Pain Management

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Today it is all about managing pain. A not so funny thing happened last night when I got home. I got real dizzy and basically had to lay down for the first couple of hours, which sucked because we still had work to do in the basement. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do but ride it out. This all boils down to my neck pain. About 6 years ago I developed some serious neck pain, and I went to the Dr. who diagnosed me with an arthritic vertebra and sent me to physical therapy. Which worked for a while, but the pain never totally receded, it has become a part of my life, a very annoying and at times very painful part of my life. Well back in April when we took our trip to Las Vegas the pain hit me like an avalanche. All of that sitting and staring straight ahead or up at an angle for hours and hours really got to me. Well since that trip the pain has been gradually getting worse, it might recede for a couple of days, but it doesn't take much for it to return.

So after having watched everything Lolly went through with her back (and still does) I finally reached a point where I scheduled another appointment with the Dr. This time I am determined that I am going to make him do more than just run his fingers over my neck. I am going to insist on an X-Ray or MRI or both, until I know for sure what is causing this. Because among other things I think it is affecting other things, like my wrist, which at first I thought was a recurrence of carpal tunnel but the more research I do the less I think is likely.

In fact the pain has reached a point where today at work it was so severe that I had no choice but to come home and lay down and spend an hour alternating cold & heat along with an 800 MG Ibuprofen. Tomorrow I have an appointment with the masseuse who comes to our office every week, and I hope he can loosen things up enough for me to last until next Tuesday and the Dr. appointment. And I also might get a different opinion from him. We shall see how it all goes.

I know one thing, I want, no need, to know if I will be forced to a life of pain management and walking on egg shells or if there is a chance I will be able to do fun things like really wrestle with my kids, and carry them on my shoulders and swim with them. All of those right now are as likely to make my pain worse, which makes life as a parent a little less fun.