my back is wack

I haven't been able to blog a lot lately because Adam and I have had a lot going on and, as you can tell by the title of this blog, my back is wack. Adam's dad has been in (and is still in) the hospital the last week or so due to some complications with his liver, so we have been spending time at the hospital when we can. I have had several appointments for my back which has been irritating me for about 5 months now. I went to my GP around Christmas time and he put me on a round of steroids and some mild pain killers, which did nothing. I decided to up the anti and head to the neurosurgeon that I have been to before. He put me on another round of steroids along with muscle relaxers and pain meds. The pain doesn't go away so we up the steroids to a stronger dose and continue with the muscle relaxers and pain meds. After about 2 months he schedules an MRI. The office where I am to get this MRI has a water leak and floods at literally the exact moment that I show up for my appointment. I have to wait a week and a half to get the MRI done so the neurosurgeon puts me on another round of steroids to hold me over until the MRI. I finally get the MRI and have to wait a week until they can get them developed, or whatever it is they do that takes so blastin' long. You would think with today's technology that we could get these things moving a little faster. Anyway, this past Friday I actually got to go back to see the neurosurgeon about the MRI and lo' and behold I have a slipped disc in my lower back. This is somewhat relieving and terrible all at the same time. Great that I finally know what is wrong with my back and that all of my complaining is now warranted ;) but terrible because now I have a slipped disc and that doesn't necessarily mean an easy fix. At this point the doc is trying to avoid surgery because I am young and the percentage of it reoccurring  is 10% greater in someone my age. So, we are first going to try a series of epidural shots in my back. It is a 6 week process that includes some physical therapy where they hope that the disc will slip back into place on its own. If this doesn't work then we move to surgery. It is all a little overwhelming as I have to consider Addie in all of this too.  Me going back and forth to the doctor's office each week along with the epidural shots is going to put me a little out of commission for a while. We are, of course, praying that these shots work and that I don't have to have surgery. Then I really would be out of commission. I just look forward to the time when I'm not in pain and I can play with Addie like I want to. And I know that God is sovereign and that He has a plan in all of this. So, with that being said the DeMine's have two prayer request today: heal my back and heal Adam's dad (Tommy).