My Shoulder

In March 2012 I returned from driving my daughter to school to a slippery snowy driveway that my car could not climb.  I shoveled off the top part of my driveway and applied kitty litter hoping that I could get my car into the garage and wait till later to see how much snow the soon to be arriving sun would melt.

As I carefully slid down the driveway to my car, my feet slipped out from under me and I crashed, ungracefully,  right knee-bent and right arm-extended onto the ground:  My shoulder protecting my head from hitting the pavement with pounding force.  I lie in the driveway watching the snow fall to my face as I assessed my pain.  The bone in my lower leg hurt, and I feared that I had broken leg.  My shoulder hurt but not too bad.  Gradually the pain in my leg subsided and I crawled to the garage and into the house. 

Chris came from work to shovel the rest of the driveway and put my car into the garage.  Feeling dreadful that I called him away from work to help me, I helped shovel when he got there but due to the soreness in my shoulder I shoveled left handed.

That evening I realized as I lied down in bed that I could not lie on my shoulder. I assumed that I was greatly bruised and it would take some time to heal. In the next few weeks I saw the chiropractor regularly and she adjusted my neck and shoulder and gave me ARP Therapy to help relieve the increasing pain and stiffness. I was having trouble reaching things over my head, extending my arm out from my body and reaching my bra stap behind me.  Surprisingly, I had no trouble working despite my injury because I could reach in front of me with little pain, only fatique. After five weeks of treatment I decided that I should see my doctor; My pain level and range of motion were slowly getting worse, despite treatment.

During all this time, I knew that I had really hurt my shoulder but I was believing God for a miricle. 

Just a few months before, my dog Baca slipped on the ice outside in our back yard.  She came inside holding her hind leg up, walking on just three legs.  In the next hour I carefully watched her.  She never put her leg down.  I called my friend Marcia and we took Baca to a vet.  The vet took pictures and determined that Baca had torn the ligiment in her knee and told me she would need surgery or she would never use her back leg again.  The surgery cost $2000.  I did not have that kind of money nor was I convinced that I would spend that kind of money on a dog.  I called Pastor Rachel to tell her I could not make a meeting we had scheduled that day and she asked me if I wanted her to come and pray for Baca.  I was humbled and grateful that my pastor would come and pray for my dog. Pastor Rachel came, annointed Baca with oil and my family, Marcia, Pastor Rachel laid hands on Baca and prayed for her healing.  The next day when I say Rachel she asked me an important question.  She asked, "Do you believe that God will heal Baca miraculously or through giving you the money you need so that she can have the surgery?"  I told her I did not feel like I could ever believe for the money but I could certainly believe that God could heal her because I had seen many miraculous healings in my own family:  my birth, Kiara's warts, my dad's cancer.

In the next few days I saw a miricle as we continually prayed scripture and layed hands on her claiming her healing.  Day 1: Baca tapped her foot to the floor. Day 2: Baca stepped on her foot, immediately picking it back up again. Day 3: Baca stepped on her foot occasionally with a huge limp. Day 4: Baca stepped on her foot more frequently with less of a limp. Day 5: Baca is walking on her foot with a limp. Day 7: Baca is walking, limping only slightly.  Day 9: Baca is walking with no limp and beginning to run. Day 11: Baca is running across the yard and trying to jump on furniture. Day 13: Baca is jumping up on the furniture.  Within two weeks time nobody would have ever known she had an accident that required surgery.

At this same time I was facilitating the Beth Moore teaching on Daniel.  In one of the teachings she talked specifically about the fiery trial we all endure.  She said there were 3 ways for God to work: We can be delivered from the fire, through the fire, or by the fire.  In other words God could heal me from this shoulder problem instantly, He could heal me through medicine, or He could take me to Him as a result of this. God had healed Baca  almost instantly and I was believing God and praying the same thing for me, however it seemed to me that God was insted going to heal me through the fire and I was trying to be patient and understand what it was that God wanted me to learn through this process.

May 2012 after evaluation my regular physician immediately ordered an MRI.  I was immediately denied coverage by my insurance company. They wanted an X-ray of the bone and 4-6 weeks of physical therapy before they would agree to an MRI. I eagerly agreed to PT hoping that it would be an answer to prayer and I would get better quickly. After 3 weeks of PT my condition had not improved at all and the therapist again tried something new to see how my shoulder would respond.  This time my shoulder seemed much worse, so I scheduled another appointment with our primary physician.  She re-evaluated my shoulder and  armed with the recommendation from the physical therapist and from her assessment she sent in an appeal for an MRI to my insurance company. After almost 2 weeks of waiting my MRI was approved.

Finally, 4 months after my fall I had an MRI evaluation from the hospital, a recommendation from my primary physician and I was headed to see the specialist, an orthopedic surgeon. By this time, I could not reach above my head or extend my arm side ways more than 90 degrees, and I could barely reach my belt loops on my pants behind me.  By this time my injury was affecting my job.  I was taking longer to do clients,  and I had to rest my arm or ice my shoulder between clients.  In addition, I could barely style the back of my own hair, having to rest my arm on the top of my head or bring my arm down to my side in between curls. Sleeping was the worst problem because I could not find a comfortable position to sleep in; walking also became a  problem because the gentle swing of my arm hurt causing me to hold my arm to my chest for comfort.

Despite the sense of knowing that I had, I was still hurt by the surgeons evaluation: I had a rotator cuff tear,  and a SLAP tear on the bicep tendon, my bone was bruised (yes, even after 4 months), I had scar tissue,  arthritis, and my shoulder was frozen. I would need surgery and the recovery was 3 full months. I asked him, "Ok, so I can go back to work in 12 weeks. When can I do 1 haircut?"  His reply, "In 12 weeks."  I was stunned. This would be harder that I thought.  I resolved to schedule the surgery and worry about it later. Let go, and let God! Surgery was scheduled on August 10th.

The morning of surgery arrived. I was a little anxious but ready to get my shoulder repaired.  The doc came in and asked me what my pain level was.  I told him I didn't have any.  He questioned whether or not I thought I needed surgery if I was not having pain.  I told him I had slowed down my work schedule and allowed time inbetween clients so I was having less pain when I was not working but I still was using pain meds and ice when I was working.  He did a simple test to determine something about my rotator cuff tear and sat down.  He then told me what he was going to do:  he would repair my rotator cuff tear, he would evaluate the SLAP tear and determine whether to trim the edges only or to cut and reposition my bicep tendon, he would clean up the scar tissue and arthritis, trim and smoothe the bone that my tendons slides through to give it more room, and he would unfreeze my shoulder.  The proceedure was expected to take a little over 2 hours.

I woke up starving.  The nurse gave me crackers and juice and went to go get Chris.  Chris came in smiling.  He explained right away, "The doc said that the surgery was the best came scenerio.  He did not find a rotator cuff tear or a SLAP tear, he cleaned up the scar tissue, arthritis, and the bone.  He unfroze your shoulder and got out of there."

My mind was having trouble focusing.  What did he just say?  Chris repeated what he said.  I asked him, Did you just hear what you said...you said he did not find what he was looking for.  That is the exact works that Sandy prayed on Wednesday night.  God healed me!"  I was stunned.  I was elated.  I was thankful.