I wonder if anyone I know is still around?! in A New Beginning

I haven’t written here in a year and a half or so-ish. I had been satisfied with writing on Facebook, but lately I’ve been wanting more. Ya know, it is hard to find a blogsite that’s “just right”! This one isn’t, but at least it’s easy to figure out how to use it and I have some friends here. This morning I created a blog on Livejournal, and wrote a short “test entry.” I’m really glad I made it short, because after I posted it (or thought I had!), I never could find it! So here I am. I hope a few of my old friends will find me. And I hope I stay!

So what is new with me since I last wrote here?? Gee, LOTS. I have to say, a good bit of my life has been taken up by dealing with chronic pain. Ack! It’s spinal stenosis (cervical and lumbar), which has led to sciatica and scoliosis. I am now getting epidural injections, which has given me my life back, whooooooopie!!!!!!!!! I got my first one in August. Before that, I’d had a helluva year! I had reached the point where riding in the car for even an hour was usually an ordeal for me, and I often was too sore to go on walks with Joe and Guinness. I was missing so many of our Wiccan events because I was too sore to go! And that was very depressing....all of it was…because it was definitely starting to feel like Joe was having to live our life without me. I was so sad, sitting on the sidelines of my life. The over-the-counter pain meds that had helped me for years weren’t working at all anymore! I went to a chiropractor for six weeks; it really didn’t help and a few times it actually hurt. Acupuncture didn’t help. Massage kinduv helped, but only very momentarily. And physical therapy had not helped.

But the best thing came from seeing the chiropractor; she said that if after six weeks she hadn’t been able to help me, she would refer me to an orthopedist. That orthopedist sent me for MRIs and then referred me to the anesthesiologist who gives me the injections. It’s made a huge difference!

Of course, I’ve learned a lot about a lot of things from these experiences. I have learned that LIFE is meaningful enough and enjoyable enough to me, that I can smile, laugh, have fun, enjoy things, even when I feel a whole lot worse than I ever thought I’d wanna deal with feeling. Because see, no treatments make all the pain of a chronic pain condition go away. They make it manageable, and seriously, manageable is OKAY. Once upon a time in most of our lives, we would not have ever thought that experiencing pain or discomfort every day was okay…but really, when it gets down to it, it is. You learn new ways! And you also meet some new people. You learn more compassion. You understand things that you once looked askance at because you had no clue about them! I do a LOT more to help and support other people now. I started a chronic pain support group, because so often, we just get tired of talking to other people about it. They don’t get it, simply because it’s pretty hard to “get” things you’ve had no direct experience of.

One problem I used to have is now gone thanks to the pain issue! Any of you who have been my friend in years past might recall how I was, for a few years, so very on again/off again in my enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for my spiritual group, The Assembly of the Sacred Wheel. Well, last year I was having to miss so many events that I told my Elder, Michael, that I felt I should leave the group. I also explained that I’d lost interest due to my preoccupation with my health issues. Well, a miraculous thing happened!! Michael, who rarely responds to ANYONE’s emails or returns anyone’s phone calls, actually spent the better part of his morning talking with me and encouraging me to, instead of just leaving, going on “solitary” status! I hadn’t even known that was an option open to me! I thought that only a member who had to move too far away to attend events could become a solitary! Indeed, up til that point, The Assembly only had one solitary! But Michael said that no, I didn’t have to be moving away. Because I was an Initiate and had been a member for years and made quite a few worthy contributions to the tradition, I could become a solitary…which means I am still a MEMBER, but simply don’t have any obligations to fulfill…and I can, if I wish, remain an Initiate of The Assembly, with the right to wear our tabard and cord, for the rest of my life.

I have to tell you, that made me cry. Along with so many other things that were making me cry at the time!

So I’ve been free of coven obligations, but after my first injection I have been going to things I was interested in attending, and it has been GREAT.

Workwise, I thought it might be a good thing for me to change jobs, since food service work is very hard, physically. (Lots of lifting!) But I didn’t get hired for any of the teacher’s aide positions I applied for. And then I woke up and realized that the physical work I do is good for me. Heck, I feel the best on my workdays!! At work I am pain-free! Why?? Because I am in constant motion! I never sit down! The last thing I need is to switch to a job where I’d be less active. The Universe really does look out for me; I’m sure of that!

We still go places. Thanks to the injections, I can travel again! Yaaaaay!! At Thanksgiving we went to Maine to visit Joe’s side of the family. That was GREAT, because we had skipped at least one, maybe two years of going up there. And at Christmas we went to Michigan to visit Carrie and family. Joey and his delightful girlfriend Stephanie went with us.

Welp, I’m going to toss this entry out there and see if anyone will read it. :o)

And onwards I go, boldly into a new year!

Last updated January 01, 2017