June 2007 - Page 1

Miracle Month

Well, this month started out with a BANG!

Today is June 8 and I feel like it should be the end of a month. It is the end of some things, but we'll get to that in a moment. Today I should be in Des Moines, IA speaking at their wonderful convention for the third year in a row. Instead Tom and I are in a hospital in St. Louis, MO awaiting another hip surgery on Monday. Did I get ahead of myself? You've GOT to know how we got here – and how God went ahead of us even before we got on the road!

Let's take this one miracle at a time:

The Naproxen miracle

I've been on Naproxen for my arthritis for about ten years. Without it, I lay in bed crying and wishing I was dead. With it, I live a more-active-than-usual life - swimming every day, traveling to conventions, tutoring, enjoying our dogs, sewing, and so forth with my husband Tom. Funny thing is, I can only use one brand of Naproxen which comes in a very yellow color. Found that out when we moved to Chattanooga on 9-11-2001. When I picked up my medicine at the pharmacy, it was a different color and I asked about it. "Same thing, just a different provider," I was told. But within days I was back in bed. Took a while, but we went through five different "colors" finding out that nothing worked except the yellow ones from the original provider. I found a small pharmacy that was willing to work with me and have been with them ever since. They make sure I get the right one from the right provider.

Fast forward to a month ago. Tom has had some really bad problems with pain in his legs - ever since December (following his hip replacement on October 11, 2006). Not pain in the hip itself, but in roving throughout the legs... If you've read the April and May reports, you know what that led to... the hip dislocated in January and twice in April. The first two were in Chattanooga and he was just sitting - not even planning to move, twist, stand or anything. Not doing anything "wrong." The next was in Kelowna, British Colombia. He had had a very bad night from his restless leg syndrome and was trying out a glider chair with a footstool glider. They went the opposite directions and "whoops!" his hip came out again. And then there was this month... but I'm getting ahead of myself again...

While we were home between May's South Carolina convention and the Des Moines event, Tom was in great pain again. So I told him, "Try some of my Naproxen." He did and got considerable relief. (He'd already been taking the over-the-counter variety, but it had lost its 'punch.') So he got a prescription and took it to my little pharmacy and asked for the 'yellow kind.' (And PRAISE GOD HE DID!)

Move up to the week before we leave for Des Moines. I begin to pack my meds for 3 to 6 weeks and discover that I have no refills left for Naproxen. So I called and asked for a one-month prescription and an appointment to update my file. I'd asked for one last month, but between my schedule and theirs and playing phone tag, it just hadn't gotten done. They made an appointment for a time when we hoped to be back in Chattanooga, but would not refill my Naproxen. They said I hadn't seen a doctor since November. I had been in and seen a nurse practitioner, but she had since left the clinic and was not around to vouch for me. I explained the situation and they told me to buy the OTC variety. Sure. No help at all. I cried and prayed (is that the natural reaction of all of us?) and thought and remembered Tom's prescription. I knew it was not time for his to be renewed, but called our little pharmacy and explained the situation. We had to pay for it, but Tom's prescription was filled in advance so we could take the trip - and have the meds we needed to be fairly pain-free. If Tom hadn't gotten on my medicine, too, this would not have been possible. God is so good! So on to the next miracle.

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