Having Patience

I feel like a doctor who is struggling to stay in business: I'm running low on patients ... or is it patience? Either way it's no fun. I know I could be a lot worse off, so I'm grateful for the life I am able to live now. The worst part is not knowing if the things I'm doing are pushing the envelope too much. Having a 15-month old daughter who I love so much makes it hard not to BLT (bend-lift-twist). I think I'm doing pretty well with it, but then again my condition hasn't improved in 2 1/2 weeks. It hasn't gotten worse either, so to me it is a big unknown. Hopefully Dr. G can tell me something tomorrow morning. All in all I've completed 2 1/2 weeks of what is supposed to take 3 months to heal, so I'm a little over 20% of the way there with no improvement. 

My hope and my dream is that I can get back to being the same active guy I was in Arizona. My fear is that I will remain just as I a now and not be able to return to that. Time will tell I guess. I bought a book a friend recommended to me called Treat Your Own Back and have been doing the exercises it recommends. I've had it for only one day, but I hope following it will allow me to return to a greater level of activity and, just as important, to maintain and manage my back so that recurrences of this will be minimal. From what I've read and heard from others this is going to be something I'll have to deal with the rest of my life.

That's about it for now. As for prayers, I continue to appreciate them.

Aaron