Pain in the Neck (and Back)

Pain in the Neck (and Back)

May 30, 2018

Right now, Rob has unbearable pain.  No matter what he does or tries, his back and neck hurt.  He also has constant headaches.  We have tried:

·         Chiropractic

·         Massage

·         Physical therapy

·         Cryotherapy

·         Multiple doctors

·         Pain pills

·         Several topicals (icy hot, lidocaine, biofreeze, deep blue, etc)

·         Essential oils

·         Anything else a person can think of – we have tried it

He does not get relief.

His pain tolerance is gone.

He calls me at work to tell me how bad he feels.  All. Day. Long.

It seems to me, like his dementia affects his ability to tolerate pain, to interpret where the pain is coming from, and how bad the pain is.  His anxiety compounds the issue.  If he doesn’t hurt, he is worried about when it will start to hurt, and how bad it will hurt.  If he even starts to get a little tense or tight, he panics about how bad it will get.  If he doesn’t believe a new treatment will work, he gets upset within minutes.  He did not expect cryotherapy to work, and he was doing so much better that day than he has been in two weeks, but by the time we drove 20 minutes down the road, he was convinced it did not work and refused to go back.  Similarly, when he thinks or expects something to work, he becomes obsessed with it, even if it doesn’t make much difference.  He spent two weeks making us all massage him 24-7.  Now he got ahold of a big vibrating massager (like the chiropractor uses).  He calls it the buffer and is constantly asking us to “buff his back out.” (Once a body man, always a body man – even if he was a diesel mechanic for almost 30 years! Ha ha)

He calls me at work to ask if I can come home and use it.  My mom has taken the brunt of the afternoon massage requests, God bless her. 

We have an appointment with the neurologist and the back/pain management doctor, but we need to do something to get him through to those appointments.  Between the pain, the insomnia, the depression, etc., Rob feels like he is trapped in prison.  He stares at the clock or his watch, just waiting for the next dose of Tylenol/advil/exedrin/whatever works. 

We are ready, now, for prayers that the Lord takes him home sooner rather than later, to ease his suffering. He wants to be with Jesus and be whole again.  To be 100% body, mind and soul.  Better than 100% on earth - but in his new, perfect, Heavenly self.

However, Romans 8:28 says that we KNOW that God works ALL things together for the good of those who love him.  And we love Him.  So we KNOW, that God can somehow use this for good.  And that is good enough with us.