Off and On Pain Continues

During my last report, I stated I had some sharp inguinal pains, possibly from lifting a patient at my work. Since then, those sharp pains have tailed off. The next couple of days at work, I noticed the pains when I was walking up the stairs at the hospital. However, the last few days have been relatively pain free. Even the constant "full-feeling" I sometimes get on my right side is gone.

Again, walking and standing at my job has probably helped me a lot. After a few years of no work, I am glad to be a productive member of society again. I love the fact that I get to be busy for 12 hours a day. I also love helping my patients get better too. I'm working nights though, something I'm not particularly happy about. I haven't worked a night shift in over 23 years. My body is adjust okay to staying awake, but on my days off, all I want to do is sleep.

I went to the gym yesterday and actually ran on the treadmill for the first time in a long time. Nothing too crazy, just a minute of jogging, followed by a minute of rest, and repeat a few times. My left side hurt a little afterwards, but it quickly faded.

Everything seems to be going according to plan so far. If there is a plan. I was hoping that my pain would be under control for my job. Thankfully, that has been the case. I continue to be grateful for this work. I am also grateful the pain hasn't been intolerable. So as usual, a lot of things to be thankful for.

I continue to be amazed at how I see a little bit better everyday, how much I need my Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ. My dependence upon him just continues to grow. You'd think this would make me a weak human being, but I find greater and greater strength in trusting in my God's provision. He has yet to disappoint. I'm starting to understand what Mother Theresa felt, when she saw God's hand at work in the streets of Calcutta, India. I'm not saying I've seen those kind of miracles in my life, but I am saying that trusting in God, is a great place to be.

Sharp Inguinal Pain

I developed a sharp inguinal pain on my right side Monday. This came after two days of working at the hospital. I recall having to help lift a patient up in bed on Saturday. I felt a little twinge down there, but hoped I hadn't done anything too bad. So I'm not sure if the pain I felt Monday and then Tuesday, was from that incident at the hospital or not.

It could just be time for that part of the "cycle" of pain when I hurt. I just don't know. I took some Tylenol last night and that seemed to help. I will try to be much more careful about lifting or repositioning patients in the future. I have a bad back too, so maybe I'll just tell the nurses that I can't help, because of my back. That is an easier way to explain it than having to go into the whole PVPS song and dance.

Other than that, it has been a long while since my wife and I have been intimate. Having a stressful job (for her) and then me getting the stomach bug, doesn't make for romantic times at our house. Hopefully, now that I'm working, I can take some of the stress off of her at her work which will help her be a little more happy and relaxed. Like I always say, "when momma isn't happy, nobody's happy".

On a side note, one of the nice things about working is that I don't have a lot of "sitting down" time. That is great. I do a lot of walking at my job and standing. It seems to be a nice balance, so I'm not doing too much of one thing for an extended period of time. That really seems to help my PVPS. I just have to remember not to lift those patients.

Working After Vasectomy Reversal

It has taken over two years since my reversal, but I am now employed! That may not seem like a big deal to most readers of this blog, as it wasn't the reversal which kept me from working, rather our personal choices with regards to our family. However, as a result of those choices, I have been unemployed for these last two years.

I'm not sure I could have been working with these PVPS pains that I had been experiencing since my reversal. Oh, I probably could have gotten by, with pain killers and the like. But I'm guessing it would have made a miserable time even more miserable.  My heart goes out to those men who have jobs and various responsibilities that become compromised as a result of PVPS. I've heard many horror stories of men losing jobs because of their PVPS. I'm not sure why I was able to plod through this situation without that added burden. I'll say this, I've never been very thick-skinned. What I mean by that is, I've never been able to handle adversity with much grace. If things got a little overwhelming, and I mean just a 'little', I had a history of cratering. It really has never taken much to throw me off my game, to borrow a sports cliche'. I have always hated that about myself. But as a kid, I never had any adversity - so I guess I never learned the skills necessary to handle it when it came.

I know I get a little preachy, okay, a lot preachy, here sometimes but this is just another example of how the Lord works in my life. I last posted about cycles of pain. How I go through longer periods of relatively little pain followed by brief, short cycles of bothersome pain. I just finished up one of those longer periods without much pain. Interestingly, the brief cycle of bothersome pain, was very brief. In fact, it was only about a day long. Getting up and moving/walking is all it took to overcome it this time. I never even took a Tylenol or ibuprofen. So couple this new development with a job which will have me on my feet quite a bit, seems like a real blessing.

And  I think I've grown quite a bit - mentally/spiritually/character - in the last two years. I think the Lord had to deal with me in such a way to show me that I don't have to handle the adversity on my own. I can simply turn it over to him and then trust that he'll take care of me. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn. You know, looking to the future, I'm sure I'll have to adjust to a whole new set of pains that will come my way as I suddenly am thrust into the land of the living, but I am confident this job came along at just the right time, because I wasn't prepared for it before.

On a side note, while I was experiencing this past long cycle without much pain, I noticed a change in my wife and my intimacy levels. We were much more frequent in our time together. Kind of the exception for us, but it was great. I really love my wife so much and we, for whatever reason, were able to connect quite a bit. So perhaps the increased activity in the bedroom helped my pain cycle lengthen (in a good way).  

I make this point because this is my journal, albeit public as it is. I write to remember, to explain, to help me figure stuff out and maybe, hopefully, to help someone else.

In any event, it looks like I'll be working after my vasectomy reversal. It only took two years.

Post Vasectomy Pain Looks for a Job

There are many who have their vasectomy and resultant pain, who work. I returned to work after my vasectomy after about five days. But I had some vacation coming and thought a longer break would be beneficial. It wasn't until six months later that I developed epididymitis from my vasectomy. However, I have been without a job now since 2009, not because of pain, but rather it was a decision my wife and I decided upon before PVPS became such a big deal in our lives.

Anyway, I can honestly say how blessed I was that I did not have to work after I had my reversal surgery. As I've posted before, I was in no real condition to work even 6 months after my reversal, because of the pain. However, I feel it's time for me to get back in the saddle again. But what kind of a job.

Well, one that doesn't require a lot of straining for sure. Also, one that doesn't involve a lot of sitting. Like I said before, teaching would be ideal, given my current physical shape. But I'm in health care, living in an isolated part of the US. There aren't a lot of those kind of jobs around.

But, I have a call into a local hospital to see what is up. The director is supposed to call me back in a few minutes, so I thought I'd blog real quick, since there isn't much else to do right now. The kids started back to school today, my wife is working full time and I'm left at home. Yep, I think work would be a good thing. I'm hoping this conversation will go a certain way, but I get the feeling it may just be about working per diem or part time.

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Just finished talking with the director from the hospital. He just wanted to give me the low-down on how things worked in the hospital. No opportunity yet, but he said he'd be in touch. That's like breaking up with your girlfriend and telling her you still want to be friends.That's okay though. I think I may want to go into business for myself in some way. Maybe do some outpt. diagnostic testing or counseling. I don't know yet. Still an idea in progress.

Well, time to get off my butt before my nerves start hurting. Think I'll go for a walk and see if inspiration strikes.