prayer-request-please-optimized

Dear CSNet friends and brethren, I am not feeling very well at the moment. In fact, I have been in a lot of pain for a number of days now, and I could really use your prayers. I have had a few things go wrong in a physical sense over the past week or so. Let me explain. First is the fact that while trying to do my push-ups one day, Eljio -- my cat -- decided to lay his rump on the floor, right where I lower my chest. So there I was trying to avoid him, and I must have twisted my neck the wrong way, thus ending up with a kink in my neck on the left side. I am slowly recovering from it, but I still can’t turn my head to the left without my neck hurting. As if that is not enough, the other day I hurt one of my ab muscles in my stomach area. I was doing my chin-ups, and I don’t know if I just strained one of the muscles, or pulled it, or actually tore it or what, but it has been very painful. For example, just sitting here reclined a little bit in my desk chair, it hurts a little. When I get up from my desk chair, or any other chair, it hurts a little more. I can’t let Polo or Eljio -- my two cats -- place their paws in that area when they want to lay on my tummy, because that hurts even more. It also affects my ability to sleep comfortably, which is already hard due to the kink in my neck. I have to get in just the right position so that both my neck and ab muscle aren’t bothering me too much. In fact, just moving around in bed, and getting in and out of bed, is painful in itself. Trying to put on my sandals and close the latches is a real trial. I have to raise up each foot one at a time and prop it up on a few clothes bins I have here, so that I can even do it. Even still, just doing that stretches those ab muscles a bit and it hurts quite a bit. In fact, lately, I have given up on closing the latches, and just leave them open. Trying to go down to the floor in order to pick up the cat food bowl is also painful. The same with getting up and down while using the toilet. But even worse is when I cough. Even if I apply a little pressure to the ab muscle with my hand when I cough, it STILL really hurts! To top it all off, I was out of a few food items. So, a few days ago I walked to the store, being as the weekend is coming up, and I don't like to food shop on weekends, because there are more people in the store. So there I am walking back from the store, loaded down with heavy milk and a few other items. I was holding the shopping bags in my right hand in such a way so that the heavy bags wouldn't bang against my right leg and bruise me, being as I am on Warfarin -- an anticoagulant, or blood thinner. People on Warfarin bruise more easily. The bags in my left hand were a little lighter. Anyway, I must have twisted my muscles in my right arm more than I realized, and put too much strain on the muscles, because just like my ab muscles, my right upper arm -- particularly around my armpit -- has been very tender, swollen and in some serious pain for the past few days. The pain extends all the way down to my elbow and forearm, as well as the right side of my back. So, between my ab muscles, the kink in my neck, my right arm, and the right side of my back, I have been pretty messed up lately and in some considerable pain. As I said, I can barely sit at my computer desk to do ministry work for an hour before I feel so bad, I have to crawl back into bed. In fact, for the first time in years, I have been taking 1000 mg of Tylenol every twelve hours or so to alleviate some of the pain. Normally, I do not take medications for anything, other than my Warfarin and Levothyroxine. But this constant pain has been pretty intense, so I finally broke precedent and started taking the Tylenol, which is already five years old! Anyway, I am not dying, but I have been in a lot of pain. So again, my dear friends, your prayers would be most appreciated. Hopefully, I will be fine in another week or so. We'll see. God bless you, and thanks so much!