"OUT IN THE BACK" AS THEY SAY

A little over a week ago, I awoke with a stiff and sore neck and was wondering what to do about it. I finally decided to go to the mall and get a 20 minute massage from these guys there who are amazing with their skills. It felt great, but didn't really solve the problem. A few mornings later, I awoke and couldn't get out of bed. The pain was terrible and all I could do was lay back down.

Thus began the journey of this past week ....a chiropractor for starters, then an urgent care doctor (we have no "family doctor" yet since we're new here), then a referral to a spine doctor, then an MRI, then the spine doctor again. Finally, we knew I have a herniated disk and it is very painful. For the first time in my life, I understood how quickly we get caught up in the rush of the medical system.

Today, I go back to the spine clinic and will have a cortisone epidural in my spine. I'm not excited, yet I am. I dread the thought of it (I'm a pain weenie) and I look forward to the pain relief. In bed last night, Lisa tried to prepare me, to walk me through what would happen, what it would look like, reminding me of how it looked when she had epidurals when our girls were born.

As I've laid many days, sometimes in tears over the pain, I've thought about this whole thing. I saw (again) how God goes ahead of us.... Lisa's mom is here visiting from South Carolina for a few weeks. She's been here to watch the girls, run the house, cook and clean.... all of them are things she loves to do! What a blessing.

Also, I saw that I really do know what I want to do.... I'm ready to be a counselor for men who've been abused. I'm ready to start assisting them in unraveling the messy ball of string that is life. I hope that i can help a few people, and I hope that helping them will unravel a few more knots in my own string.

The night before I couldn't get out of bed with pain, we'd gone to dinner with the Hagans, some friends here, and Ellen had challenged us to walk or run in the next Rock and Roll Marathon in San Antonio, next fall. We all agreed that we'd four train for the half marathon.... so I lay that out there. Will I be able to do that? Time will tell.