My mom has always had back problems. Through the years, I have come across many others who have suffered from that as well. While I did feel sorry for them, I didn’t fully realize their pain. That recently changed.
For me, it started because of the new air fryer we bought. You see, I was trying to find a place for it on the kitchen counter. Believing I had the perfect spot for it, I moved my toaster. Not sure if I could carry it myself, I gently picked it up off of the table. It wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be, so I carried it over to the now clear spot. I stepped back and looked at it. The air fryer didn’t seem to fit in like I thought it should. Then I looked over at the microwave and thought that I needed to switch their places. So I moved the air fryer out of the way and picked up the microwave. Now, it’s a fairly good sized one. When I first picked it up, I noticed how much heavier it was than the air fryer, but I only had to carry it over about three steps. After I had them switched, I stepped back and took in the new arrangement. Nope. This that didn’t work either. They needed to be switched back to their original places. I thought about waiting for Tim to get in to move them. Being a sweet man, I knew he would’ve been happy to do that for me, but I didn’t want to ask him since he had worked all day. So, I made the wise decision to move them back by myself. I had started something and I was going to finish it.
When Tim came home, I showed off what I had done. He said I should’ve waited for him. Then he went on to call me: “H.E. Janeway!” Tim was referring to my great grandfather because Papaw was extremely stubborn. That being said, he was also extremely strong and he had a: “Can do” attitude. I think that is a good one to have.
That evening, my lower back was a little sore. I didn’t think anything about it at first, but it was another story when I woke up during the night. My first thought was: “Why am I hurting so much?” Then I tried to roll over. The pain intensified to the point I could hardly move. Not wanting to wake up Tim, I didn’t say anything to him until the next morning. He immediately asked: “Is it your kidney?” I reassured him it wasn’t. “The pain is a little too low and Ive had kidney stones two times. It’s not the same kind of pain.” Then he placed the heating pad that also vibrates on my back. Initially it helped.
After a few minutes, I was able to move better with a little less pain. Once I was up, I got on the couch and put the vibrating heating pad back on my back. But it didn’t get any better this time. If anything, my pain intensified. When I tried to stand up off of the couch, the pain was so excruciating that it literally took my breath. At that point, Tim was ready to take me to the Hospital. I refused. Of course, he became angry and accused me again of being stubborn. I told him if I wasn’t better by the next morning, I would go to an urgent care. Then I had a realization. I was going about this the wrong way in that I was putting way too much heat on an already irritated muscle. So, I asked Tim if he had any of his medicated pads sticky that go from being cold to hot. He did and he placed one onto my lower back. The relief was almost immediate. By that evening I was able to get up and down off of the couch by myself.
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)
Needless to say, I did a lot of praying that day, but not in the way you may think. I was going to ask God to take the pain away or make it more bearable, but then I thought of the above verse. So, when I prayed, I just said: “Thank you Lord.” Even though I was dealing with some pain, I had way too many blessings for which to be thankful.
There was one instant where I was rather frightened. I felt a huge sneeze forming and I knew there was no way I could reach the Kleenex box. Listen, I knew the pain from that sneeze would be horrible. So, I yelled at Tim: “Kleenex!” He looked at me with a confused look on his face. I yelled: “Gotta a big sneeze coming!” Knowing how awful mine are, he jumped up and gave me the box. The threat was quickly diverted and I said another prayer of thanks.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.