And then, and then, and then, and then, and theeeeennnnnnnnnnn

I hope y’all get my title reference. I normally do not like stupid humor, I have more of a dad joke sense of humor, but for some reason I find the movie "Dude, Where's My Car?" stupidly hilarious and find myself quoting it all the time. I don't know what's wrong with me, lol, probably a lot! At any rate, seems like I get the bug to write once every two years or so. For some reason, my last blog post was never published so I just published it today, and it kind of made me sad to re-read it. And well, in two years, a lot has happened again. Things change and things remain the same. Let's play catch up one more time shall we... As I finished the last post, we were in Colstrip Montana. We left there at the end of June. I got home and had a few days with my dad before he passed away July 7th 2022. Two days later I turned 50. Ok, let me give you a brief rundown of the past two years. Eventually in Colstrip the weather did turn nice, I was taking our dogs, because we adopted two dogs during this time frame as well, but I had been out walking the dogs, up and down hills in Montana. I woke up one morning with pain in my lower back. I just figured it was sciatica, this has happened before, a few days’ rest, and I will be fine... NO. I came home, back still hurting, my dad died, I turned 50, and July 21, I was hospitalized with pancreatitis. Y’all, let me be real clear, I DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL!!! This is something that excessive drinkers tend to get. They tested everything and could not figure out why I had gotten this. Well, I was there for two days, until the pain came down and I could attempt to eat again without pain. So, ok, that was that. But I still had pain in my back that was not going away. Fast forward to December, I woke up one morning with a crick in my neck, or so I thought. As the day went on, it just kept getting worse and worse, and manifested in my left shoulder blade. It was beyond painful. So, I thought, well it's a pinched nerve, it will be ok. Not so much. I tried everything, EVERYTHING! I saw so many Chiropractors and massage therapists no one could make any improvement in my pain. At one point I was trying decompression therapy and that created a fresh new hell that I have since dealt with and no one can fix (but GOD). We were in North Dakota and I decided to try acupuncture, FINALLY!!!!! Finally, something worked! My shoulder was no longer in pain. I decided to have her try to fix the pain in my lower back...IT GOT WORSE!!! I don't know how, but it got worse and more than that, I started having spasms in my legs and could barely walk. I finally got back home to Colorado, to my Dr. who sent me for so many tests, including Lyme disease as there had been ticks in Montana. And I think I had at least 7 MRIs to rule out MS. So, what they found is that my spinal cord in my neck was so pinched up, they were surprised that I was not paralyzed. The insurance keeps asking what happened, because surly, I must have been in an accident. I keep telling them, I literally just woke up with a pinch in my neck one morning! I turned 50 and my body rebelled, I don't know what else to say. So February 2024, I had spinal surgery to decompress my spinal cord and replace two disc's and fuse three vertebrae and guess what.....my lower back STILL hurts!!! They told me it could take up to two years for the nerve damage to repair, after that, it is what it is. Well, it's December 2024 and I am slowly, VERY slowly, seeing some improvements. I am slowly being able to walk short distances, albeit painful and leaving me out of breath, but I'll take it. I'm still traveling with my husband. We have been to so many places over the past two years, both very good and not so good. We are currently in Moriarty, New Mexico but I'll save that for another day. Hopefully in the near future and not two years from now...No guarantees though! Jennifer