This
past week was one of gaining personal recognition and gratitude for miracles
given by priesthood blessing. You may not know but I work at a place
that does medical equipment for hospice patients--a hospice nurse calls
us and orders a hospital bed, wheelchair, etc. and our drivers deliver
it to the patient. But this week, I felt like the tables got turned and
I was nearly the patient.
Tuesday I went to work like normal but sometime that morning I
saw a wheelchair in the warehouse that wasn't where it was supposed to
be. So I bent over it and had every intention of lifting it up tot he
shelf where it belonged. Just as I began to lift, I heard/felt a
ripping--much like when you tear paper towels apart. It instantly caused me
to drop the chair where it was before. I felt horrible. I have told
the drivers to be careful how they lift things all the time--use your
legs!--and here I did exactly the opposite of my own advice. I thought
"how dumb?!" and figured I would have to tough it out. But the longer I
stayed at work--I had two weeks of embroidery I was hoping to catch up
on--the worse I felt. It wasn't just tenderness. It was really sore
and the pain started shooting down my left leg. I began to worry that I
had bulged a disc out of my spine, or worse --whatever might be worse?! I
had texted my husband to come straight to my office to give me a
blessing--thinking he would be home sooner than I'd be done. But by
3:00 he hadn't responded yet, so in desperation, I asked my boss and a co-worker to give me a blessing before I went home.
Luckily, for me, I
do work with a bunch of returned missionaries and these two men were
available and ready to do this for me. One did the anointing and then
my boss gave me a blessing. It wasn't a blessing for instant healing, but
one that promised me no major damage had occurred, but that I had to do
what I could to make things better for myself too. In the blessing he
told met hat I would be able to find relief as I took myself out of
situations that caused me stress. That I would be able to find relief
from mediation and help from resting my body. It was a comfortable
feeling as he finished. I knew it wasn't going to be well instantly,
but that I would eventually be fine.
By
the time I got home, I was hurting SO bad that I couldn't take my own
shoes off. I laid myself over the yoga ball in the
family room. I was relieved by stretching my back around the ball, but
then I couldn't get up by myself once I was done laying over it. I
finally took a big ibuprofen and an old generic a pain killer
left over from a dental visit or something years ago--and went to bed very
early. The next morning I couldn't get out of bed. My husband told me to get
into the doctor, maybe he cold prescribe a muscle relaxer and something
for the pain. I called the office about 9 AM but the scheduling
secretary wasn't available--so I left a message. My doctor was the
Urgent Care guy that day, so the scheduler for the office told me to
come on in. I did as quickly as I could and once there, I had to wait
for about 30 minutes. I was standing then tried sitting, but either
position was horrendously painful. I was close to tear as I felt the
muscle in my back spazaming and causing pain down my leg. Finally I got
in to see the Doctor and laid myself across the exam table to relieve
the pressure on my lower back. When he finally came in, he tried
applying pressure in a couple of spots on my back and sent me through
the ceiling a couple times. He quickly prescribed a muscle relaxer, a
steroid, a pain killer and double checked that I had a 800 mg Ibuprofan
to take. He also gave me a referral to a physical therapist.
I
got home after dropping off the prescriptions and immediately laid on
the bed. I called the physical therapist's office and they had a
cancellation that afternoon, so I took it. The
therapist ended up being the same guy that worked on my shoulder after I
did that surgery back in 2006,
Chad. He started me off with some STEM and heat. 15 minutes of that
was the best I'd felt for nearly 2 days. Then he came in and did some
stretching and massaged on the area. Then put me on a ice pack and sent
me home with some small exercises I need to do to not only heal my
hurting back, but to strengthen the lower interior ab muscles that
support my back too.
I
took the meds that my hubz had picked up for me and went to bed. I slept
through the night and then most of Thursday too. I was in bed nearly
all the day--only moving to do the exercises and go to the bathroom. I
haven't slept that long--or that well--in ages. I was careful to take
the meds are prescribed and I started to believe that I might live.
I
woke up Friday feeling better than I had all week. I went to work, on
the meds, but I knew I couldn't lift or man-handle things in the
warehouse, or the UPS or FedEx shipments, etc. I was even very careful
how I was sitting at my desk, or getting up and down from the chair or
the embroidery machines. I worked a full day and went hoe about 4:30 or
so. I did have to ask for help a few times, but I know that it is OK
to ask for help when you need it.
Now,
I know that some of the relief I have felt comes directly from the
medications the doctor ordered, and other relief may have come from the
electrical impulses from the STEM, or the heat and ice. While I do
think those were all helpful, I have a strong feeling that the
priesthood blessings was what has helped me get back to "nearly normal"
this fast. I know the Lord cares about my health and the functionality
of my body as it is necessary to my work. I know that He can bless me
to be healed in an instant. But this time I needed to feel some
understanding for people who do live in pain. Luckily for me, He also
knows me enough to know that too much demanded patience would put me
over the top. He has begun this process of healing for me, but is
giving me the time to learn to be more compassionate to others and to my
own self--where my body isn't doing things as fast as I'd like.
This
healing process will be steady and over a longer period of time that
just a few days, but I'm on the mend and getting back to what I do every
day. Simply getting out of bed without help is a plus. Being able to
tie my shoes or pick up something on the floor is a big deal after how
badly I hurt last week. So
that was the extent of my story this week. I wish we could arrange a
few days of bed rest to just catchup on sleep every couple of months or
so, but that isn't real life. I am grateful for the rest I've had and
for the relief the meds and the therapy have given me. Now to do the
hard work of remembering these little exercises and condition my back
muscles and core muscles to avoid this again.
Getting older really sucks.
