Did you say “Wait PATIENTLY?”
Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.Wait patiently for the Lord.
Psalm 27:13-14
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
Wait. Again, wait.
I’ve heard it so many times over those first four years. And it never has become easier to hear. We all want everything now. But God kept telling me to wait.
Getting a diagnosis is a long process. There were 6 weeks of waiting while my primary care doctor tried different medications to ease my pain. There were blood labs to wait for. Finally, he decided to send me to a specialist.
At first you think. “Good. Now we will get to the bottom of this.”
But then there is more waiting.
Wait to schedule an appointment.
to see the doctor.
to get more blood work results.
Wait to see the doctor again.
And then you hear the words, “I’m baffled. We need a second opinion.” This time we were referred to Mayo Clinic. The doctor said to wait for their call to schedule an appointment. This was a month-long wait.
And finally, we get the call.
“We will put you on the waiting list.”
“OK. How long will that be?”
“Up to six months.”
My heart sunk.
How could I keep waiting that long?
was on high dosages of steroids, just to be able to make it through the days. How could I do this for six months? That was just before Christmas. Fortunately, we received a call after Christmas that an appointment opened up at the end of January. Of course, we accepted the appointment and waited again for the next few weeks.
By this point, we were ready for any kind of diagnosis. It is so frustrating to wait with no idea what is going on. We were tempted to say,
“Tell us anything, even bad news, so that we can deal with it.”
Just as we expected, the first visit was only preliminary. We met with one doctor and, of course, the phlebotomist …. They took 16 vials of blood! And then we waited.
First Diagnosis
We waited to be scheduled with 5 different specialists and more testing… four more months. At the end of that week of appointments, I received the diagnosis of Central Sensitivity Syndrome (CSS) with indications of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain Syndrome, and Myofacial Pain Syndrome. In other words, I have a lot of pain.
While we had hoped for more help than that, it was a start down the road to managing my pain. The doctor prescribed the first medication that would help me better deal with pain, Savella. And it connected us with an excellent rheumatologist and later Mayo Clinic Pain Center. Across these 9 1/2 years, these have been a Godsend.
What’s the Point?
Finally, my point today… good answers seldom come quickly, through all my life, I have heard the instruction to “wait” … from God …. my parents …. From school teachers.
Did you ever notice that we never seem to be able to hear it once and then just sit down and wait. We are like little children, we sit down for two minutes and then we are up asking, “Is it time yet?” Sadly, I don’t really have a word for the wise today.
I’m just here joining the choir of those who are telling you ….
“Wait, Wait patiently on Jesus”
Have you missed any of my posts on this Journey with Pain?
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
