Hope for the Pain

Bryan didn’t sleep as well as we had hoped last night so he was quite tired and in a lot of pain again this morning.

Another CT angiogram was done and it was fine. There is still some swelling but apparently that’s normal and the doctors were happy with the results. There was more testing done this morning too and everything was clear – they were looking particularly at his legs to see if there were any blood clots present to explain the pain. Today was particularly horrible for Bryan with respect to pain. He said tonight that today was "the worst day yet" because of the pain.

The good news is that the doctors think they know now what is causing all the pain in Bryan’s low back and legs. Another test also done this morning revealed that the blood around the brain (from the aneurysm that burst last week) is causing irritation in the spine and in turn causing the pain in Bryan’s low back and legs. This apparently isn’t uncommon but the reason they didn’t look into this earlier is because pain from this spinal irritation doesn’t usually radiate to the legs – but rather is just in the low back/tailbone area in most patients. That’s why they assumed the pain in his legs was muscle spasms from being immobile for so long.

So the treatment for this spinal irritation is a new medication – very potent – that Bryan needs to take every six hours for a 48 hour cycle. It will cause Bryan to be quite “out of it” and confused – worse than the side effects of morphine. In the meantime, they were trying to switch him off the morphine because they’d like to wean him off his IV. They were giving him pain medication in the form of a tablet earlier today but tonight they finally gave him more morphine because he wasn’t having any relief from the pain. He’s just now finally starting to relax and sleep a little. The nurses said that hopefully by the third dose of this new medication (which will be at midnight tonight), Bryan will start to feel the severe pain subside and then hopefully he won’t need the morphine or the other tablets for the pain. Please pray that this really is the cause of his severe pain, that the new medication will work quickly and that the side effects won't be too harsh.

I was listening to one my favourite songs today and wanted to share the chorus with you here:

And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

It’s hard to remember and it's not always easy to praise and worship God when things aren’t going so well. But this past week, despite the storm, we’ve seen so many signs of God’s presence – some obvious and some more subtle. It’s been amazing and we know that God hasn’t left our side and He’s been right beside Bryan this whole time holding his hand and giving him strength to fight. So let’s remember to “praise Him in the storm”.