Went to the doctor last Wednesday as a follow-up for an urgent care visit a month ago about my neck. The initial diagnosis was a muscle strain. Was given a treatment protocol and told to see my regular physician if it didn’t improve. Well, it did improve somewhat (the muscle strain seemed to lessen), but I was still having some discomfort.
As I talked with my doctor, she said I had probably strained something, slept wrong, etc., but she’d do a baseline x-ray so that if I ever did need an MRI, insurance would be more likely to cover it. We discussed some other issues and then she sent me down the hall for the x-ray.
I wasn’t back in the exam room for very long when she came in wide-eyed and with half a smile. Her first words were, “how are you even holding up your head?!”
Apparently, I have severely degenerative discs in my neck, and even have bone fragments that have broken off and are irritating the surrounding muscles. She said, “I’ve never seen anything like this!” Well that made me feel good.
I left the doctor’s office with that diagnosis and a second possible one called polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) – neither of which I expected.
Life does throw you a curve on occasion. At the same time, I left that office the same way I went in, a child of God greatly loved by my Father. None of this took God by surprise. He’s not up in the heavenlies wiping His brow saying, “Boy, I didn’t see that coming!” or wondering “now what am I going to do?”
This diagnosis did not change even one iota of the truth found in Ps 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Thank you Father.
