Taking a vacation from Pain?

Many things can lead us to what type of vacation we would like to take. Some are simply short over-night trips to a nearby town. Other vacations take us long distances from home. My husband has numerous ancestors in several states across the country so we decided to strike out and do our best to visit at least three areas. It sounded like a wonderful idea. So after lots of planning and scheduling, before we knew it, the day arrived, and off we went.

I knew Pain was going to be a major factor for me to struggle with throughout this trip. Sure enough, 30 minutes before we even walked out our front door, my mind was telling me, "Stay home! You will NOT be able to do this!" But instead, I pushed forward with a deep determination inside me to make this trip, come Hell or high water! Of course, I did not tell my husband about my fears because he already knew them and it's an unspoken word between us that we both prefer to keep out of our discussions as we can.  

The trip started out great. Then just miles down the road, Pain showed up and let me know that we would be having an extra rider in the car with us! I did everything possible to keep my mind off of the leg Pain...reading, doing needlework, looking at new areas passing by and refusing to allow myself to weaken. We made lots of stops to allow me plenty of time to stretch my leg and move around to avoid getting stiff and tired. It seemed to be working. But then we reached the first major stop of our trip and exhaustion from simply trying to fight against the Chronic Pain had taken me down hard. I was miserable, to say the least. My husband knew the verdict and gave me all the time needed to talk...when all I wanted to do was cry like a baby!

These years of dealing with Chronic Pain have taught me many things. The most important lesson is to NOT give into despair because that allows Pain to be the winner, and I simply will not allow that to happen. I sat and talked with my husband about how sad it was to be feeling this rotten and how sorry I was to be the drag on this trip. What a blessing I have been given in this wonderful man I call my husband. He could easily have been frustrated and decided to stop the vacation right there and head home. Instead, he talked with me about us getting somewhere that we could both rest and relax, thereby giving me a chance to get a grip on the Pain and rest. He said if the Pain continued to worsen, then we would head home and that would be it. No blame, no anger...just the deepest love and understanding anyone could ever dream of having.

The good news is that resting helped a lot. We have now actually reached two states that were on our vacation plan, saw many wonderful areas and best of all, spent precious time together, being happy and laughing, in spite of Pain being right there with us!

I always speak about finding a moment of Joy in my day as I battle Chronic Pain. Without doubt, my blessing of Joy has been to manage this trip without being in agony and depressed about the Pain. I prayed hard before we began this trip for strength to get through it, and the Lord has answered my prayer in abundance!

So always realize it's worth making the attempt to try something you would usually not do when suffering with intense Pain. The benefits of stepping out there and pushing further a bit...oh, it's so worth it! Always know you are in my prayers daily, and, if you don't mind, please say just one prayer for me.