More Cyclobenzaprine

 I'm still struggling with the back pain. I finished six days of prednisone and it definitely helped. The side effects of the prednisone were not nearly as bothersome as I feared but I was still in considerable pain...too much pain. And, I also got to the end of the cyclobenzaprine. 

I messaged my doctor to ask if he thought I should continue taking the cyclobenzaprine. He responded simply, "Prescription sent with refills."

He gave me a prescription for 3 pills a day for 10 days with 5 refills. That's about 2 months worth in total.

The cyclobenzaprine makes me really, really drowsy, not as much as during the first few days, but still considerably. 

I'm so diminished that I didn't listen to the last Nick and Dan's Bible Study Podcast.

I will catch up some day, I promise. 

I did read the last eNews. I have some thoughts but I'm not able to express them just now.

Now, I'll go back over this post to do my best to make sure it's coherent. If not, blame the cyclobenzaprine. 

Prednisone

 A while back, I mentioned that I aggravated my dodgy back. I actually arranged a face to face appointment with my doctor. He prescribed cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant which he promised would make me sleep a lot. 

Hence, I've been asleep for most of the last week and a half. (Cyclobenzaprine is an old drug with that powerful side effect of causing drowsiness.) I think that the doctor prescribed it BECAUSE of the side effect, so I wouldn't be doing much moving around, so I wouldn't irritate my back. 

Anyway, he also offered me a steroid (prednisone) to assist with the healing and I declined it because the last time I took  prednisone the side effects were horrible. 

We agreed that I could send him a message later on to request the prednisone if I needed it. After three days, the cyclobenzaprine had accomplished little other than promote about 16 hours of sleep a day so I asked for the prednisone. The side effects this time have not been bad. I don't know why.

I just finished the sixth and final day of my packet.

It has helped. I estimate that my recovery is about 75%. I don't know that I will ever fully recover. Bad backs run in the family. My brother retired at age 61 because his back simply was shot. 

I still have one day of the cyclobenzaprine prescription. I think I'll message the doctor and ask if he thinks I should do another round.

Evie's still struggling with her own recovery from her surgeries. She's still weak and lacks stamina and has had to carry a heavier load than she really can handle. She's been valiant, as always, never complaining, but she is worn out. 

Still, our lives are extremely simplified and I suspect that we'll be able to struggle through this...in time. 

Here's to hoping that this makes sense. With the drowsiness, typing a simple note like this one is a great challenge. 

Cyclobenzaprine

Don't expect to read much on this blog in the near future. 

About seven years ago, I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease, a condition many people my age struggle with, though I suspect that my case may be more severe than what is typical. 

There have been several times when, in doing something very everyday, I experienced back pain that made any movement painful.

A few days ago, I was sitting with less than ideal posture and I coughed and something twisted or pinched in my lower back.

Evie drove me, and I waddled into the doctor's office, the next day. He prescribed Cyclobenzaprine and offered me steroids and physical therapy. 

I accepted the Rx for Cyclobenzaprine  which is a muscle relaxant. The doctor told me that, after I take it, I'll want to sleep. 

He gave me 10 days worth. I'm starting my second day. My estimate is that I slept 15 hours? yesterday. 

But, my brain is really addled. In fact, if this post is unreadable, you'll understand. I am being careful to read and reread what I'm laying down...but who knows?

Yesterday, I tried listening to an audio book I'd gotten from the library online and had had on hold for more than a month. I gave up after 15 minutes because I couldn't make sense of it.

Evie's been wonderful through this. She's still low on stamina and, for the moment, between the drowsiness and the pain, I'm useless. 

"I was a stranger and you invited me in."

 This one will be hard to write. It will also probably be poor written. 

Evie and I are very serious about living righteously...about connecting walk with talk, belief and action. 

We look to the Word...particularly to the teachings and example of Jesus...particularly to the Sermon on the Mount and the Sheep and Goats teaching...for our marching orders.

(As an aside, speaking only for myself, it's my opinion that one reason that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing is not blessing us,...or, a reason that our institutional body is in the midst of a generations long slide into spiritual decay and numerical decline is that we get righteousness wrong. 

Far too many of us think of "going to church" as an act of righteousness. According to what I see in the Word, gathering is a means for disciples to spur each other on to righteousness but it is not itself righteousness.)

Anyway, when Jesus defined righteousness in the Sheep and Goats teaching, He said, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,..." and so on.

We believe that. We DO it. We figure that Jesus knew what righteousness is for people who follow Him.

Over the years, we've welcomed several people into our home. Some of those people were known to us beforehand. 

Some were, literally, complete strangers. 

A few years back, the company Evie was working for decided to take a bit of a risk and to hire a guy who was just getting out of prison. 

He was moving into the area and needed a place to live. After discussing it with Evie's employer, we learned that the guy had a shack up girlfriend and that she had a daughter in elementary school. 

Evie and I talked some, prayed some and allowed ourselves to be confronted by the gospel. We invited them...complete strangers...to live with us.

What an experience. 

Before they moved in, another stranger knocked on our door, unannounced and uninvited, saying that he's a probation officer and that, actually, we need to be approved by him for, their names and Steve, Jenny and Erin to be domiciled with us.

We invited him in. He had a long questionnaire to go through with us. The meeting was a tad amusing. It may be that he'd never met anyone like us. 

Apparently, normally he interviewed people who themselves had criminal records. A few questions into the conversation, he began to apologize for having to ask the questions or saying, "I know that the answer to this is, 'no,' but I have to ask it anyway..."

Obviously, we passed muster with the Probation Office.

Steve, Jenny and Erin moved in and lived with us, as I recall, for about a year before they were able to afford their own apartment. 

Jenny is sweet. She actually worked with me at the store as a part timer for a few months. Erin, her daughter, is a pretty serious extrovert. Many young extroverts just can't seem to SHUT UP, and she couldn't. She was a bit of a challenge, but her mom managed her compassionately. 

Steve was a nice guy and easy to live with. But, there was something underneath. He'd apparently made bad friends with whom he'd committed a very serious gun crime. Hence, his time in prison. And, while we only ever saw him sober, we could see that under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he might be capable of just about anything. 

When they moved out, it was nearby so we saw them, from time to time, especially when they shopped at the store. And, we were always comfortable with each other and friendly and usually sought each other out to take a few minutes to catch up with each other. 

After we moved here and I was forced not to work, we'd had no contact. Perhaps Evie and Jenny exchanged a few texts. 

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So, yesterday I was listening to local news on the radio and heard that a murder had taken place on Saturday night on the road that dissects the campus of the Home...less than a half mile from here...

...and that a guy with Steve's, very common, last name had been arrested for committing it.

I googled and, sure enough, I saw his mugshot. 

Our Steve is very obviously guilty of the murder.

I'm still trying to sort out the emotions.

We've been in contact with Jenny and made ourselves available to her.

As opportunity presents itself, we'll reach out to Steve. We may have an opportunity to do the, "I was in prison and you visited me," thing. 

But, wow.

Our Steve, a murderer. 

It will take a while for this to sink in. 

Living in our house!

It's amazing where life takes you when you follow Jesus. 

Netflix Finds

About a week ago I mentioned that I get Netflix at no additional cost with my cell plan and I asked for suggestions. 

I got nothing except that I was told Netflix stinks and to get Amazon, which I'm too cheap to do. 

I'm Pennsylvania Dutch and FREE is our favorite four letter word. 

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A joke from the store:

Q: What's the most dangerous place in the world?

A: The space between a Mennonite and a sale.

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So, I found a few things. I'll mention one now.

Later on, I'll probably mention another, MINDHUNTERS.

Last night I finished the last season of

BROADCHURCH. Broadchurch is the name of the town where the series is set. 

BROADCHURCH is very British. However, normally in British shows, the church and members of the clergy are presented in a very negative way. Jesus not so much. 

And, so, because I don't think much of institutionalized Christianity and even less of the clergy/laity error, that doesn't bother me. 

Anyway, in BROADCHURCH, there's a major character who is the local parish priest. His ministry is an abject failure but he himself is a person of character and integrity. 

One of the final scenes in the show has him preaching his last sermon before he leaves the town. 

And, it's straight from my soapbox. 

Let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing...

Good stuff.

Do I recommend the show? It's a 21st century whodunnit. Murder. Rape.

There's little, "they all lived happily ever after." Little repentance. 

But, entertaining. And, I'm supposing, it was popular over there.

A Prophecy from a CGGC Prophet

From Andrew Draper. I found this on Facebook. "Its not too late to repent."

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I know this may sound odd in a public forum like this, but I can't sleep tonight and I believe the Lord is giving me a word that I am supposed to speak publicly. There are those of you who need to receive it. You know who you are. If it isn't you, feel free to ignore it. But write it off at your own peril.

The Lord often speaks to me from the Old Testament prophets and sometimes gives me prophetic words for people or groups of people. Tonight I believe I have something that certain American Christians need to hear. Here it is:

"You have made gods of race and nation. You have made idols out of your culture and your country. You say you love Jesus but you have long since rejected him. If you would be honest with yourself, you know you don't worship him like you did before but you really don't care. Your defensiveness and pride have long since taken over. Jesus longs to be with you and wants you to love him and trust him like you did before. 

The idolatry you have engaged in is why your cities are burning. Babylon the great is falling and if you don't come out of her and repent, you will be destroyed alongside her. You have allowed and approved of violence because of racial pride and because of national pride. The blood of those you have trampled cries out to God against you from the ground. 

It is not too late to repent. But if you don't repent, your light and your lamp will be taken away."

I know this may sound harsh, but I have learned to recognize how the Lord speaks to me. He tells me that, like Ezekiel, if I don't speak what He gives me to speak, the bloodshed will be on my own head. If I speak it, I am freed whether or not people choose to listen. This is in love.

May the grace of Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

I Hate the New Blogger Format

Google has been warning that it would foist a new way of creating blog posts on us for a while. It happened today.

I suppose I'll adjust in time, but, for the moment at least, grrrrrrrr!

The Home had its First COVID Death

We have been in quarantine, except to do essential activities, since shortly after Evie went into the hospital in March.

The administration at the home was ahead of its time in dealing with COVID.

The home my mom was in quarantined about three weeks after we did it here. It was during that time that mom was infected. She died about a month later.

Still, here, there were no known cases. Eventually, the state required all homes to test every resident in skilled and, eventually, personal care.

While that was developing, our Home made the decision to create a special COVID wing to receive patients with the disease from outside. We're operated by a small Mennonite Conference. The Home's mission involves a commitment to serve our community. It was out of that commitment to serve that the decision to welcome COVID patients was made.

When the Home did its state mandated testing in skilled care, 10 people tested positive, all were asymptomatic, though two exhibited symptoms after the positive test.

Last week, our regular COVID Newsletter revealed that we've experienced our first COVID death. No other details were given.

So, it's hit us here, too.

Sad. I know our people are being as diligent as possible to keep us safe. These are difficult times.

Evie Drove for the First Time since March

About a week ago.

Her ruptured colon in March knocked her down hard. The surgery to clean out the infection and to repair the colon was a very debilitating procedure...and, the trauma to her body from the event itself was nearly fatal, as we're really coming to appreciate now.

That left her extremely weak...and with no stamina. Ten minutes of activity in a day would exhaust her so much so that she'd have to rest the entire day.

By the end, before she had her double surgery in June, she could do one light activity a day, such as prepare a meal. We called that her Occupational Therapy.

The double surgery in June was not as traumatic as what happened in March, but she ended up with two incisions one going across her abdomen horizontally, the other vertically. This made it difficult for her to move in any direction.

Still, a group of her friends, who meet once each quarter, met for an evening meal and strongly encouraged Evie to join them.

Evie hadn't driven a car since the day in March when she was ambulanced to the hospital. The drive was about 15 miles one way.

We discussed it at length and decided she could probably handle it.

She did handle it...just barely. The next two days were jammie days for her, but that's not unusual.

She still has virtually no stamina. I think it will be a long haul.