waiting for Bill to be shot . . .

 
. . . a steroid shot in the spine, that is --- similar to what I had in December and January, though his condition is a bit more complicated than mine was.

Once again, we found that the local hospital's MRI department had misread an MRI. In my case, they missed a small tear-shaped facet cyst pressing against a nerve. In Bill's case, an MRI taken nearly 2 years ago supposedly showed nothing, and he was given pain pills --- which he can't take at work or on-call, so he's had to live with the pain. But when a Wichita spinal surgeon looked at the same MRI, he could easily see a very large facet mass practically cutting off Bill's nerves entirely. There is also some arthritis and more involved medical stuff I don't quite understand, but with several there are several treatment options, none involving surgery.

While praying and expecting Bill to have full relief from back & leg pain, I am also thanking the Lord that I went through my own trouble and pain. If I hadn't had this experience, along with a friend's recommendation to seek a second opinion, I would not have questioned Bill's experience. But I did begin to wonder, and asked our primary care doctor to get him an appointment with my spinal doctor. We had confirmation that the Lord was in this when we got an appointment in less than 2 weeks; normally it takes 2 months to get in.

This woman was patiently waiting to see the doctor also and held still for a long time, making it easy for me to sketch her. Plenty of time, too. This anesthesiologist's practice is not run as efficiently as the spine center where I had my shots. Our spinal surgeon gave me the shots, but Bill's required an anesthesiologist instead, due to the more extensive involvement. In fact, the doctor was amazed that he was still walking at all.