Flashback Friday: Patience

Last Saturday evening Mark was finishing up his talk for the MTC. He speaks about every month and every third time he speaks I speak with him for about 5 minutes. (Not long I realize but in some ways it's more of a challenge to give a meaningful talk on only 5 min.) This was his second talk since I last spoke with him so I asked him when I was speaking with him next. (This is totally beside my post but, he turned to me with a confused look and said, "Didn't I tell you that you're speaking tomorrow?" Ha ha ha, funny guy:) So... he looked at the calendar, April 18... no wait... that's Rob's homecoming... a phone call later and we were rescheduled to speak on April 11 - on patience.

PATIENCE.


The last time we were assigned to speak on patience was about two months after my bike crash. Although the ER doctors told me I would be back to normal in 6 weeks they were wrong... very very wrong. Patience was a good topic for me to study and prepare a talk on...only it turned out that the district president and his wife were speaking that Sunday so we got bumped and assigned a different topic. All in all I was thankful for what I learned in preparing the talk.

Within a month of this we were reassigned to a French Branch. One of the sisters was preparing to leave for Fiji in a few weeks but was having problems with her neck. The leftovers from a car accident that had happened over two years ago. (TWO YEARS??????? I was horrified) Her neck bothered her to the extent that they were not sure they were going to send her to Fiji... or anywhere but home. Then her Aunt suggested she see someone that had previously helped her recover from an injury, Angela Lavery. Two visits and this sister felt better that she had since the accident and was on her way to Fiji. I got Angela's name and phone number but for some reason I didn't call her. I was making progress on my own, working with physical therapist, chiropractor, getting massages, stretching and exercising. I was sure I would be back to normal very soon.

I have been feeling very good lately but my back has still been tight and I haven't been able to find a way to fix it. So... about two weeks ago I called Angela and left her a detailed message. Last Monday she texted me, told me she didn't have any open appointments till April and asked me if I was flexible and wanted to be put on her cancellation list. I told her I would be more flexible towards the end of the week but to put me on her list.

Wednesday morning, as I was getting up, I stretched...

not like this:

more like this:

picture from here
suddenly the left side of my neck and left shoulder were in terrible pain. I couldn't turn my head to the left at all and I couldn't get out of bed without sending spasms of pain through my neck and shoulder. It felt like the days after the crash all over again. After gasping a few times in pain as I attempted to get out of bed I laid back down and cried. Mark quickly roused and after assessing the situation he resisted the urge to cry with me but instead, gave me a blessing of hope and healing.

For just a moment during the blessing I was without pain - a promise of things to come I'm sure. I guess there's more for me to learn about patience. I got up, dried my face, very gingerly put on my robe and when down to make breakfast.

I also texted Angela.
Turns out she just had a cancellation that afternoon for 3:30. I took it.
By the time 3:30 rolled around I was really hurting AND my right shoulder was a few inches above the left one, my head tilting towards it. I couldn't look to the left without turning my whole body.
Angela worked on me for almost 2 hours.
Massage, pressure point therapy, acupuncture, stretching.
She gave me some homework to do and we talked about the accident and my aches and pains since then. She pinpointed a few aches and pains that I though were unrelated and she explained how they contributed to what what happening.
Leaving that appointment I smelled like Mentholatum and felt 60% better.
Yesterday I continued to get better.
I stretched and worked on the pressure points she showed me and continued to increase range of motion in my neck and decrease pain.

Today I am continuing to improve. I hope that with another visit or two we can treat the underlying problems from my accident and I can be 100%.
One Hundred Percent.
Back to normal after 6+ months...
even the thought of it gives me great hope

But it will take patience and work.
Time to study up again and get ready for my talk.
and do my homework from Angela.