“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” John 21:25

I thought what would happen if . . . I went to a library, pulled out a book, found a comfortable chair, and sat down and began to read. Totally engrossed I continued until chapter 9. As I turned the page to begin the next I found all the remaining pages blank. Thinking there must be a publishing error I seek another copy and find the same thing. An unfinished book. How would I ever know how this story ended?

Receiving a chronic illness diagnosis is much like this. We are busy with our lives planning our days and even our future. Then suddenly it all comes to a halt. All the words of the remaining chapters of our lives fall from the pages and we are left with a sense of deep loss. Now what?

But after reading this verse I thought perhaps I need to allow Jesus to finish my story. If He did so many things, that written down there would not be enough room in the whole world, then certainly He could do the same for me.

Maybe–just maybe–allowing Him to pen my moments; each day a new line, page or even a chapter I would see a new life unfolding. Not the one I had envisioned but something unique and possibly life changing.

My lost confidence in my body has been replaced with a new confidence in the Lord. It is His story. It was never really mine and now finally laying my unfinished life at the foot of the cross I can at last receive the much needed rest that comes from surrender.

About the Author:
Catherine Barron lives in Sheridan, Montana. She is semi retired and loves to read, write and her latest hobby outdoor photography although her first love will always be the word of God. She considers her fibromyalgia a formidable unrelenting teacher.

Hi everyone!

I am still fighting this migraine, so please be patient with me… It is day 7 – yep you heard right, and it is kicking my butt a little…okay… a LOT!!

It is definitely coming from my neck and jaw, and it looks like I am going to need some aggressive treatment to make it go away…. ahhh…. the joys of this life…. I keep reminding myself how blessed I am, and how far I have come…. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…. groan….  squint… whimper…

I read this article today, Struggling To Work Through Pain, and thought I would pass it along.

This is something that I haven’t yet experienced in my journey with chronic pain.  When pain hit me, it hit hard and FAST, and working was not an option for me.  I haven’t worked outside of the home for the better part of  ten years now, and I don’t know if or when I will be well enough to work again.  But I know there are thousands upon thousands that do not have a choice, and have to work – despite of their pain.  I can only imagine how difficult that must be.  My ‘job’ is being a stay-at-home-mother – which isn’t a cake walk either , but I have the option of taking a break when I need to, ‘working’ from bed on my really bad days, and nobody is going to fire me if I don’t get the laundry done.

With all of the stress our illnesses cause it can be hard to manage or pain, but working in the wrong environment can cause a substantially higher level of pain and be the difference between emotional health and falling apart at the seams.

Do you work in the right environment for you?  Does is cause you to experience more pain?  Do you have a boss you feel you can approach and discuss potential modifications that would increase your comfort level AND your productivity?

I know it is difficult talking to people about this topic – I can definitely relate to that part. There is still a lot of stigma and judgment towards people who suffer from “Chronic Pain” – but as the article says, Chronic Pain doesn’t have to be a career killer as well.  Maybe it is worth discussing with those you work with?

I’d love to hear your stories and struggles in the workplace.  I cannot speak from experience of this subject, but maybe by sharing a bit of your story in the comments section, you can help someone else!!

**If you are reading this anywhere other than www.gracefulagony.wordpress.com it is because this post has been stolen.  Please click on the link provided to return to the site of origin

I asked Frank a couple days ago, “Frank, can I ask you a question?  Are you, um, sexually excited by me?”

“Of course I am, you know that.  But, don’t you have the same issue?”

“I do; I was just wondering.”

I thought it the sweetest moment, I love us.  Can I say that?  I never get tired of finding he and I are thinking the exact same thing, however often it occurs.

Last week, his mother sent him the Mayo Clinic Guide to Pain Relief, an impressively attractive book, and I was able to look through it because it has large print (hurray, legibility!).  For once, I was reading out passages to him.  I happened to flip to a page on negative thought cycles and how to break them, and one stated, “Life isn’t worth living.  Yes, it is.  I’ll make it . . .” worth living, I thought to myself, before finishing the sentence, “I’ll make it through this.”  I looked up at Frank, “Isn’t that messed up?  Shouldn’t it be . . .”

“I’ll make it worth living,” he said at once.

“That’s exactly what I thought before I completed the sentence!  I was shocked it didn’t say that.  What’s wrong with them?”

“What if your pain isn’t just an isolated episode and you can’t look forward to when it ends?”

“I know, and it assumes it’s enough to simply make it through life.  That’s fucked up.  If that’s all life is, then it isn’t worth living.”

But it is when the person you’re with understands.  A couple joined by low libido and depression, how cute!

I can’t write for the time being.  I had a spinal tap again on Tuesday and, though this one went without complications, that meant there was no blood to clot the puncture site and I have been lying down all day with my Kindle against my rib cage, reading and wishing I could raise my head, because when I think I can and try to, it hurts ans makes me dizzy and reminds me I shouldn’t move.  So I’ve been hardly moving since Tuesday and wonder how much longer this will last because it’s even more difficult to eat enough when you can’t raise your head and difficult even to wash my hair or get proper fluids.  A very inconvenient take-home gift.

Thank goodness I had pain kills from my oral surgery that I never used to take now or I’d be completely immobile and unable to think.  It’s made me think a lot about what those with chronic pain must go through and I’ll only say now how grateful I am that Frank is finally on a medication that lowers his baseline pain, how grateful I am that a doctor finally passed over all the misinformation about narcotics and treated his pain as it should have from the beginning, humanely and logically.  But humanity and logic are scarce in the care of those in pain.

P.S. A beautiful song to end on. (Bill Morrissey – 23rd Street)

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Though it’s already powered ahead on Fox in the US, our favourite diagnostician found his way back to Sky 1 on Sunday night to continue his travels in this, the sixth season of the popular medical drama.

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A brief catch up then: House went, more or less, stark raving mad at the end of series 5, resulting in him ending up in a One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest style institution to detox off Vicodin in the Series 6 opener. Following that, he moves in with Wilson, goes back to work in the hospital and even helps Chase cover up, what was effectively the murder of a genocide preaching dictator they were supposed to treat. But hey, what comes around…

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Season 6 marked a drastic change in formula of the series which, though highly entertaining was repetitive. At around the 37 minute mark in EVERY episode, House has one of those epiphany moments and walks off on whoever is talking to him at the time, yet no one ever stops to say, “Hey dude, that’s really rude and you’re ALWAYS doing it!” Personally I find some of his epiphany moments hilarious, especially the facial expressions of whoever he’s just walked off on.

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Realistically though, giving Foreman (Omar Epps) power over the team for most of the first half of the series should have been dealt with better. The only thing different was rather than House telling his team to go do something, he had to goad Forman into telling them to do it, resulting in the funniest miming scene since David Tennant and Catherine Tate decided to have a conversation through a window and a door.

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But, back to House and Foreman, there was a prime opportunity for some tension between these two egotistical doctors, particularly as Foreman had already managed to dismantle the second team in a short, sharp burst, resulting in House spending the first half of Series 6 convincing Taub and his nose to return, and Thirteen to bring back some much desired lesbianism.

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Onto the rest of the series though, the latest episode, The Down Low is standard House – strange illness, in this case noise induced vertigo inflicting a drug dealing gangster with a warped sense of morality. Meanwhile House and Wilson garner a different kind of interest from a neighbour in their new apartment who thinks that they’re gay. We’ve been thinking it for years…

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The writing is still as tight as it was five years ago, David Shore’s remarkable ability to create new and absurd metaphors and insults for House being something of an art form. The characters too, are realistic and believable in their actions. I can’t honestly remember ever watching an episode and remarking that someone’s action was out of character. A show like this doesn’t need to do that because anything out of character for the secondary characters is something House would do without a moment’s hesitation. In a sense, the character of House is any writer’s dream because you’re effectively given a blank page and told to make as much of a mess as you like. Cuddy’ll clean it up…

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In this sense though, the rest of Season 6 will be interesting and particularly the finale. Where does the show go from here? Primarily about House’s addiction for the last five years, that’s come to a head and he’s apparently kicked it, so what next? The obvious thing would be a relapse but somehow I don’t get the feeling the writers are going to go with obvious. Plus, a relapse would result in House returning to a detox facility which we’ve seen already and is hence rendered boring – much like what House would say if he got a case of Lupus.

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So perhaps the most interesting thing about this series is not what’s already happened or happening right now but what’s going to happen. As a show, it’s powered along nicely to this moment, with its effective formula and some truly memorable TV (Season 4 finale comes to mind) but like any series, House appears to be reaching its turning point, the moment when we find out if David Shore has anything more up his sleeve for this great character, or if he’s simply milking the formula.

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Judging from everything we’ve had for the last five years, I doubt the latter is the case. There are plenty of unanswered questions in this series: what will become of Chase and Cameron; how will Chase’s murder crop up again, as it undoubtedly will; will Wilson donate any more internal organs to patients and has Cuddy really lowered her dating standards to Lucas? And of course, the main question: what kind of insane move is House going to make next? (I personally hope he shoots a corpse and breaks the CT scanner again…)

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But with the format changing slightly in coming weeks: an episode based entirely around Cuddy’s day coming up, and a Hugh Laurie directed episode scheduled for April in the States, I get the feeling that Season 6 is shaping up to be a cracker.

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House broadcasts at 10pm, Sundays on Sky 1

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Suellen sat down with Shawn to talk about her lower back pain that is gone! She is now living a pain-free life without medication!! Due to her dedication and her Egoscue everything in her life is better.

Have you called Egoscue yet?

In Pain Free, Pete Egoscue has this to say about Arthritis:

The All-Purpose Diagnosis

Arthritis causes joint deterioration. Thus, all joint deterioration is caused by arthritis. This clumsy exercise in deduction would earn a failing grade in a freshman college course in logic. Yet in most people over the age of forty, arthritis is routinely blamed for chronic joint pain. Much of this “arthritis” is really symptomatic of musculoskeletal problems and is treatable as such.

Pete, who is a postural therapist, goes on to speak from his nearly forty years of experience with the non-medical treatment of chronic musculoskeletal system pain and dysfunction:

I have never seen arthritis develop in a joint that was previously active and properly aligned. Never. Given that, as recent clinical tests have shown, moderate regular exercise eases the symptoms of osteoarthritis in the elderly, moderate regular exercise and musculoskeletal alignment in younger people would go a long way – if not all the way – toward preventing the onset of the disease in the first place.

Aggressive arthritis – the disease mechanism, not just swelling and cartilage loss – appears to seek out quiet, undisturbed places to set up shop. A joint capsule is a fortress, a world unto itself. Weaken it by blood and oxygen deprivation, which the prioritizing body does to any superficial tissue or systems, and arthritis has the necessary conditions to thrive. If you’re feeling hip pain (or any joint pain), don’t assume that the usual suspects are to blame. Start with the easiest solution first – and see what happens.

The easiest solution Pete is talking about he explains in the Introduction to Pain Free:

Being pain free takes personal effort and commitment. It doesn’t come from a pill bottle, a surgeon’s knife, a brace, or in specially designed mattresses, chairs, and tools. The thousands of men and women who in the course of a typical year visit my Egoscue Method Clinic in San Diego, California (and now across the United States and Internationally), know it, or they soon find out, and I watch them transform their lives as they rediscover the joy and health that had seemed lost forever. While each client is dedicated to stopping chronic pain in one form or another, they are all taking the easy way out. The easiest, really.

Drugs, surgery and manipulation are all beating around the bush and not correcting the underlying cause of pain or arthritis. This means, even if pain and arthritis is temporarily abated, it will return. Unless treatment addresses underlying musculoskeletal dysfunctions, pain relief can only be temporary. Correcting these postural imbalances allows the body to return to its design. When that happens the body again works as a unit transferring shock throughout its structures the way it was designed to, allowing each muscle to do its fair share of the work – no more or less – and allowing each joint to enjoy its full range of motion. This allows each person to return to a pain free and active life without limitations – what Pete Egoscue refers to as “our birthright.”

sweet slumber~

If you know me then you will know this about me…I exist in a chronic state of sleep deprivation. I have suffered from this condition my entire life and I will probably never experience a cure unless it involves medication. I don’t want any more medication than I already take. We are genetically engineered to need at least 8 hours of sleep, but in reality very few of us ever get that many. I sleep for a good hour and wake up, toss and turn, go back to sleep, and maybe get two hours…and the pattern repeats itself. It is quite tiresome and when that is compounded with chronic pain it really starts to suck big fat purple monkey balls.

“Just go to bed early”….that one has never worked for me….why go to bed early…that will just be more time to toss and turn…..and my back cannot take that much time spent in a horizontal position. Last night felt like a good dose of recovery sleep, though my body and mind are nut fully rested we are on the right track…and if I feel a nap coming on well then I am going to listen to my body.

I feel somewhat lethargic, I also feel a bit energized, but not enough to do anything productive. I will probably alternate between watching TV, reading and napping today. My body is screaming for rest…and I am listening.

COREY HAIM PASSES AT TENDER AGE 38

The TWO Coreys have officially been reduced to just ONE Corey.  Corey Feldman must be heart broken, as these two, regardless of their tenacious friendship and shaky relationship, were inseparable.

Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob whose career was blighted by drug abuse, reportedly lost his battle with addiction on the morning of March 10, 2010. He was 38.

According to the celebrity Web site, TMZ, Haim died of an overdose of drugs and was found by his mother at his apartment. Police say there was no evidence of foul play.

Haim acknowledged his struggle with drug abuse in an interview with a British tabloid in 2004.”I was working on ’Lost Boys’ when I smoked my first joint,” he told The Sun. “I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack.” Haim said he went into rehabilitation and was put on prescription drugs.

In a 2007 interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Haim called himself “a chronic relapser for the rest of my life.”

VIA foxnews.com

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Supporters and friends pour out in remembrance of the 80’s teen star, and share with us a couple of words on how it has affected them.

• Vivica A. Fox, Shark City costar: “We will miss this wonderfully talented young man, it was a pleasure to have worked with him, may God bless his family at this most difficult time.”

• Nicole Eggert, Blown Away costar and ex-girlfriend: “I am very saddened at the news of Corey’s death and that he was unable to overcome the demons he so deeply struggled with. It is tragic and my heart and well wishes go out to his family. May he finally be in peace.”

• Todd Bridges, The Two Coreys guest star: “Corey Haim was a good friend of mine and he will be missed. Too many people are dying way too young and it’s sad because of the loved ones who are left behind to understand what happened and to feel the loss. I hope he’s in a better place.”

• Brooke McCarter and Billy Worth, The Lost Boys costars: “We love Corey Haim. He had a spirit that was beautiful and he had a lot of love to share with his friends. It’s a real sad day. Once a lost boy always a lost boy. Corey Haim had an amazing heart. He got caught up in Hollywood. He was an A-caliber actor. Everyone cared about him. Our thoughts and prayers are out to his friends and family and his mom, Judy Haim. Let’s all remember the Corey Haim they all loved.”

• Greg Goldman, The Two Coreys creator: “The last time I spoke to Corey was two months ago and he was in good spirits. He was very optimistic, he was helping his mom, who was sick, and was very optimistic that she would be OK and was very optimistic about his career. He was a positive guy. He had a very infectious laugh…Anyone who was close with Corey Haim knew he battled with a lot of severe demons through the years…It was out biggest fear that it would just become too much and he would fall off for good…He wanted to do anything and everything. His passion was acting—in front of the camera or on stage—he wanted to do it.”

• Troy Searer, The Two Coreys executive producer: “I was deeply saddened by the news of Corey’s passing. At his core he was a kind, generous and extremely talented guy. Unfortunately, his immeasurable heart and potential seemed to be in constant battle with his demons. He was a caring son and friend and he will be missed very much.”

•A&E, The Two Coreys network: “We are saddened by the tragic loss of Corey Haim who we had the pleasure to work with on the series The Two Coreys. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time.”

Corey Haim final project he was currently working on,  Shark City: He WILL be missed.