There are only three days left in my program. It seems unreal that in only 3 weeks my daily routine has changed so drastically in such a good way.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of everything I have been been doing:
- Waking up and staying out of bed for over 14 hours each day.
- Working out every day.
- Helping with chores and taking care of Knox.
- Driving
- Taking notes in classes
- Building up my endurance to work on a computer.
- Making schedules for the weekend.
- Sleeping at least 7 hours consistently every night.
- Being able to play with Knox for long periods of time.
All of this has been done while learning different ways to handle my pain, different ways to respond to the pain, and how to react when things are getting difficult.
Along with this I have been off all medications for the past 2 weeks. One thing the program has taught is that for chronic pains and symptoms, medications are actually more damaging than they are helpful. There is a disconnect in the medical field as it stands today in treating chronic pain.
The majority of providers approach chronic pain (longer than 3-6 months) as they would for acute pain. However, all that does is begin to bring on increasingly more dangerous side effects or a tolerance to the medications. Even use of stronger pain medications like opioids, can actually result in more pain over a long term. A shocking statistic the PRC (Pain Rehabilitation Center) sees is that a patient has chronic pain for an average of 12 years of treating the symptoms before patients start attending this program. That’s 12 years of trying every medication, seeing every specialist, trying all other unorthodox approaches with nothing working. The Lord has truly been gracious to me with this being only a year of chronic pain and placing me with medical providers who understand that.
One thing that has stuck out with me in my program is that I’m learning so much on how I can control how I respond to the symptoms instead of letting my symptoms control me. Yes, I am going to have hard days. Yes things aren’t going to be like they were before I had pain, but I have tools and practices that can help me still have a normal life out and about instead of isolating and letting the pain dictate everything I do.
There is still a long road ahead with me building my stamina and maintaining my daily routine, especially going back home where things are comfortable. Along with my classes, that I have been learning so much, the program has also provided a class for my family and support to help with me taking home and going back to daily life.
– Landon
Prayer Requests:
- Figuring out my daily schedule on my own without the program when I get home.
- Building my stamina
- For these tools I have learned to help calm my nervous system over time which helps my pain level and function in pain.