As I spent a week with my friend. I began having little twitches in my back, the next morning, a noticeable pain. By the third day my back was in full pain like someone was thrusting a knife in my side over and over again. The next day, I was having trouble walking and the stabbing pain increased.
The electric came on at my home, so I moved back in. It was Sunday and was hoping I could hold out to see my regular doctor, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I went to emergency clinic and he thought I had a kidney infection. I told him it was more than that, thinking it was kidney stones. I had stones before, so knew well how painful they are. At my urging he ordered an ultrasound. But the tests came out negative for both. He had sent me out with a mild pain medicine and something for infection.
The pain medicine wasn't working. Finally being able to get my regular doctor on the phone, I explained what happened and he prescribed a better pain medicine and told me he couldn't help me any further. That if it didn't help, go to the ER. Well, the medicine didn't help and now not even being able to walk, I woke at 3:00 am to a small itchy rash on my back and belly. Well, this was just not right. So my son who lives nearby rushed me to the ER. When the ER Doctor examined me, she stepped back and with wide eyes and a gasp, said, "This is Shingles".
All this to say, with all the stress, my body decided to let a little virus loose on me. What was it? I was vaccinated as a child for chicken pox. I had no idea that this dormant virus could awake to attack me.
It wasn't just shingles, it was full blown, the worst my doctor said he had ever seen. This virus attacked my full left flank taking aim at the kidneys, and other organs. The pain is the worst I've ever felt in my life. It has attacked every nerve sending extreme pain that has sent me to bed for days on end.
In my pain, I thought of Job. He, being inflicted with sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. My pain is nothing comparable to all that Job suffered. In a way, I take comfort that God has spared me from more than this. And trust the Lord to bring restoration to my body as he did for Job.
The Lord, Jesus, is everything to me. I trust my life entirely to him for everything. He knows my infliction, he has comforted me so much by the Holy Spirit. In all of this, I’ve drawn closer to him, spend many hours reading the Word and praying.