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While my health improves the further I get from chemo, Christine's condition continues just as it has this past year of cancer. And just as it has since long before. She is affected by migraine headaches several times per week and almost daily suffers from other body pain. Last week, a migraine as bad as she ever has had sent us to the E.R. so she could get an intravenous treatment called in by her neurologist. It knocked her out for 24 hours and got the pain back to a manageable level.
An MRI taken several months ago revealed a bulge in between two vertebrae in her neck. Her doctor thinks this may be a trigger for her many headaches. This afternoon, she will be having an epidural steroid injection into the spot under the guidance of a CT scan. There are no guarantees it will do anything, and if it does the relief is not permanent. Nevertheless we are hoping this will help. The improvement takes around ten days to kick in. She has had to keep canceling this procedure due to accommodate my ever-changing medical calendar.
Chronic pain such as Christine's is an odd thing. It does not have the urgency of deadly disease such as cancer. But often in the past year I have thought that it is in many ways worse than cancer. To be sure, cancer can kill. But it usually lasts a relatively short time before it is gone - one way or another. And it makes you into a hero. Chronic pain, on the other hand, just lingers quietly and mercilessly for years, trying to break the will required for daily living while the active world around you seems to just leave you behind. (Christine jokes that she was going to title her autobiography "Left Behind" until someone stole the title).
My heart is broken over Christine's condition. Perhaps the reason I have not said much about her pain in my entries is because I have not been thinking a whole lot about anything beyond my own serious condition. Or maybe I just don't know what to write -- there is not much about another day of migraines that can be said to be "news". In any case, I hope that those who are praying for my cancer to stay far away might also ask the Lord for relief for Christine. She really needs a break.
Posted by Greg at July 27, 2004 08:32 AM | Comments (14)