Neck Update

It's been a while since I've updated about my neck and it's perhaps something some of you have been wondering about especially since I was able to see a number of doctors when we were home in January.

Long story short....after seeing my doctor, a sports medicine doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, a thoracic outlet specialist, a physiotherapist and a neurophysiologist - I have a list of things that I DON'T have. I don't have thoracic outlet syndrome (at least it's very unlikely). I don't have a pinched nerve in my neck (an electrodiagnostic study showed that my nerves are completely healthy). It's not my rotator cuff.  I DO have arthritis in my sternoclavicular joint (where my clavicle meets my sternum) and first rib joint (the joint where my first rib meets my sternum). The thoracic outlet specialist also told me that I have a very "messed up" spine for "someone so young" and he ordered an MRI for my C-spine which will not happen until sometime in December.

Several doctors alluded to but did not diagnose myofascial pain syndrome which according to my long list of symptoms seems to check all the boxes. Myofasical pain syndrome is a chronic pain disorder caused by a disfunction in the connective tissue that runs between and around all your muscles in a specific area - in my case, my upper back and neck. Essentially it causes your muscles to be really tight all of the time, which causes knots called trigger points. These trigger points refer pain to completely unrelated areas - for example - I have a knot in my back that, when pressed, makes my wrist hurt and another one that feels like crushing chest pain. Treatment includes medication, physiotherapy and massage. My doctor prescribed me some medication to help me sleep and since returning to Zap in February I have been going faithfully for massages twice a week. I also have discovered some topical medications that have menthol in them and that seems to be the key to them working well for pain relief. I still have very bad pain especially on days when we are really busy (stress-related) but for the most part my pain has been somewhat manageable since returning.

I had no idea how much the massages were helping until we went to Spain. I go for massages every Monday and Thursday and we left on a Tuesday - so by Friday I was in SO MUCH PAIN! I had terrible migraines caused from neck pain, sore clavicle, shoulder and arm, pain so overwhelming! I missed my massage lady so badly!! It was nice to find out that something I'm doing is actually helping.

So that's where things stand right now. Some days are okay and some days are awful but God is good and gets me through. Thank you so much for continuing to pray for me.

*ALSO* see my last post about Spain where God healed part of my back!!*

Spain

From April 5-19 we headed to Mijas, Spain. 

A friend of ours from here in Zap married a Spaniard last summer and they are living in Madrid so we flew there to spend a couple of nights with them. We spent a day wandering 20 km all around Madrid.

We rented a car and drove the six hours down south to Mijas and it was soooo lovely to be there. We were immediately invited by the interns to a birthday party where we were able to meet all the current G42 interns as well as catch up with the G42 staff that are currently there. 

The second day that we were in Mijas I felt so terrible. My clavicle and arm were hurting, my neck was aching and it triggered a brutal migraine. Steve had gone out with a friend in the evening and after they were done hanging out he sent me a message that they were coming back to pray for me. They picked up another guy on the way and so here are these guys - one who I had met the day before and one who I had never met before but we had the common bond of Christ and here they were praying for me. While they were praying I felt a snap in my upper back - it was like one of the big muscle knots that is always there just disappeared with a crack! I knew it was God, I knew it was an answer to so many prayers and I knew that He was giving me one portion of relief. I know that my journey through the pain isn't over yet but I know He has a purpose and He can heal me. I am so grateful and thankful because He is always good. 

We spent the week there going to as many classes as possible - Andrew was teaching and there was another teacher the first few days we were there who wasn't part of the teaching team when we were there. Another teacher we knew came the day before we left so we were able to have dinner with him and catch up. We also talked logistics and future plans with some G42 staff members....there are some plans in the works that hopefully involve us but they won't come into play for about a year so we'll talk more about them later when we have more information and confirmation. 

We were staying in an apartment by ourselves which is always kind of a bummer for us - we love being around the interns as much as possible so we always prefer staying in the intern houses where they can't get away from us, ha ha. But it worked out really well - we were able to be with the interns for meals and spent a lot of evenings together hanging out. We connected really well with a lot of them and were able to share what God has been doing in us and in Ukraine. It's interesting to be back there and to share how all of the things they're learning about look in real life after they're done G42.

It was a wonderful time to refresh and prepare for our busiest season ahead but we were definitely ready to get back home by the end of our time there.

We had an afternoon to wander Kiev on our journey home - this picture is on the spot that is 444 km from Zaporozhye:

There was eight inches of heavy wet snow two days before we returned home....no one currently alive remembers Ukraine ever having snow in April. Apparently there were widespread power outages, there are many trees down, the apricot and cherry season has been devastated and Dezmond's school was closed until today - because it was TOO COLD INSIDE. The heat is regulated by the city and was turned off in March and it takes too much effort to turn all the heat back on citywide. The mayor made a special decree that all heat should be turned on in the hospitals and kindergartens but not for apartment buildings. Inside our apartment has been *quite* cold - we've been running our space heater most of the time but mostly we've been staying bundled up under blankets! I feel like it's been colder inside our building than it is outside and by Thursday it's supposed to be in the +20's so hopefully the inside warms up soon!!