To give you a short rundown as to why, I fell off of my bed onto my knees on Sunday night, and Monday morning I woke up with my lower back/upper leg hurting (on the right side, but that's not important).
After being in pain all day, getting up and down from my seat in classes, and just walking around, I was able to go to the urgent care that night (courtesy of my friend with a car who was kind enough to drive me). After some questions and tests of pain tolerance (basically he had me move my legs around and asked when and where it hurt), he concluded that I'd fallen in just the right way on my knees that some of the muscles in my back spasmed. I basically got a Charlie horse in my back. Go figure. Anywho, he prescribed me heat, a muscle relaxant before bed, no bending, he told me to take 3 ibuprofen, he told me to have patience [the one thing I lack ;)]. So I went to the pharmacy (still courtesy of my friend) and picked up the relaxant, and then I went home. My grandpa dropped off a heat pad for me. So I got ready for bed and took the relaxant. I could feel when it started to take effect (it made my insides all fuzzy), and then *bam*! I was out like a light. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most, my pain was at about a 7.
Tuesday I had work, and it was a little awkward, getting used to not being able to bend without pain (I had to squat and I felt like a pregnant lady, hahaha), but I managed to get through the day just fine. I was able to get a priesthood blessing from some of the young men in my ward and I am so grateful for the worthy young men in my ward! I heard some things that I needed to hear. Also, apparently, that night the relaxant made me high...I saw these creepy purple tentacles with teeth on the end and had this weird feeling of my body shrinking and I questioned how my insides could fit...well, inside me. ;) My pain was about a 7 again. Not too much different from Monday, but slightly better.
Wednesday I had classes, and I was able to get through the day without too much trouble, though it was still painful. Some of the girls in my hall and I went to deliver valentine's gifts to some of the boys in our ward (we split them up between the three Relief Societies). And of course I forgot that I was in pain and I started to jump and skip like normal. Nope–bad idea. Anyway, learned my lesson the hard way and walked the rest of the time. Was able to go to bed relatively quickly. On the same scale, this day my pain was about a 6.
Thursday I had work again, and I had to work all by myself for about an hour and a half because I'm the only student worker right now, and all of the chefs had a meeting, so I had to hold down the fort. I did a great job. :) After work, I studied for a test and walked up to the testing center to take it; then I went back home and was able to have dinner with some friends (I think...I can't remember hahaha). Then we had ward prayer later that night and after that I went to bed. My pain was about a 4.5 or 5 that day.
Friday I had classes again, but it was less painful today!! There was still pain, yes, but not quite so much! After classes, I did some things–think I tried to read some, and started to pack (I came home this weekend), and I listened to music (as always). Went to dinner with my friends for awhile, and then after that, I decided to practice my violin and then I did some more packing, and some more listening to music. Then I got ready for bed and took a little while to get to sleep but I did. :) My pain was about a 4.
Saturday (today) was pretty painless. There's still some pain, but it's not quite as bad. My muscles must be almost done relaxing! I hope so! I was pretty much done with the pain and the waiting by Tuesday morning!
Some of the things I learned this week:
- Maybe not you, but I can injure my back by falling on my knees. (I have the luck of falling just right, but you probably don't have that luck. Lucky!)
- I am so grateful for priesthood blessings!! I love that I can turn to all of the young men in my ward and ask for a priesthood blessing! God knew exactly what I needed to hear in that prayer.
- Following the doctor's orders of not bending down was less painful! Who knew? ;)
- I have some of the greatest friends in the world. I have some very sweet, kind, and thoughtful hallmates and friends, and I am so grateful for them!! Sometimes I feel sad, left out, or forgotten, but there are always those girls that say hi to me as they walk by my room, or they invite me to eat dinner with them, and I love that! It makes me feel loved and important. <3
- I am so grateful for humor! My friends have made me laugh many times this week, which has been a great blessing. I had to learn to be positive throughout this experience (yes, me) and having a great time with my friends was a blessing. :)
- Finally, I learned that I am grateful for this experience. At the beginning of the week, I was talking to myself and arguing about which day would have been best for me to have injured myself, and I finally decided that yes, Monday was the best day–I won't explain to you why because you won't get it (I barely do). I was also trying to figure out what I could learn from this experience. As you can see, I learned quite a lot. But this last one–this last lesson–was by far the biggest blessing from this experience. This week has been challenging–I had to learn to work with/around my pain. And sometimes it was hard. But I did it!! I am SO grateful for all of my friends' support and love this week. This experience helped me realize that I'm not forgotten, and I'm not alone. God is always there, and when I need something, He will send me His love through my friends. Sometimes I have to put myself out there, but He will show me how much He loves me by sending me my friends.
Wow...
As I've been thinking about this experience, I've been thinking about what I learned.
In the moments of this week, I wasn't thinking about what I was learning. To be honest, most of the time I was thinking, "This is painful, and I just want to be done so that I can rest and not move." Maybe not in so many words, but that was the gist of it.
But as I've been going back through this week, I realized many of these things that I learned I probably couldn't have learned in any other way.
I could sit here and try to explain, but I'm having trouble coming up with all of the right words, so I'm just going to say this: my quote this week was "All you need is Jesus Christ." And I definitely learned that this week. This challenging experience has brought me closer to Christ. My Savior has been with me this whole week–though my friends. My friends are definitely Christlike in every way, and they have been such a blessing to have this week. I love them and I am so grateful that they were there for me this week, and that they were loving, and kind, and thoughtful. I know that they listened to the Spirit this week because they came when I needed them. <3
