Finally, an answer

Well, we have finally gotten a diagnosis for my neck pain. It appears that I have 2 degenerated discs between the 5th & 6th and 6th & 7th vertebrae. The good news is that it is, according to the Neurosurgeon, 'mild' and does not REQUIRE surgery at this time. He referred me to a pain management center. No pain pill has been effective and physical therapy (I think) made the pain worse. So this is the next step. I don't know what they will decide to do; the surgeon mentioned Cortisone shots. I've heard both good and bad things about this. The surgeon said that if the pain isn't better with the pain management, then I can go back to him and we can discuss what surgery would entail. The bad news is that the first available appointment with the pain management center wasn't until September 29th. So, two more weeks to suffer through until I can meet with someone who can HOPEFULLY offer me some relief.

It does feel good to know that there is an answer for the pain I've been experiencing. I somehow feel like I have accomplished something just in knowing what is wrong with me. I really hope that the pain management works. I can't think about the implications of surgery with regards to my family and work without getting anxious, and because I have no idea if it will ever be necessary, there's really no point in thinking about it. It's hard not to think about the what ifs though. For now, I will just continue to wait until I can get in to the pain management center and try not to think about what will happen if this doesn't provide relief.

I think that Kris is trying to get the swine flu. He's had a cold coming on for days and today went back home after dropping the kids at school, downed some Nyquil and went back to bed. I hope he is feeling better when I get home. So far I've tolerated it pretty well...meaning there have only been two or three occasions when I have thrown him the "you'd better not get sick!" look. Poor Kris.

Abbey starts speech therapy today. Mondays and Wednesdays will be a bit crazy. Go into work early, work until 3:30 w/o a lunch break, go pick all four kids up from Grace, drive everyone over to Hazelwood West and get there by 4:30pm. Then I will have to find a spot to sit with the other three kids, keep Livvy entertained and help Kat and Kaleb finish their homework. Then it's home we go to make dinner and get the kids in bed. The next 6 Tuesday nights Kris has finance meetings at church-he's barely even going to be home tomorrow for Livvy's birthday because it's the first budget meeting. Kaleb has soccer practice on Tuesdays now. Kat has Brownies every other Thursday. Kaleb has soccer games every Saturday until the middle of November. This is the year that we take on a million activities. Oh well...it had to start sometime. I'm surprised we were able to put it off this long! We are waiting until next semester to start Abbey in anything. We'll swap out Kaleb's soccer for Abbey to do ballet and Kat will continue Brownies. We just can't keep up with all four of them doing something, not to mention all the money involved!

Time to get back to work!