Life...

Sometimes life deals you a crazy hand...Joel and I (mostly Joel) are in the midst of one of those hands.  We know it will pass, but right now it is just really difficult. 

Joel's back has not been well for the past several months, but he has still been able to live life.  On Sunday, September 16, while messing around in the backyard Joel dove to catch Parker who was about to fall backwards out of a chair.  It was immediately apparent that he was not going to jump right up after this one.  The next few days were a struggle, but each day brought small signs of improvement.  The weekend hit, though, and the days were getting progressively worse.  The doctor prescribed a muscle relaxer and some Vicodin which threw Joel into a constant state of sleep for the weekend where he mostly could only lie on his back.  As his body adjusted to the medication he was able to be more coherent and attempted to go to school on Monday.  With the pain getting progressively worse he took the rest of the week off of school and took it easy as much as possible alternating icing, resting, stretches, therapy, etc.  At this point he was not able to do much at physical therapy due to the pain he was in and the lack of movement he has.  He has seen little to no improvements along the way yet which has been frustrating at times. 

We currently are 3 weeks into the injury with not a lot to show in regards to signs of improvements.  An MRI showed that he has a herniated L4/L5 disk.  He will be referred to a surgeon soon...not necessarily for surgery, but just to have some visits out of the way in case in the future he does need surgery this could expedite that process. 

We didn't actually say "in sickness and in health" in our wedding vows, but it was understood that that phrase was part of our commitment.  This has been a great time for us to live out our vows to each other and support each other through this challenging time.  Chronic pain is a very challenging thing for all parties involved, but I think we both have risen to the occassion and are handling it as fabulous as possible...besides maybe a few stressful moments!