The Sad Saga of Jacob's Back

The day after Christmas, Jacob threw his back out really bad while playing basketball. Since then, it has been a less than stellar vacation for both of us. I don't want to diminish his pain, because this is obviously the worst it's ever been and I know he is really miserable and can't move. But here's the thing. He's was driving me a little bit crazy with the complaining. Since he hurt his back, he's really been forced to just lie around and not do anything (which sounds incredible to me), but he was whining about it so much! My only advice to him was to use the heating pad to get comfortable, take ibuprofen, and go to a doctor if it doesn't get better in a few days. Naturally Jacob doesn't believe in doctors or modern medicine, so he would always say something like "what can a doctor do for me?! They can't help.". This is normally where I (foolishly) try to use logic to explain to him that doctors have an understanding of our bodies and how they are affected (effected?) by medicine that goes far beyond his and my elementary understanding of anatomy. Even at this moment, I find myself trying to song that "dem bones" song and I heard myself sing "the head bone's connected to the...knee bone". Physiologically I know that's wrong, but when I sing it, it sounds right. So I'll stick with it.

ANYWAYS Jacob was confident that no doctor or medicine could help him, despite me saying things like "but they could give you muscle relaxers! Or pain medication!!". He scoffed at both ideas. Medicine. So pedestrian. This morning I was awakened by a huge ray of sunshine, standing over me and saying, "can you make me an appointment somewhere? If I don't feel better soon, there's no way we'll be able to drive back to Dickinson in a few days. I'll never make it.". Oh and good morning to you too, sir. I made an appointment and was trying to fall back asleep when Jacob yelled at me from the living room "the toilet is running!". The smartass (and second grader) in me wanted to yell back "you better go catch it!!" and then go back to sleep, but I decided against it. This back pain has really taken away his sense of humor and general good nature.

I ended up just taking him to an urgent care facility (he couldn't wait till the dr appointment) and we were pretty pleased with the experience. The doctor was super nice and gave us a lot of instructions and info and spent a lot of time with us. She have him two shots to help immediately with the pain and then gave him a prescription for steroids to help the inflammation, pain medication and muscle relaxers...... So I feel like I deserve an "I told you so". He seemed to be feeling a bit better when he went to bed, so please just keep him in your prayers. I can't even imagine how miserable 25 hours in the car would be if his back isn't better by the time we leave. There is a very good chance I would just ask the vet to give me some horse tranquilizers to knock him out.

In other health news, tomorrow is my doctors appointment, and unfortunately it's still very much Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret? over here. I guess I'll call in the morning and figure out if I need to cancel. Ugh.