New hope for Mark

We have good news! The Lord has seen fit to lead us in a new direction involving treatment for Mark's back. We have been hearing about Spinal decompression treatments. We did not pursue this avenue before because it is provided through Chiropractic Clinics. We have insurance that has graciously been provided for us, and we didn't know if it would cover anything but medical stuff. Being in the throws of consultations with medical doctors, Mark felt we should stay on one course and not vary. Through testing, it has finally been diagnosed that he has 4 discs suffering from moderate degeneration. This means they are wearing out and will only get worse as things generally go. At this point, the doctor has recommended a proceedure that only masks pain, at best up to 70%. Mark is supposed to have a consultation this Thursday about that proceedure. He has not had a peace about this during this past two months of waiting for this appointment. Finally, yesterday morning before work he told me to call and see if we could get in to a clinic in Tyler that we know about that provides the spinal decompression treatment. Cass and I prayed that if this is supposed to be a new direction for us God would give us confirmation by allowing us to get such a spur-of-the-moment appointment. We got it and the girl on the line was very positive that they had been able to help lots of people with Mark's condition. Later that day, Mark and I were driving down Judson Road and saw a big sign in front of a newly opened clinic. The name is Spinal Decompression Clinic of Texas. We passed back by later. The doc showed us around and set up an appointment with Mark for Wednesday afternoon. The treatment is done on a computerized machine attached to a table on which the patient lies. It actually pulls and reopens the discs in order for circulation and nutrition to be restored to the tissue between the discs. The treatments go on from 4-6 weeks, about 4 times a week. Each treatment lasts 30 minutes and is suppose to actually be comfortable.

We were so encouraged. We later saw a commercial that flashed up about spinal decompression. Kelly Cavel also e-mailed a phone number she had gotten off a comercial earlier that day. It seems like God is flashing his "this is the way, walk ye in it" sign all over the place.

So, please pray for us this week. We are so grateful for this new hope. We are also grateful to all you friends and family that have prayed us through this so far, not to mention even helped take care of our physical needs. Thanks for the love you have poured out. Most of all thanks to the Lord. He truly carries us.