Those who have read my prayer requests in the About Jude Ministries section of the website know I have been battling pain issues for several years. The issues continue, with a new request.

On the web site is a page about my ongoing prayer requests related to back / spine issues. While this is not a life-threatening situation, chronic pain at any level is distressing to the one enduring the situation. In my case, I went through several years of worsening leg pain. When it reached the point of such severity that I almost collapsed from pain getting out of my car after my 40 minute drive to work, I caved in and visited the doctor. LESSON: Go to doctor sooner.

Several tests revealed a condition called stenosis, the growth of bone and disk material together in the spinal channel, pinching the nerves, creating the pain. In my case, I had lower back pain and pain of various types in both legs, down to my toes. After several months of various types of medical treatments (mostly needles, nerve block type procedures), I underwent back surgery. The surgeon performed a lamenectomy, a procedure where the top of the spinal bone is cut away and the disk is shaved back, recreating room in the spinal canal. The conclusions were that my condition was caused by arthritis.

The good news is that most of my lower back and leg pains were cured. The bad news is that I awoke with new pains in my right rump and right groin area, as well as a specific numbness in my right heal. The same type of medical treatment / nerve blocks were attempted. None were successful and I have spent most of the last three years living on prescription narcotics, primarily a pain patch. While this controled the pain, at least in some sense, they also robbed me of my strength as well as fogging my mind. In fact, until recently, I did not realize how much of my condition was the result of the medications. Because of my condition, I have not worked since April of 2004. In fact, following surgery I never really was able to return to work full time.

After visits to many surgeons and a long battery of tests, the conclusion is that my spine is simply unstable and somewhere in that instability the nerves are being pinched. No doctor has been able to precisely determine the source of pain. So, the new procedure will be a lamenectomy at least one level higher, with the fusion of three or four disks. The hope is that by stabilizing the spine, the nerves will become unpinched and the pain relieved. The odds of success are put at about 65%.

So, once again, I ask your prayers for my situation and upcoming surgery which will be in early December, once I have weaned myself off of the narcotics. Thank you.

Jim A.