Oh the Pain!

I decided I probably better post something about my husbands poor back injury although many of you probably have already heard something about it. It was 2 weeks ago today that Jake tore a muscle in his back at work. He has been working out of town and tore the muscle around lunch time and still worked the rest of the day with the injury. He tried to tough it out for the rest of the week but by Tuesday morning he knew that was not going to happen. So, I drove with my 2 girls to Baker City Oregon to pick up my injured husband (they carpool over there so he was without a way to get home). He really down played how much pain he was really in and I was quite surprised when I picked him up at the hotel they were staying.

The poor guy could not lay down, stand up, or sit very comfortably, which made the 2 hour drive home torture. We drove straight to the hospital where my lovely mother met me to pick up my girls. We went to occupational health since he was injured on the job, only to be told they didn't have drugs strong enough to help him and be sent down to the ER. Thank goodness for modern medicine. After some tests, xrays, a catscan, and an examination it was determined he had only tore a muscle and had not done something more sever that would require surgery. They drugged him up so much at the hospital that Jake does not remember anything after we left the hospital at 4 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning even though he did wake up occasionally and speak to friends and family. He literally spent the next 3-4 days in our rocking chair in our living room moving only when he absolutely had to which meant he also slept there. He has been going to physical therapy 3 times a week along with a once a week appointment to the doctor to see when he can resume going to work. We were told most injuries take 4-6 weeks to recover. So far it has been 2 weeks and he has improved leaps and bounds over those 2 weeks. We are hoping he will be able to return to work next week if all goes right this week.

I discovered a few things over the course of these past two weeks.
1. It is not fun to watch someone you love go through so much pain and be helpless at easing that pain.
2. I'm so grateful for good family and friends you would watch my kids, bring us meals, mow our lawn, bring us treats and continually check in on us to see how we are doing.
3. Having an injured husband is much like have another child in the house.
4. I'm so grateful for the priesthood.
5. I actually am grateful for trials and the things we learn during those trials. We will survive them and most of the time be better because of them.
6. Our Heavenly Father is very mindful of us and never gives us something we can not handle.
7. I miss my husband a lot during those days he is out of town. It was nice to have him home these 2 weeks.
8. You can only watch so much t.v. and play so many video games before you go insane, just ask Jake and he'll tell you.
9. Our family is very blessed.