man."

I've wanted to be a mutant superhero for as long as I can remember.  From watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sneaking occasional episodes of soap-opera-styled X-men cartoon of the mid nineties, or enjoying the recent batch of Hollywood superhero blockbusters over the last several years - there has always been a glimmer of hope that I would be one, or even the one; first in a new wave of "human evolution."  Without knowing it, I guess I'd bought into some version of an Old Earth theology...

It was my first appointment to the chiropractor, thought not my first visit, or adjustment.  Joanna has a condition in her lower back that somehow allows one of her vertebrae to hang almost halfway off the one below it.  Sounds crazy - but if she keeps her core strong and watches what she lifts, she's fine.  She visits every so often in order to stave off inflammation, and I've accompanied her several times.  I visited the same doctor last week, and I'll see him again today.  Prior to this, I was informally adjusted by a friend's dad at a wedding, and since then had begun the sticking habit of "self adjustment."  

That was the reason I made the appointment; cracking my own spine started to creep me out.

But as he began to explain what had happened (and I filled in the blanks with my imagination), I realized this wasn't the mutant power I was hoping for.  It's sorta like discovering you're playing a role like Bruce Davison from the original "X-Men" movie - a regular person who is transformed into a mutant, against his will, only to later be slowly and painfully destroyed by it.

The news sank in sorta funny.  I could tell by his tone that it was fairly serious.  The pragmatic side of me could understand it fairly easily: I had a misaligned spot that was causing a rough pinch on a disk - along with inflammation and limited mobility.  Further, he said there was nothing he could really do since the bones seemed to have fused together!  Then the real blow, "you should probably pull back from cycling for a while…"

To Be Continued...