June 12 – “The Unmasked”

Chris had her appointment with the pain doctor yesterday.  It was at a clinic up in League City, so we had to drive into Texas.  I did go along, but they didn’t let me accompany her inside.  They did give me a mask and offer me a seat near the front door, though.  I stayed there for a while, but soon the itch to move got the better of me.  I struck out to the great outdoors for a walk to stretch my legs.  Around the corner from the clinic was a WalMart.  How could I resist?  I was merely doing research, of course.  I had to see how this one differed from the one in Galveston.  As far as the store is concerned, the League City version was massive.  But I was more interested in the people, and more specifically in whether or not they were wearing masks.  As it turned out most were.  The proportion was probably just the opposite of Galveston, where a majority do not wear masks any more.  There were some of “the Unmasked” around, but quite a few more stayed behind the cloth, so to speak.

Meanwhile back at the clinic, Chris was being investigated.  For the first time since all this started the doctors seemed to understand the “why” behind her pain.  It was the same explanation as the doc who sent her there.  One vertebra has slipped forward over another and is now starting to twist to the side as well.  The two bones are rubbing together and causing bone spurs to form.  That’s one source of pain.  Also the nerve passageway is really crimped with the slippage and twisting, so the nerves don’t have very much room to get through.  We were pleased to hear a reasonable explanation, but I was anxious to get on with the treatment plan. 

OK.  The docs adjusted her medications.  Their goal in doing that is to get her some sleep at night and to calm down the aggravation happening.  Next she will have one of those shots into the affected area.  Analgesic and steroid.  It’s designed to ease the inflammation as well.  She can have up to four of those in a year.  If none of this works, then the next thing is surgery, but Chris has been pretty adamantly against that option.  We’ll see …

1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope. And love.  But the greatest of these is love.”

Father, thank you that these docs are actually seeing what is causing Chris’ pain.  Please use the measures they are prescribing to give her some relief.  Amen.