Stress, Struggles, Trials, and the little joys in between

I was going to post a Facebook status, but then I decided I had too much to talk about, so I'm coming back to blogger with lots of different things going on in our lives right now.
After we moved back to Arizona in 2013, we lived with Jon's grandmother Sonia up until June of this year. We wanted to get back out on our own, even if we were skating by. So thats what we're doing. But somehow, I am still optimistic. Through all of these financial and medical trials, God sure shows us that he is there. Surely many of you know that a couple of years ago, I began to have extreme unexplainable back pain. The pain lessened slightly over time, but came back with a force this year to the point where I was left wondering how no doctor could explain the pain. So about a month ago, I went to see another doctor, and after we played the waiting game (which is a doctors favorite game), I was told I have arthritis in my back. It was a simple straight answer from some lady that called from the doctors office and told me that she would put in a request for a referral to a pain clinic. No further explanations or answers. That just wasn't good enough for me. I was scared out of my dang mind, and don't be fooled, I am still scared, but I wanted answers. My relief society president of our current ward had just been called into that position and it couldn't have been a better time because I found out through talking to her that she has a really bad case of arthritis. She has lived with it most of her life. She gave me comfort, suggestions, and advice. It was a wonderful blessing in my time of stress. So then I set up another appointment with my doctor so I could get some more answers. I finally get in to see her, and asked questions and she finally gave me the referral to the pain clinic. She told me I have a degenerating disc in my lower back.  If you're not sure what that is, basically the cartilage that is between my vertebrae is going away. It can cause severe pain in the back and legs, it can press on your nerves, etc. Anyway, so now after my appointment at the pain clinic, I may be doing another MRI, and I am likely to be starting up physical therapy again.
The other thing I was told is that I have very high cholesterol and so I needed to change my diet, and lose weight. So because of that bit of information and the fact that I do not want to take cholesterol medication, it scared me into doing what's right. The blessing of all this mess is that I have now lost 15 pounds in the past couple of weeks and that is just a downright miracle. I have cut out all the snacking, Cut out a lot of pasta, and fruits and veggies have been my go to. Not to mention, all the exercise I get at work is probably helping. Well anyway I wanted to share a couple of trials and such to update. I may be starting to write in here more, or at least I am going to try!