Rainy Days and Mondays

This has been a blue weekend.

A steady rain has drenched the ground...sometimes drizzle, sometimes sputter, sometimes an absolute downpour. This amid gray skies and 50 degrees. Early fallen leaves, those we thought we'd get up, are now soggy and matted.

The weather has been crummy and Mike has been under it. We decided to stay at our home base.

His immediate ills began on Friday night, after spending the day repairing insulation in the garage. He and a friend had installed it originally; in the last year, several strips have come loose and one whole pad recently fell onto the floor. It needed to be fixed. I wish he hadn't tackled it by himself. It took him much of the day, stretching, bending, lifting, and so forth.

So, Friday night, he began to experience pain in his left shoulder. He announced that the pain was deep in the joint. "Do you think I'm having a heart attack?" he asked.

I suggested a quick trip to the ER.

"No. I'll just take something."

And he did. The meds did not dull the pain enough for him to get a good night's sleep. And so the weekend began.

Much of Saturday, he tried to catch up on sleep and tried to get ahead of pain. We are learning that some discomfort is referred pain, not directly related to anything specific. But the chronic pain he now lives with, in his midsection, seemed to radiate and then there was that shoulder.

He called to on-call oncology nurse: this means he gets the switchboard lady who, I guess, sends a message. When the nurse did not get back to us, I called to the same switchboard lady. I was less cordial. zip zip zip, I'm speaking to the nurse.

Her advice was for Mike to double up on his pain medications. He did.

After another rocky night, he asked if I was going to church. I said I was. "I'll go. I can always leave if I feel bad."

So it was off to our home church. It was great seeing Kokomo friends and finding our seats. Then, after an amazing musical set, our lead pastor continued a series on growing closer to Christ. His messages are supplemented by a 5 week small group study; we are 2 weeks into that.

As always, I came away with a few pearls just for me. More on that later.

Mike still felt bad, so bad he made the ultimate move: he called his doctor who got right back to him. Her voice is Pavlovian to him. Her instructions: come in Monday for a new scan.

So that's where we are. Not much sleep. Feeling blue. I'll ask you to pray again. Mike could use a good night's sleep.