Family Affairs

As most of you may already know, Jon had back surgery yesterday. This is the third back surgery he has had since we've been married (which has been less than 4 years). He has the unfortunate luck of having a degenerative back disorder which basically translates to his back resembling a 60 year old back. It is breaking down faster than most which causes multiple problems. He has been in severe pain for years, but the first set of doctors that performed surgery didn't think there was anything more than inflammation causing the pain. So he has been receiving steroid shots for the past 2 years to help the supposed "inflammation." Finally I drew the line and said he needed to get a second opinion. I couldn't see the point in getting a $400 steroid shot every 2-3 months for the rest of his life. That couldn't be a long term solution. Jon threw in the towel too and decided to get a second opinion.

After studying his case and ordering another MRI and X-ray, the new doctor determined back surgery was again the best possible solution. So just 2 weeks ago we decided a third time should surely be a charm. Yesterday was the big day and a big day it turned out to be. His surgery should have been fairly quick and simple, but after the doctor started the surgery he realized there was more to his surgery than expected. The doctor found a piece of bone wedged under his nerve. The herniated disk was expected but a wedged bone fragment was not. The doctor had to carefully move the nerve over and dig out the fragmented bone. No wonder Jon was living in agony!

But everything went well according to the doctor and Jon is already feeling a huge amount of relief from the surgery. He came home today and is going to have about a 6 week recovery. This is the amount of time it takes for the ligaments to harden back up. His recovery will be progressive but it starts with no work for 2 weeks, no sitting more than 20 minutes at a time and no lifting over 5 pounds. Which translates to "no picking up your kids"!

I'm sure the next few weeks will be very hard on both of us (he won't be able to love on his children like he is used to and I will have to pick up the slack) but I know we made the right decision. I'm not sure why we have been dealt this hand of cards lately but I'm sure we will come out of it stronger.

If I seem to be losing my grip on reality over the next few months please bear with me! I'm raising 2 amazing children, taking care of my healing husband, working almost full time, building a house, and selling a house! Someday I hope to look back on this period of time and say to myself that "it was all worth it!"