The beginning of last month I had the worst pain in my right back. No matter what I did, the pain was there. It started out on Sunday morning and we ended up missing Stake Conference that day. The pain got quite a bit better and we had some friends over for dinner...as we had planned. Then, after work on Monday the pain came back...bad. So bad, we finally decided to go to the hospital. We got there late and were the only ones in the ER. We were there for about 2-3 hours and the best they could diagnose was kidney stones. They had on IV pain killers and kept giving me doses because nothing was helping with the pain. We had a long sonogram session as that was the only way to get a look inside. We had lots of looks at the baby. Anyway, after awhile they sent us home with a percoset prescription. Thank goodness for a fairly close 24-hour pharmacy. Matt was tired to start out with and was exhausted by the time we got home - between 1 & 2 am. He had two inspections scheduled for the next day so I was worried about him. My VT took me to see the doctor the next day but they really didn't do anything except confirm that I probably had a kidney stone. She said I could manage the pain at home or go into the hospital. The problem I had was that the pain pills wore off after a couple of hours and I was still hours away from the being able to take the next dose. There were a few times I seriously considered going to the hospital because the pain was so bad. Tuesday night it was so bad and I was still a couple hours away from the next dose that I asked Matt to give me a blessing. While he was up looking for some oil, I knelt and said a prayer. I have been learning about the enabling power of the Atonement and thought that it might be a good time to try putting it work. In my prayer I said "I'm not asking that the pain be taken away. But I am to the point that I can't handle this on my own anymore. I need help in being able to endure this for as long as I need to. Please strengthen me." After my prayer I got a blessing from Matt and went back to my laying on the couch. The pain did not go away or diminish but there was a noticeable difference in my ability to handle the pain. I made it to the next dose, took the pills, got ready for bed and went to bed. I was able to sleep until about 1:00 when the pain woke me up again. I had 2 hours until the next dose was due so I went down to the couch and had the most peaceful experience on the couch. In spite of the pain, I was able to lay there peacefully and even fell back asleep for awhile. I woke up at exactly 3:00 to take the pills and went back to bed. By mid-day on Wednesday I was feeling much better. The pain was gone but I was quite sore. I went back to work on Thursday but at a very reduced pace. By Friday, my pace was back to normal.
Matt at the ER with me on Monday night. He's so tired!
That whole experience was an interesting one for me. As difficult as it was, it was also a very good experience. I had several people tell me that they would rather have children that have a kidney stone. So, my confidence in having this baby girl grew quite a bit. My confidence in wanting to have her without pain meds grew somewhat as well.
There is a great article in April's Ensign about the enabling power of the Atonement. This is an aspect of the Atonement that I have not understood well at all, let alone accessed in my life. As we go around to the different wards for Ward Conferences, it's this enabling power of the Atonement I have been speaking of. Now, I am able to share (in a small way) my recent experience with this power of the Atonement in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment