Treatment for Vicky's back

We enter this day with great hope.  

After years of suffering pain, we hope we are on a path to get some relief for Vicky.

In 1993, while waiting to make a left turn on a state highway, her car was rear-ended by a truck traveling 60 mph.

She had surgery on her spine, which helped a lot.  But over time, arthritis has developed in two places along her spine.

You wouldn't know it by seeing her.  One weirdness of her back problem is that she feels the best when she is exercising.  She can hike, cycle, dance, etc., with virtually no problems.

It's is when she's sitting or lying down that the pain becomes almost unbearable.  Sleep is a real challenge.  She can sit for only short periods of time before sitting becomes painful.

I have tried to help by acknowledging this reality that she feels better when she's up and moving around.  So, for example, I let her do all of the housework and yard work, which she enjoys doing.  I know, I know.....whatta guy.  But, I love her!  

Actually, a few years ago, my gift to her was that we now have a housekeeper and a gardener.   Now she can do the fun parts but not the hard parts that affect her back. 

Of course she lifts as little as possible, so I do all of the lifting.  And move pillows and a footstool to the back patio when we are sitting out there...that kind of thing. 

Today she will go to a surgery center for a "procedure."  It will be a lumbar block.  We don't completely understand it, but it will be to deaden the pain in one part of her back through an injection.  

It's not a permanent solution.  It's diagnostic.  If it helps temporarily, then the doctor will know that a (more) permanent solution should be tried in that area--an ablation.

She truly amazes me.  For someone whose life consists of daily pain, she is always in good spirits.  She approaches every day with the idea of milking all of the joy from it that is possible.  All of you, and especially her children, understand this well because that's how she approached being a mother despite having to work full time and manage a farm, and, for most years, while experiencing pain.  She puts her all into everything she does, and now our grandchildren get the benefit of this enthusiasm for life.

In fact, I remember the first time I laid eyes on her.  She was out on a dance floor.  There was something about her....as I have told her many times...in that she "sparkled" with life.  So, with some trepidation...and excitement, I threw on my dance shoes, waiting for the song to get over, and quickly walked up to her.  My first words to my wife of over 11 years now: "Can I have a dance?" 

Pray, hope, say chants, burn incense, sacrifice your children to the gods, cross your fingers, do whatever you do in this regard to enhance the chances that by tonight she feels better and that we are on the way to a solution.  Nobody should be in this much pain.

Thanks for your good thoughts today for my wife, my Vicky.

Dan gave me this card as they were rolling me into surgery…..it was so sweet that I started to cry.

I felt so very safe, surrounded by his love.  Thank you, my love.