In November he returned to work light duty at Bend Park and Recreation, a position he had held for 10 years, and continued until late January when he began having sever back pain. An MRI showed his L2 vertebrae had a fracture, which he under went Kyphoplasty surgery to repair. Three weeks after this surgery the back pain returned and another MRI showed L3 and L4 were now fractured. It has been speculated by many that the steroids have caused this. A double Kyphoplasty repaired them. Michael’s sick pay had run out by this time.  Fortunately, his amazing co-workers came together and donated their sick time so that we could maintain a paycheck and our insurance benefits for the next 3 months, God Bless them all.

            Also in February he was diagnosed with sever Sleep Apnea. We were told he was lucky that he had not died in his sleep. He was given a C-PAP machine which has been helpful.

As he was about to return to work in May all of his bottom teeth became infected, and needed to be removed immediately. The next week, as he was struggling to return to work, his back pained returned, this time worse than ever. Another MRI showed T10, T11, T12 and L1 vertebrae all were fractured. It was clear he would be unable to return to work any time soon. His job came to an end May 18th.

A long delay by the insurance company added to the intensity of Michael’s experience as he waited 7 weeks for his most recent surgery. On July 6^th he had a Quadruple Kyphoplasty surgery and he is currently recovering from that. He began Physical Therapy today, at the wonderful Healing Bridge. He is scheduled for 20 sessions and I know he will see a lot of improvement from this.

During all of this time his throat spasms have continued and caused him to gasp every day. The stress of the pain and loss of job has made it challenging for him to be able to relax and get it to stop. He recently had a Botox injection into his vocal cords in an effort to relax them. It was unsuccessful. The option to have another yet stronger Botox injection, which would completely paralyze his vocal cords for a while, was first considered and now has been rejected due to the sense of it being too radical of a solution. He is hopeful that Speech Therapy will help.

Last week we were notified that he is being automatically considered for Permanent Disability. This presents a new chapter in our life that we are only beginning to explore. I am grateful that we will continue to be supported as he moves through this healing journey. He will require medical attention still for a while. He is weaning from the steroids, this is a slow process and will likely last another 14 weeks. He is now taking injections to strengthen his bones. The medical team assisting us is diverse and compiled of amazing and quite capable doctors and therapists. I am grateful that we live in such a nurturing community.

We are now at the point of addressing the large pile of medical bills and the realization that some of his treatments will likely be for the rest of his life. We have received support from the St. Charles Financial Services, God Bless them too. Currently there are plans for a Healing Fair/ Fundraiser on 09-09-09 at the Old Stone Church. More information will be available soon. Your donations to the Oneheart Ministry are always appreciated and at this time are going entirely to Michael’s medical bills and prescriptions. I am grateful that we have been able to keep our insurance yet we still spend several hundred dollars a month on co-pays. Our hope that the upcoming fundraiser will assist us in clearing our bills so that we can give our complete focus to Michael’s healing journey. I am grateful for the ongoing support in our life, it is making a huge difference in our experience.

July 27, 2009

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