bradley.hodges photographer

update

so i’ve been laying in the bed since friday evening. literally. Thought i would clear the air and let everyone know what exactly is going on. On friday i was unloading a shopvac (of all things) out of the car when we got back to Tuscaloosa from bham and when i leaned over i went down with it. After waiting a while we decided that since Tara was at the ER, that we should go and be seen since i was in a lot of pain. Thankfully she was there and i was able to skip the 4 hour wait (i did feel bad for bypassing everyone, but i wasn’t ahead of any trauma patients or anything). So they did an MRI and found that i had a ruptured or herniated, or blown out, disc. whatever you want to call it, in my lower back. They asked if i wanted to be admitted to the hospital and that i could possibly get it operated on the next day. I said no, thinking i could man up and at least be ok through Sunday and take part in my worship duties at church. Turns out that was not happening and i spent the next 3 days in the bed in a lot of pain, but thanks to medication slept most of the time. So monday morning we were able to get an appointment to have a nerve block (essentially an epidural like pregnant women get during labor) to help ease the pain and try and shrink the herniation of the disc. When we got the appointment they told me not to eat or drink anything until after. That was rough because i hadn’t eaten since the evening before, and even then it was 1 sandwich. So between then and when i saw the doctor i almost fainted twice, so that was awesome. The Dr. told me that hopefully this block would last at least until Monday and that it would really help the pain and i should be ok for a while, but it really just pro-longs the inevitable, which is surgery. Now i’ll be the first to say that i don’t want to deal with that non-sense, but we are going to listen to see what the neurologist says next monday when we go and see him.  I must say, i have made it a long time with this problem. They found that this disc was bulging out back in 2003, so i guess i’ve been lucky that i haven’t had more problems with it since then, just your run of the mill “man my back hurts today” kind of thing.  So currently we are praying for healing and wisdom to know what the next decision will be. Obviously we want this taken care of before Emma comes along, and i’ll do whatever i have to do to fix my back so that i can lean over and pick up my little girl whenever i want to in the future and not wonder if my back is going to give way or not. So please join us in praying that things can be fixed and we will know what the right thing to do is. You all know how it is when 20 people tell you 20 different things and everyone thinks their solution is the best one. I love having opinions, but it sure makes it tough sometimes to know what to do next.

I do want to brag on my wife a little. Even though she’s pregnant and not feeling well all the time herself, she’s probably the best nurse i could ask for. She’s a natural care-giver who is going to be the best mom in the world to this little one below

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also, it was a little weird that my sister was the one who gave me the morphine shot in the butt at the ER, but i’m thankful for her being there and getting me in so fast and making me feel a lot better, even if i don’t remember half of what happened after that shot. So i got over the weirdness real fast, when all i wanted was to not hurt anymore.

B.