June 5 – “Med-check”

I have been really trying to concentrate on the positive lately, since there has been so much of that going on around here.  I guess I need to come to terms with the not-so-positive for a few minutes here.

Let me establish first that I have been having pain in my lower back for quite some time now.  It hasn’t been such that I couldn’t get by with an occasional extra dose of Tylenol or maybe one of my pain pills from rheumatoid arthritis stash on particularly bad days. Now, I made a big deal about taking one of those canes that folds into a seat with us to Disneyworld.  It was a huge help in getting us through security at the airport as well as getting us closer to the front of some lines.  But it was really a life saver as well.  I have to admit that I had a few days where the pain in my lower back was excruciating.  It was especially tough the day we got there, I think because of sitting for two hours on the airplane and then having to walk through the Orlando airport.  The day we walked about six and a half miles (Josh showed me how to track in using my iPhone health app) was pretty difficult as well. 

There came one point, however, where the really terrible, localized pain actually stopped.  It was weird.  Problem was, though, at that same point my right leg began developing those tell-tale symptoms of bulging disks: numbness, tingling, weakness.  That has not gone away, and in fact has become more than annoying.  The latest thing is a feeling between my big toe and the next one like I’m wearing flip flops.  You know, the kind with the strap that goes in between those toes?  Except I don’t wear flip flops.  I don’t like that feeling.  I’m a Tevas guy all the way.  Oh, there are still moments when I can really feel the tug and subsequent pain in my back as well.  I’m curious to see how everything feels when I go to water exercise on Tuesday. 

Chris has just about convinced me to bite the bullet and call the doc tomorrow.  That in itself promises to be a major ordeal.  With the advent of Obamacare we had to switch our insurance.  Now neither my neurologist nor my rheumatologist are covered.  That means I have to go back through the primary care physician and establish with new ones who are in the system.  That is never easy.  The wait is usually months.  But that is making something a problem before it becomes a problem.  I haven’t even called them yet. 

So, here’s to a doctor’s office phone call and an Astros extra-inning victory last night.  Gotta keep mixing the good with the bad.  Helps me keep proper perspective.

Romans 8:26 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Father, thank you for so many overpowering “goods” in the midst of this latest “bad.”  Amen.