In 1993, I was butted by a 300-pound ram at full running speed while working on our acreage. I crawled to the house to phone for help and got to the hospital. Following my visit at the hospital, I was given muscle relaxors and told to rest.
Predictably, my pain increased and my ability to physically function decreased. I spent the next seven years going to chiropractors, getting spinal injections and taking medications. Any wrong move I made and I was down for the day. I was in constant debilitating pain.
In addition, I was going through a life-changing ordeal in my personal life, and the combination was truly unbearable. I consulted a surgeon hoping for an answer to my chronic pain and he told me to “just live with it.” As a mother of five young children, I was absolutely at my wits end with my situation, and I became desperate and depressed.
Things finally began to change when my mother’s doctor told me to contact the UI Spine Center for an evaluation. Following the evaluation I was accepted to the Spine Rehabilitation Program.
I gave it 100 percent. I did everything that they told me to do. I was eager for a better life and I was ready to work hard to get there. At the UI Spine Center, I learned to focus on my attitude about pain and also my desire to get well. The spine team helped me cut through my fear of pain and helped me to start doing the things that I loved again.
In the psychology portion of the program I learned to “let go” and let my body heal. I wrote down the things that I liked about myself and the things that other people liked about me (and these lists are still on my mirror to this day!). I learned self-respect, self-esteem, and self-confidence at the Spine Rehabilitation Program.
In physical therapy I learned to stretch and exercise. It wasn’t easy at first, but I had lots of support and even though I hurt the first week I learned to hang in there for my long-range goals. I also really bonded with my group in the program and we supported each other to reach our goals. I had decided that I was not only going to learn to manage my pain, but I was going to gain something new in an area that I was passionate about -- to increase the quality of my life, and for me that was ballroom dancing.
Since graduating from the UI Spine Center, I am working in the schools with children who have special needs. I not only take dance classes, but my husband and I actually teach dance lessons. I have maintained my walking, exercises, dancing, and breathing exercises and I feel great. I truly have my life back (new and improved life, I might add!).
My advise to you is to ask yourself what you really want to do with your future. Why do you want a change for the better. Are you willing to get the information you need and then apply it so you can reach your goals?
Those are really the questions for all of us dealing with chronic pain. The decision is yours and it is up to you to work for what you want. Trust me. It is worth the courage and the effort it takes to live a quality life again!
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