A Pain in the Back

The reason I have been so absent from blogging lately is because I have been dealing with some health issues.  It has basically been ruling my life, so I knew that if I blogged about it while dealing with it, that I would probably blow everything out of proportion and make it all sound worse than it actually is.  But then I really started to think about that and I realized that I really can't make it sound worse than it actually is because it has been completely awful.  So here is my timeline of events:

May 31st:  Took Jaden to the splash pad with some friends.  I noticed my back seemed to be a bit sore but I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary.  Ignored it.

June 1st: My back began to be noticeably uncomfortable.  Again I ignored it.

June 2nd:  I realized when I got up in the morning that I could no longer put any weight on my right leg.  Also, I couldn't bend over at all, and going from sitting/laying to standing was excruciating.  This was the day we had the party for Jaden's 1 year from the NICU, so I guess it was a blessing that hardly anyone came because I couldn't walk anyway.  Jake asked if I wanted to go to the ER, but I didn't feel it was necessary.  I self-medicated by doing alternating heat pad and ice pack.

June 3rd: Continued with the alternating ice and heat and stayed in bed pretty much all day to rest up as much as I could for Monday.

June 4th: I woke up feeling good enough to go out and get the Sunday papers that they throw away Monday morning (for the coupons) but by the time I was on the way back I was seriously struggling to carry both the paper and Jaden.  Thankfully Jaden basically took care of himself while I collapsed on the couch.  Finally, after a helpful call to my Mother-in-Law (thank Heaven for mother-in-laws!!!) I asked Jake to take me to the ER after he got home from base.  The wait was typical ER wait time, and after we finally got in they determined that I had an inflamed Scyatic Nerve.  The treatment was a shot of a serious anti-inflammatory in the ba-donk-a-donk, a prescription for some Ibuprofen and some muscle relaxers, and time to let it heal.  I was glad for some answers, and after filling the prescriptions, we were on our way home.

June 5th-8th: I followed the prescriptions to the letter and I was beginning to feel a whole lot better!  I could walk again without the limp and could drive as long as it wasn't too far away.

June 9th: This was the day of The Pensacola Flood where we got 14 inches of rain in less than 24 hours.  Our house was fine (only half of our garage flooded and we were able to save most of it) but it was unnerving to watch our street turn into a churning river!  My mom, sister, and brother were flying in to stay with us for 2 weeks, so I knew we would be at the airport for some time so I stuck a medicated heat patch on my back and off we were.  Little did we know that it would take 6 hours for their flight to get in, and the patch worked a little too well as I felt great and was sitting a lot and walking around.  Their plane finally arrived, we drove them home, got settled, and as I went to get ready for bed, I took the patch off and brushed my teeth.  Then, on my way into bed, I literally collapsed.  My legs could not hold me up and my back felt as if it were on fire while simultaneously having hot skewers shoved into it.  I screamed as I tried to climb into bed and I had to settle for the first position I fell into because moving even a little bit side to side sent waves of pain shooting up my back.  Not a lot of sleep that night.

June 10th: This was supposed to be the day that I would teach my first Sharing Time in Primary, but I literally could not stand, let alone walk.  Even sitting was painful.  I did find that I could crawl with little pain, so I took to crawling everywhere.  I called in sick (turns out they canceled all meetings after Sacrament Meeting because it was raining again and they wanted people to get home before they started closing roads).  This new back pain was so much worse than just the Sciatic pain.  Every little movement literally brought tears to my eyes because of the blinding pain.  Small things like lifting my head or raising an arm sent shooting pain across my body.  And if I were to try to stand up straight, well, let's just say it was beyond torturous.  Thankfully my family was there to help!

June 11th: My mom, bless her heart, came to my house early so she could get up with Jaden.  I was so grateful because I still couldn't walk and there was no way I could stand up enough to reach into his crib, let alone get him out of it.  And the only way for me to get up and down stairs was to crawl, and I'm not sure how you do that with a squirmy baby.  I got an appointment with my doctor early and Alex (who had to help me get dressed because I couldn't straighten up enough to pull my pants up) went with me.  The doctor thought that while favoring my leg from the Sciatic pain, that I made my entire back seize up.  I got another shot, she switched my ibuprofen for naproxen, more muscle relaxers, and sent me to get some x-rays (which didn't show anything out of the ordinary).

June12th-Present: For the next 4 days it was still too painful to do much so I basically stayed in bed or on the couch while my mom went around cleaning and organizing my entire house.  On Friday I actually cried because I was able to stand up straight with minimal pain!  It was nice to finally be able to cry over no pain rather than crying because of the enormous pain. Saturday I felt good enough to take Jaden over to the pool at the condo complex my family is staying at.  Sunday I did my sharing time and it went really well.  Today I feel almost back to normal!  Every now and then I will feel a splinter of pain when I move wrong, but for the most part, I can walk and sit and stand and get into bed without crying!  I start some physical therapy on Monday so they can help me strengthen my back.

I know this was long, but I also wanted to record this for posterity.  I am so thankful for a body that tells me when something is wrong and for doctors who can decipher my body's messages and help me to make it right again!  I am so grateful for walking!  And I am so grateful that I can roll over in bed without gasping in pain!
 I want to thank my mom for giving up her early mornings to come take care of Jaden, my sister for being my slave and getting/doing anything for me, my brother for entertaining Jaden during all of this, Jaden for being the best independent playing baby ever lately, and Jake for putting up with all of it and letting me cry into his shoulder while the pain from getting into bed slowly went away.