A thankful heart...for a miraculously healed back

I wondered a strange thing: would I, a young mother, ever again be able to crawl down and get the boys' toys out from under their beds?

That's how bad my back was.

For 2 weeks I was lying flat in bed, a rarity for me and someone suggested getting a picture of it! I was actually under the care of 3 doctors, and one night the pain was so severe that Kenny called our nearby hospital which then sent over a nurse to give me a shot.

After I got better, I asked my chiropractor friend, Dr. Myrtle Baker, what it was. She said that besides a messed up vertebrae problem, I had an inflammation of the sciatic nerve running down my leg.

Time healed some, but I continued having a nagging ache. One day I overheard Dr. Morita (another chiropractor) tell his assistant, "Don't touch her lower back. it's so bad!"

I even had acapuncture. No help. Finally I called our family doctor, Dr. Johnson, and he said so kindly, "Oh come in; there are things we can do." Just that encouraged me.

The night before I went in, I called a Japanese pastor whom I had never met, but who I heard prayed for people. He said he had prayed for people on the phone before, so he went to bat for me.

When I went to the hospital, they took x-rays and I was sent to a young back specialist temporarily here from Long Beach, Ca. He put me in traction, saying he was using double what the hospital usually used. For the first time in weeks I had some relief from pain. The traction machine seemed to gently but firmly pull the muscles away from the hurting nerves. I went back a few more times for more traction treatments, but continued improving, so was soon finished.

Still I'll never forget what that doctor said as he studied my first x-ray: "You'll probably never be witout pain because arthritis has set in."

I'm happy to say that I've been without pain for over 30 years. I give God the credit as He used traction to answer prayer and has kept my back fine all these years!