January 27 – “The Russian command”

I got a great report from the neurologist yesterday.  Everything was hunky dory as far as my back was concerned.  He even cut back the medication I take for nerve pain to see how I do with that.  And he sternly said I should be exercising.  He's from Russia, so it was pretty impressive to hear him command with that accent of his, "I can't stress enough the importance of exercise, especially for someone with rheumatoid arthritis."  I told him I was exercising – again.  Didn't know if he would pick up on that or not.  But Chris jumped all over that one.  She made sure he knew that I have only been exercising for two weeks.  He said he did gather that from the careful way I framed my answer.  Hey, it's kind of like flossing just before you go to the dentist so you can tell him, "Yes, I flossed," and not be lying.  This morning I head back to Houston for a visit with the rheumatologist.  Can't wait to tell him I've been exercising.   Speaking of exercising, Chris and I went for our walk this morning, and then I was doing the weight sets.  The last part of each set I'm supposed to do ten situps.  "Supposed to" is not exactly the right way to say that, I guess, since I made up the sets myself.  Who would care if I do them or not?  Today they didn't get done.  The first time I tried them I realized that my tailbone is bruised.  Or at least the muscles right around it that roll across the floor every time I do a situp are.  That's quite the unpleasant experience.  I guess I'll delete the situps from the routine for awhile.  No problem here.  They are my least favorite thing anyway.   While we were walking Chris told me about a weird dream she had last night.  Somehow her cousin and her brother took down a guy attempting a home invasion of the house she grew up in.  She even saw his face but didn't know him.  The two guys got shot.  They were taken by separate ambulances to the hospital, as were Chris and her little brother who was still a child.  She remembers her ambulance driving on the seawall, but it didn't end up at UTMB.  And then a parade of her cousins showed up at the hospital to visit.  Our thing is to pray for anybody we have dreams about, so my comment was, "Wow.  You had a lot of praying to do."  The more I thought about it, I began to wonder about the intruder.  I'll have to ask if she prayed for him, too.   Psalms 33:4-5 says, "For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.  The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love."   Father, thanks for the part of that unfailing love that you let us in on.  Amen.