Pain and Purpose

Last night at this time I was sitting in bed in excruciating pain with an ice pack on my lower back. Tonight I'm sitting in bed amazed at the difference 24 hours and a chiropractic treatment can make. Until today I'd never been to a chiropractor and was somewhat skeptical about the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment. That all changed today. I'm a believer.

My back has been bothering me off and on for the last two weeks. I think I may have tweaked it while running two weeks ago when I slipped slightly on a patch of ice. Somehow I must have aggravated it Saturday. How or when I did it is a mystery to me. All I know is yesterday I woke up with severe lower back pain on one side and as the day wore on I couldn't move without horrible pain. Even bending over to pick up the laundry basket was too painful to bear! Muscle relaxants didn't help.

This morning I was desperate for relief and hoped a chiropractor could help. Thanks to my Facebook friends I received many referrals for practitioners in the area. I chose one and was able to get in late this afternoon. He confirmed what I suspected. I'd tweaked a joint in my lower right back/hip area and had quite a bit of inflammation around it. After less than 20 minutes of treatment I walked out feeling noticeably better. The pain has continued to lessen throughout this evening and I can even bend down to pick things up and go up and down stairs without horrible pain. I'm feeling so much better and hopeful that things will continue to improve tomorrow.

Partying in Park City.                         Photo by Steve Conlin

Life in other areas has remained busy as always. At the end of January I celebrated my 44th birthday with friends in Park City. We went to a Sundance party hosted by local friends who own an Ogden distillery. We were out until 3 a.m.The next morning I remembered I was 44 and far too old for such late nights of drinking and celebrating followed by Del Taco food at 2:30 a.m.! 

Touring ice castles on my birthday with our friends Barrett & Katie.

Last week we celebrated Isaac's 20th birthday. Where does the time go? It seems like we just barely celebrated his 18th birthday! Mike made a delicious dinner of Chicken Fettuccine followed by a Tres Leches birthday cake. 

Isaac's 20th Birthday 

Silent Auction prep

Two nights later we went to the annual Share Your Heart fundraising dinner for the Family Counseling Center of Northern Utah (FCS). I was asked to join their board of trustees around this time last year. It wasn't too long after that they asked me to co-chair the fundraiser. Somehow I always seem to end up helping with fundraisers, especially with organizing silent auctions. Luckily, there was a great committee working with me and my co-chair is a woman I trust, respect and work well with. We've worked together for several years on Junior League fundraisers so I knew she was experienced and capable. 

Despite the stress and late nights the two days before the event I felt (and still do) humbled and grateful to be helping raise funds for something I believe in so passionately. FCS provides low-cost mental health counseling to uninsured people in my community. Their services are desperately needed and their number of clients continues to grow. So many people suffer with depression and other mental health issues because they don't know help is available, or they think they can't afford to get help. 

In the past few years I've learned so much about the lack of affordable mental health services for people and the tremendous need for such services. Helping to educate the public about and support low-cost mental health services is as important to me as suicide prevention education. The two go hand-in-hand. So many suicides could be prevented if more people had access to affordable mental health services. Helping facilitate and support this in whatever way I can is something very, very personal to me. As tedious as the tasks involved with organizing a fundraiser are, I'm happy to know the money we raised will be used to help people who may not otherwise be helped. I'll be forever grateful to my friend (and fundraiser co-chair) for recognizing that this was a cause I would be committed to, and recommending me for a place on the FCS board.