Taxed Back

Tax season is here. I should be really busy getting tax returns out, working part-time selling shoes, and chasing five kids. What am I doing? Sitting doing tax returns because I can't move very far very fast. About six weeks ago, right before the Pinewood Derby, I slipped down the last three stairs in my house. About 10 days later I went to the doctor since my back was still sore and wanted to be sure I hadn't cracked anything. I hadn't and was given some prescriptions for pain and a muscle relaxant. I felt pretty good, until last Tuesday when I had a hard time getting out of bed.

I'd woken to the phone ringing and realized I couldn't move without pain shooting up my back. I hollered for Bear, but he was still asleep and didn't hear me calling him. Fortunately, Bug had just walked in from seminary and found me in tears next to the bed. I told her to call her dad, who (having fallen asleep in his office) asked grumpily "What do you want me to ?!" I told her to tell him to come give me a blessing and sorry for waking him up. That night I had Joe take me to a minor medical center for yet another x-ray which showed nothing wrong and was refered to an orthopaedic office.

The orthopaedic doctor had me sitting down and lifted my lower leg to be straight and I nearly went through the roof. The pain was horrible! In fact, probably worse than childbirth in many ways. It was like an electric shock in my back. He sent me for an MRI and Friday confirmed what he suspected, I have a ruptured disc.

For many I guess this would mean surgery, but my doctor is going to try a spinal block (I get it Wednesday) and then we'll wait a week to see if my back starts healing on its own. If not, then I'll go in for surgery. Definitely not the right time of year for this to happen.

Joe's sister and his sister-in-law flew into Memphis on Saturday and will be helping out until they return to their homes on Thursday. He hadn't asked for help, but truthfully he really wanted to. It's actually been good that they've been here. They motivated my kids, and my kitchen hasn't been this clean in ages. Joe's SIL (Christine) was glad to come since her daughter is out here, so this gave her a good excuse to come visit. His sister (Be) probably just needed to get away. Plus, she loves our kids. Samuel adores her.

I've been sitting around with my laptop and have gotten lots of taxes done. Plus I'm catching up on all my tax magazines and the CPE tests that I need to take to keep my license. The frustrating thing for me has been feeling like I should be getting up and helping people that are cleaning my house, but everytime I get up, somebody tells me to sit down. Frankly, my butt is going numb from sitting on it so much!

Oh, well. I think this has been a lesson for my family in learning to accept help, that we aren't above needing it. I had to find help with the organ and choir at church, rides for kids to youth activities, etc. It seems that people have been willing to help. My visiting teachers and the mom of one of my cub scouts brought dinners in. I have a great ward which is a good thing since most of our family is nearly 2,000 miles away. The benefit of being in a church like ours is that people get to know eachother. We have a great system for spreading word that people need help which is even faster now that everybody has email. It has been very helpful to have such good friends in my church. It's even been good having company that will talk to me and not pass judgement on my house. Joe's taken some time off that he needed desperately. I may be pretty sore at the moment, but keep in mind that all things happen for a purpose. I'm beginning to see the purpose, but I still hope to be back on my feet soon.