I felt it was necessary to give readers an update regarding my health situation. My major back, neck and other body pains have continued unabated. The doctors have tried many painkillers but have not found one that is effective. I had so much hydrocodone for over a decade due to a wayward surgery that caused me prolonged pain that hydrocodone lost all effectiveness in my system. A short try at Oxycontin a couple years ago had no effect. Tramadol had no effect. An ER visit resulted in morphine reducing the pain from a “9” to a “4,” but they told me they could give me no more so that wasn’t effective pain relief either. Nucynta helps a little, but mostly just dopes me up. One doctor tried a combination of a painkiller and muscle-relaxer, but that put me in the ER the first day I tried (I was unable to swallow, was very faint, etc.). A surgeon gave me an epidural shot of steroid inside my spinal column over a week ago in my upper lumbar region, but that has had no meaningful effect either. He wants to do another such shot this week. After that, the last resort is a specialized pain clinic. I’m doing everything a person can do for himself in nutrition and various holistic treatments too. Obviously, my medical bills are substantially increasing.
I post to my blog when the pain is low enough to allow me to write for a while. Otherwise, I cannot write at all. I basically will have no quality of life to look forward at all to until God grants me real healing and restoration. It is Spring and I am avid gardener who can barely bend over at present without excruciating pain, so I’m very frustrated not being able to do normal gardening activities. Bending over forward is the most painful movement of all. I dread having to bend over to put food in my dog’s dish, bend over to hook him up to his leash, etc. because I know how much pain these movements are going to cause.
The lower back pain actually came after a bit of good news. I was in trigger-point therapy and the therapist said I was initially in one of the worst conditions she’d ever seen a patient. I was getting so much progress in these sessions that I was gaining muscle mobility and was stretching ever-farther to increase my mobility. Unfortunately, I unknowingly stretched too far and the lower back was put into worse shape than before. I also suffered a concussion in a swimming pool accident last Labor Day weekend. The concussion turned out to be worse than I first realized. My daughter finally took me to the ER a couple weeks after it occurred and tests showed I had very little sense of balance left. I had to walk with a cane for over a month. My concentration and memory functions were also impaired (most frustrating and aggravating for a writer!). Those functions are slowly returning, but I’m not back to the pre-concussion status.
X-rays at a chiropractor revealed that my cervical spine curvature is so badly out of alignment that there was direct pressure on my brain stem and spinal cord. The chiroprator is doing a series of adjustmentes to try and relieve that pressure and restore as much of the normal curvature as possible. There has been some release of the pressure already.
The constant pain levels and inability to perform what were once normal daily functions and movements is also making my PTSD symptoms worse, which is understandable. My tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is still here, but seems to be healing at a glacial pace.
I wish I had better news, but I did feel I was obligated to give readers an update. If the pain levels continue without significant relief, I may have to take an indefinite hiatus from doing more writing until the pain levels are finally healed. For now, I will continue to post whenever I am able to do so, as there is so much that needs to be passed on. If I had normal health, I could be doing a post every day.
I deeply appreciate the prayers of those readers who are taking the time to intercede with God to grant healing and pain-relief to me so I can be much more effective in his service. There isn’t much I can do right now. It is my hope that the intercessory prayers of many of you will finally move God to have mercy and grant me dramatic healing! I admit to being discouraged that the strong pain levels have gone on for so long (who wouldn’t be!).
I’d love to be able to post a “Praise Report” at my website reporting that God has granted healing!
