Pain in the Neck

On Wednesday night I was lifting some 50+ pound boxes in the garage. I didn't want to bother John, who was laying in the living room, in pain from his leg, so I tried to get it done myself.

Well, I went to bed a little achy.....and woke up writhing in severe pain. I could not lift my head, nor move my neck side-to-side. I could not lean over, or bend down to pick anything up! I couldn't even help my daughter get dressed. I was in extreme excruciating pain for 4 days!! Ack!

Even though, we can't afford for John to even take one day off right now, John took off work for 2 days to help me deal with everything and take care of all 3 of the kids and the house stuff. Jackson & Jeremiah pitched in doing the dishes, the laundry, and vacuuming the house, as well as lifting anything that needed lifting.
They were very helpful and we could not have done it all without their hardwork.

John was right there when I needed anything, and I mostly just lay in bed with heating pads and ice packs on my back and neck for those 4 days.

And then on Saturday, I woke up to the worst migraine I have ever had. It hurt to open my eyes and it hurt to even move them. Light hurt, noise hurt, movement hurt....I wanted to die!

And then I was terrified that I had slipped a disc or had one ruptured, just like I did over 12 years ago when I was working for UsAirways and had to go through disc surgery to remove the ruptured disc. It took me a year to recover back then and was painful. I don't ever want to go through that again.

And the worst of all is that we have no insurance since November. Talk about scary!
Seems that John's BC/BS health insurance from his previous job lapsed after the year since he had left. The insurance has switched to the more expensive Cobra plan...which would cost us $900.00 a month for just the two of us...or $1300 for our entire family of 5!!!!
Who could afford that?! Not us.

At least our precious children have insurance through Medicaid, but I just don't know how families with less-than-corporate jobs, make it and pay insurance for their families.
What is wrong with this country? Health care protection should be a given....just as is Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness.
How can anyone have those 3 things without good health care anyway?

I never knew about these things before we went through the March 2005 accident. It was if we lived in a bubble with our heads in the sand. I had no idea what it was like to struggle like this, no idea what people go through after a major accident devastates every aspect of a family's lives. We were never rich, but we had health insurance, we had food on the table, we could put gas iin our cars, we could pay our bills, our mortgage and utilities. We were never late!
Since March 14, 2005, all those things changed for our family. It's been a daily struggle just to survive.


Well, enough of that tirade. I have so much to be thankful for every day.
No, we cannot afford much beyond some food for our family, but God Bless! We do have all 5 of us together, when it could have been so much different just 2 years ago.

Material things are unimportant and often make us all lose sight of what is most important in this lifetime.....our families and our health. I will never take those things for granted. Of course, being homeless would be pretty awful. I pray every day that we don't end up sleeping in my van with my husband and 3 children. We are on the edge of that scary crevasse every single day.


Ok. So I'm still pretty sore a week later. The pain is mostly centered between my shoulder blades and I find lifting difficult, so I'm relying on John and the boys to help every day still.

It's tough to be the Mama and be going through so much pain, worry, and the inability to take care of the house and family. Thank God I have a loving, helpful family there for me each day.
And I thank God every day for all the small blessings.