Believe It

I made it through a FULL day of work today!!! Ok, so it was slightly shifted to a 10:30am-7:00pm schedule, but I did it! Granted, over an hour of it was a potluck...but I still did it! :)

I'm feeling pretty well so far. I just can't believe what a difference it makes, not having that constant pain is unbelievably relieving. I mean, I knew how frustrated I was, and how bummed out I'd become from the pain and its affect on my life, but I don't think I fully comprehended just how bad it was until it started to actually show some real signs of improvement yesterday. It's an answered prayer right now, and I couldn't be happier.

Yesterday I went to work about an hour and a half late, and stayed until about an hour or so before my normal shift ended. I didn't leave early because I was in a lot of pain. I just didn't want to push it quite yet. I was feeling pretty good, just a little bit of the chest pain and lower abdominal pain that I had gotten so used to. And then later, I wanted to go shopping for Ben's birthday next week. I seriously can't believe I was able to go shopping after being at work for that long! I'm blown away right now. Especially because after shopping and walking around looking for the perfect gift for a while...I was still ok!

I had some trouble sleeping last night, and then was absolutely exhausted this morning. I had some pain when I first woke up (4), but it went away after a little while. And then it came back as I was driving into work, going over speed bumps and then walking in from the furthest parking spot (the worst part about going into work late definitely). But after I sat at my desk for a little while and rested, it started to just go away. And then it NEVER came back. I'm sitting at the computer in the kitchen at 10:23pm, and I haven't had bad pain for about 12 hours. I'm absolutely amazed. I just want to freeze frame this, in case it comes back, to remember how wonderful it feels. I feel like I might get my life back. And it feels so good.

It's Friday, and I'm really excited about my weekend. I want to go run! I want to jump up and down, play Frisbee, play basketball, lift weights, walk around the mall, chase my niece around...I can't wait to live again!

For now, I'm going to take it one day at a time, and take it slowly. I'm gonna hope that this really is a turn-around, because that hope is the only thing that's gonna get me through another bad day. And I'm going to be so grateful for every wonderful pain free moment.

For all of us, just remember that life is still out there. Even in those really dark moments where it seems like it couldn't be further away. It's there, and we'll get it back someday. Believe it!