Would You Pray For My Hubby?

[Deb]

Today Rob saw his neurosurgeon...we both left his office in shock, in more ways than one. Rob has what is called... Spondylolisthesis - A defect in the construct of bone between the superior and inferior facets with varying degrees of displacement so the vertebra with the defect and the spine above that vertebra are displaced forward in relationship to the vertebrae below. It is usually due to a developmental defect or the result of a fracture.

In layman terms... at some point during Rob's early childhood...his back was broken and was gone untreated... these were the exact words of Dr. Brasfield today. In the picture I've circled the vertebrea that is displaced by 50%, and the white arrow is pointing to the greyish area where the break was at...

With the vertebrea being misplaced, it makes the disk look like it's bulging...he has a grade 2 displacement of his vertebrea ...which is a 50% displacement. No wonder he is in alot of pain. The first form of treatment that his neurosurgeon wants to try is epidural shots into his spine... even though Dr. Brasfield has already told us that Rob will only receive temporary relief...at most and best... of the pain in his back and legs and ultimately will have to have surgery... he will insert pins and screws into his back to sustain the vertebrea and fuse it back together...yeap, a vertebreal fusion...the one thing we were so hoping that he would not have to have done...is the only form of treatment for a somewhat good recovery... he has restricted Rob to no work for now... and has already told us that Rob will never ever be able to return to any kind of physically laboring job that consist of lifting, pushing or pulling anything of any significant weight. He has also told us that once the surgery is done, there is still a decent chance of not much relief...though the pain in his leg may subside some, it will never be completely gone and this will do nothing for the pain in his back... from the way Dr. Brasfield talked, there is nothing that can be done for the back pain. Also Dr. Brasfield told us that medicaid usually doesn't pay for the epidural injections and they cause a fuss over the surgery...but he told us that if necessary he would treat Rob absolutely free of charge... now either this is an extremely kind hearted man, or he knows that what he is embarking on is going to do no good...and why would he go to all that trouble himself at no cost if that were the case...so Praise the Lord for putting us in the hands of Dr. Brasfield.

Rob will start his treatments of epidural injections on Wed. 2-13-08 @ 7am... please keep us both in your prayers...also one more thing... my mother found out today that she has to have a total shoulder replacement surgery on 2-14-08...her shoulder is broken in 8 different pieces...including the ball joint. So please remember her in your prayers also...she is elderly and the last time she had a surgery...she did go code blue, but they revived her and put her on life support for about a week... so I'm really very concerned about her having to go through another surgery... Thank you for your continued prayers and support...

[mely malley]

hugssssssss Sands, i will pray for your husband

[PATRICIA]

HI HON I AM SO SORRY TO HERE THAT WOW THAT HAS TO BE VERY HARD AND VERY PAINFUL I WILL KEEP ROB AND YOU'RE FAMILY IN MY PRAYERS GOD WILL WATCH OVER HIM AND I DO BELIVE IN MIRACLES THE LORD DOES ANSWER PRAYER AND YOU WILL HAVE A LOT OF THEM CAUSE WE ALL CARE AND LOVE YA STAY STRONG HON I KNOW IT WON'T BE EASY HAVE A BLESSED DAY AND GOD BLESS :)

[Deb]

Thanks DDD...*hugz* I know how you feel when you say you wish that everyone could go through NO WORRIES for a while...it seems as if it's been never ending for the longest time...but this is how we build perseverance. And as children of God...we need perseverance.

And just knowing that our friends are truly here for us makes our trials a little easier to deal with. The Lord didn't cross all our paths for no reason...HE has a reason for everything. So I thank HIM graciously and humbly for putting me amongst such wonderful people to help me get through these trials that ultimately strengthen me and bring me closer to HIM.

I love ya sweetie... ~7~ and prayers for you and your moma also...

[Deb]

You are so right hon...there are blessings in every situation... :)

Medicaid is so incredibly hard to get here as well... you either have to be classified as disabled by social security...or you have to have absolutely no income coming into your household and have a medical condition that needs doctors treatment...that's how Rob was able to get his medicaid...I so wished you could get it there also...thanks for the prayers for Rob and mama...it's gonna be a long week this upcoming week...*sighs*... I'm remembering all of ya'll in prayer also...*hugz*... love ya ~7~

[JoBeth]

Deb I am so sad to hear that Rob is in such a bad way... but I will say this... The Lord has blessed you with a Doctor who is willing to do this for him free and medicaid...
I so wish I could qualify for that myself.. but it would take me being on my death bed before they would honor medicaid here for me... So you do have that going for you...
I do know that life is a struggle for you both right now and trying to make ends meet is so very hard... Seems there are many of us going through the same thing...
So we all need to continue to pray for miracles and hold each other up.
I will also keep your Mama in prayer too... geesh what a start to a new year eh?
Love you 7 Jo

[Deb]

Cina and Dhana...thank both of ya'll so much for the prayers...I also still believe in miracles hon... and definitely praying for one...

[Cindy]

Oh my Goodness It got me goose bump after i read. I really dont blame him how he felt about treatment but it may be the best for him if he take treatment. I will praying for him and include all of you. I will let my sunday school group to pray for My friends that I always do. Tell Rob please take a easy and becareful whatever he doing. Thank you for letting us know sweety.... I love you all

[Deb]

YW hon... :) I'm just full of bright ideals... ok, well I'm full of something, just not sure it's always bright ideals...LOL

[Deb]

Thanks for the info... I'm taking lots of notes...LOL... and here's a little trick I learned while living by myself with no handy man around... *giggles*... if you need to move something and it's heavy... get a big blanket...and put under the object...box, dresser, chair, whatever it is...and then just pull on the blanket and drag that item to where you want it...of course this method works best on hardwood floors but it does also work on carpet...I've done it...lol... it's also good if you have two people...one can pull the blanket while the other scoots gently the object... just make sure your blanket is big enough that you can hold onto it without having to bend down to hold it and pull...so king size blanket works best...if you don't have one...go to a flea market and buy a cheap one... :)

[Deb]

Thank you hon... yeah, his back is severely messed up... he's in alot of pain and still no pain meds...but I'm hoping to get him into a different PCP (primary care physician) next week and get him some meds... his dad offered to send me some morphine, but I'm afraid the postal service will intercept and that wouldn't be good...lol... but his dad has the same condition and has to take morphine and hydrocodone for his pain... anyways, please, please, please...quit that heavy lifting Natty... no matter what you have to do to make other arrangements to get whatever moved...do it!! DO NOT lift what you know you shouldn't... I don't want to see anyone else have to go through this.

Rob isn't sure that he even wants to do the injections or the surgery...because they won't really help...nothing at all will help the pain in his back...the surgery will only help the pain in his leg...and still it won't help it 100%... actually the doc told us that it may not help it at all...it could actually make it worse...did you know that 85% of all men who have this surgery...end up impotent?...yeap, because it's extremely easy to destroy a nerve during this surgical procedure and if the wrong nerve gets destroyed...guess what?... all this is very very scary...so please do take care of yourself sweetie...because I don't want to see you faced with all these life changing decisions either... I love ya and thank you so much for the prayers... :)