When One Thing Leads to Another

I can't help but wonder if there was a special angel looking over me during the time I spent in pain and agony for nearly 2 years before I ended up having surgery.

For anyone who may doubt there is 'someone' watching over us, I can only say, we are obviously guided by someone through our trials and tribulations for a purpose unknown to us. When we make it through our personal ordeal, it is abundantly clear that there is a purpose we must fulfill.

It all began over a July 4^th celebration. We were playing volley ball in the pool when I hastily left the pool to retrieve the ball. I slipped on the wet cement around the pool, fell on my butt, twisted my leg and almost broke my foot that I landed on. Since the holiday was on a Friday, I opted out of emergency treatment until the following Tuesday. By that time I could barely walk and was experiencing extreme pain in my lower back, leg and foot.

X-Rays showed I had not broken anything. I was given pain pills and told to stay off my feet for a few days and that should fix things. Well, it didn't! I waited out the few days and then went to my own doctor. He obtained my X-rays and determined that I had slipped a disc in my lower back. He immediately sent me to an orthopedic specialist who began aggressive treatment. This consisted of a series of shots in my spine over several months.

The first shot worked like a miracle. By the end of the day I was pain free and able to resume my life as I had known it... for about three weeks. I had to wait about a month for the second shot. After that one, I was pain free for about two days. During this time I was working and trying to deal with driving long distances to and from work, trying to ease the pain with pain pills and obviously being in danger of taking too many pills. By the time I went for the third and final shot, approximately 3 months after the second one, I was at the point of begging to have back surgery... something I previously swore I would never do.