Free chiropractics = fantastic job perk

So after Monday's tough karate class, my back was feeling pretty bent out of shape. Luckily, my preceptor noticed I was moving stiffly, and told me that he'd hook me up with the chiropractor who rents a room out of the office 2 days a week. Well, Dr. Powell, DC, is amazing. First of all, he insists on having everyone he meets tell him a joke. I couldn't think of one which wasn't a good start, but he filled me in on a joke another Irish patient of his had told him. It is apparently the shortest Irish joke ever: "An Irish person walked out of a bar...." And that's the joke. I have to admit, I laughed.
Anyway, he quickly identified that I have facet joint syndrome at L5-S1 (that's for you, Katie) and one of my legs is shorter than the other. Some adjustments, electrical currents and pelvic re-positioning later, I was almost as good as new.
The work week went pretty well - Wednesday and Thursday were pretty slow, but Friday was more busy and lots of fun. My preceptor is slowly but surely letting himself turn me loose more often. I'm passing his little tests here and there (for the most part) and every once in a while I get a pat on the back. Friday's success was when Edwin came out of a patient room, found me and motioned for me to come see the patient he was evaluating. He brought me in and said "tell me what this is." The elderly man sitting in the chair had quite a bit of swelling with some redness in his hand. I asked him how it happened, and he said he just woke up with it. The skin around it wasn't warm, and not really red enough to be an infection. So I looked my preceptor and said, "gout?" He threw up his arms and walked out of the room. I was right. Ahhh the glorious feeling.
I am already getting sad about leaving...I've really started to bond with the office staff and it is going to be hard to start over again with a whole new group of people in Montana. I have to just realize that as soon as I'm comfortable, it means my learning curve is flattening, and it's time to move on. Dammit.
Anyway, this weekend I'm home in Hillsboro, but next weekend CJ is coming down to Oakridge. Edwin, his wife, Kris (our office receptionist) and whomever else desires are going to go up to Edwin's house for margaritias, and we are invited. I'm also going to plan some good hikes and make sure CJ gets the whole depressed logging town in the middle-of-nowhere experience.

A last interesting tidbit...apparently Oakridge used to be a lot bigger and more booming, but then the spotted owl was put on the protected species list in the 80's, and that killed a lot of the logging industry up there. I should take some pictures of all the abandoned old buildings and businesses...it tells quite a story.
Jen