Page Break

Hi Readers,
I need to apologize for not being on for the last week. I had a week from hell. First I woke up blind. I have an eye disease that could make me blind one day, however, I was thrilled to find out that it was not the disease and all is good now. Then I got a call from the emergency room about my EX husband...that was a mess. Well, he died so I had to help the kids deal with that. Then my leg went out..which is still an issue but I see a new doctor on the first. So...yeah things were hectic around here. But I am back now and once I get caught up on everything I will be writing again. I am going to change this from a page a day to a page a week, just until I know things have calmed down around here. I have missed writing and I have missed reading all of your comments. However, let's pray that my life goes back to being dull so I can get on here and get to writing. I thank you all for your patience and for being here with me. ((((((Huggz)))))) to you all!!!!!!!
Your writer and friend,
Dani

Page 4

"Well Lola, any time you would like to bring Dani in I am sure we can work on that very thing together. Oh my, look at the time. We have a few minutes left so is there anything else you would like to share with me today?" Dr. Litch asked her.
"Just one thing, is it possible to come back and talk to you? Not that the woman I see isn't good at what she does, I just feel more comfortable talking with you." Lola asked.
"Sure. We can go let my secretary Sue know to set up an appointment. How often were you seeing Amy?
"Every two weeks."
"Did you feel like that was enough time for you?"
"No, I wanted to come in once a week but she didn't have the time slots open for that." Lola told him.
"Would you like to set up appointments for the next four weeks? If you find you were okay with every other week we can always go back to that." The doctor offered.
"That would be great."
After getting her appointment cards Lola decided it was time to go home and take a pain pill and lay on a heat pack.
Once Lola got home she did just what she was thinking of. She took a pain pill and put her heat pack in the microwave. "Man, this is the best gift I ever received." she thought to herself. For Christmas one year her sister gave her this heat pack she made. It was a kitchen towel sewed up and filled with rice. All she had to do was put it in the microwave for a minute and a half and she had a heat pack with a very gentle massage as the rice moved as she settled into it. The microwave timer went off so she grabbed the heated rice bag and went and laid down. "What a gorgeous, caring, soft spoken man." she thought. "I wonder if there is a Mrs. Dr. Litch". Since she couldn't sleep she called her best friend.
"Carrie, can you come over? I need to talk to you." she started with.
"What's up? Are you okay?" Carrie asked.
"Yes, it's about a man." Lola replied.
"Well why didn't you say so. I'll be right over.
Before the coffee Lola started to brew was even done there was Carrie pulling into the driveway.
"Damn girl what did you do speed to get here?" Lola asked
"Well you did mention the man word ya know." Carrie chuckled. She considered herself a pro at knowing if a man was right for her friends. It was her own men she could never pick right.
The best friends went off to the great room carrying their coffee with them.
"So what's his name? What does he do? How did you meet him?" Carrie rattled off in one breath.
"His name is Ken. He's a councler I had to see today because my councler had to leave due to an emergency. Don't get too excited tho. It's not like I will ever go out with this guy."
"How do you know?"
"Because I am his patient. He probably looks at me as another nut job." Lola said
"Your his patient? I thought you already had a councler?" Carrie was confused
"I do. Well I did. I asked Ken if I could start seeing him instead. He is so easy to talk to. And he doesn't look at me as someone that is just too lazy to work and looking for an easy way out." Lola explained
"You are already calling him by his first name?" Carrie was surprised.
"He told me to. Anyway the reason I wanted to talk to you is I need to know how to NOT look at him as a potential date. How do I do that? He's gorgeous and so carrying." Lola asked
"Why not look at him as possible dating material. You obviously like the man." Carrie told her.
The best friends talked for hours about Dr. Ken Litch. Unfortunately Lola could not get Carrie to see that she could never be more to this man then one of his nut job patients.
After spending the day together Carrie decided that she may as well spend the night. She wasn't done trying to convince her friend that she could date this Dr. Hotty as she started referring to him as.
"Remember, not a word to the kids. They still don't know that I am seeing a councler." Lola reminded her overnight guest. "Oh and to give you fair warning DaniMarie has a huge attitude problem lately." she added.
"Why? What happened?" Carrie asked
"I honestly do not know. She won't talk to me. I ask a question and I get a snotty answer. I make a statement or suggestion and all I hear is 'whatever'".
"Maybe she will talk to me." Carrie suggested
"Good luck. I hope you can drag it out of her. She was fine until a few weeks ago. Well, I better decide what to make for dinner." Lola stated.
"How about we put some brat burgers on the grill?" Carrie suggested.
"Good idea. I will need to go get some buns and something to go with the burgers."
"Decide what you want and I will stop at the store on my way home to get my overnight bag." Lola offered.
"You sure you don't mind?"
"Lola, I am going right past there so it's no problem." Carrie reassured her friend. "In fact, here come the kids. I will see if I can get Dani to take a drive with me."

This is a fill in page for my readers

To My Readers: First, thank you so much for your comments. I can not tell you how much they motivate me to keep writing this story. Second, if this page throws everything off as far as reading the book let me know, I will delete it. I just wanted to make sure you all know that I appreciate you taking time out of your days to read along as I write this. I know there are several people that are in Lola's postition as well as I know there are several teens in Dani's position so I do hope this helps. Chronic pain, I feel, is one of the hardest things for people to understand. If you do not suffer with it, it's very hard to understand it. I do hope my book helps with that as well as to help those of us with chronic pain understand what the people surrounding us are going through. Just as an eating disorder or drinking problem affects the whole family so does chronic pain. At least this is my belief. So read on and if you have any questions please feel free to email them to me. My email is: just4scs@yahoo.com
Thank you again!!! I appreciate each and every one of you!!!!

Page 3

"Do you mean what was my career? Or are you asking what I was doing when the injury happened?
"Both." the curious doctor answered
"Well I was/am however you say it now a legal advocate for domestic abuse victims. However, the day I got hurt I was cleaning out an empty office for my new assistant. I lifted a banker's box full of files and boom I was hurt."
"Oh wow, some of those boxes can get pretty heavy." Ken sounded surprised.
"Yep, it was very heavy. I asked my boss if I could get help but she said she wasn't paying two people to do one person's job." Lola explained.
"That must have been very hard to think about after your surgery." Dr. Litch was trying to dig more out of Lola.
"Dr. Litch, I am still very angry at my boss. If she would have let me have the help I wouldn't be here now talking to you."
"Lola, I usually do not share my private life with patients, however, I do feel that you may benefit from this. My mother became disabled due to a back injury. She still suffers as you do, however, she leads a very fulfilling life. She found a hobby that she could do at her own pace and now sells her homemade blankets online and at craft fairs. It took her ten years to figure it all out. Now I'm not saying that is what you should do. All I am saying is hang in there things will get better. Life I mean." the doctor shared.
"I'm glad you told me about your mother. But is she on workman's comp? Because that's a whole nother issue I am dealing with."
"No, I don't believe she was. Tell me about workman's comp."
"Don't get me wrong" Lola started with "I'm grateful I am seeing some money coming in. However, I can't even try new things because if they are watching and taking pictures they will say I'm not hurt. They don't have to be around to see the outcome." she paused "I mean, let's say I wanted to just try to cut my own grass using a riding mower. Let's say they get pictures. Then in the middle of mowing I find that it is just to bumpy and my back can't handle it so I stop. Then I go in the house and lay down on a heat pack. They can take me to court and show those pictures or videos and boom I just lost my workman's comp. The part about me having to stop and go lay down is my word against theirs. In fact, my lawyer told me to even be careful inside my house because they can take pictures through the windows. How is that even legal?" Lola finished.
"I see how you can be upset by that. You're right, it hardly seems fair. Is mowing the grass something you would like to do?"
"I was just using that as an example. I already know it's too bumpy. My family has all made that loud and clear. But it would be so nice not to have to rely on other people in order for it to get done." Lola told him.
"I see. Do you have to rely on other people for a lot of things?" he asked
"More than I want to. I was always an independent person and now I'm not." Lola started tearing up as she said the last sentence "I guess more than anything I really wish my daughter would try to be more understanding. Then maybe she would be willing to help out more." She finished saying.

Page 2

The next morning Seth was up and ready for the school bus. His sister, however, running late as usual.
"DaniMarie, get a move on or you are going to miss the bus." Lola yelled.
"You know we wouldn't be late if we didn't take the bus." Dani stated as she came walking down the stairs.
"No Dani, you wouldn't be late if you would pick out your outfit the night before." her mom reminded her.
"Why do we have to take a bus anyways? It's not like you have a life. Why can't you take us?" Dani's shoddy attitude was back.
"Dani, you know there are days I am in so much pain I can't even get out of bed." her mother explained.
"Whatever!" the teen said as she went out the door to catch the bus.
"I understand mom. I hope you have a good day." Seth comforted his mom. He gave her a kiss and he too went outside to wait for the bus.
Today Lola has an appointment with her counselor. Ever since her injury she has fought off depression. She found the best way to do this is by talking. Since she doesn't want to sound like she is complaining all the time she chose to talk to a professional instead of her friends.
From the day she got out of the hospital her best friend, Carrie, has been there for her. However, Lola felt Carrie had heard enough about it so she wanted to give her a break.
When she arrived at the counselor's office the secretary told her that the person she normally sees just received an emergency phone call and had to leave for the day.
"However, Dr. Litch is willing to see you. He is a very good counselor and I think you would like him." the secretary offered.
"Okay. I may as well since I am here." Lola agreed
He was maybe a few years older than Lola. He had salt & pepper hair with a beard and mustache.
"Hi Lola. I am Dr. Litch. How are you today?" He said as they walked into his office. "Fine." Lola answered.
"I will be honest with you. Without having the chance to read your chart I don't know a whole much about you. So please why don't you share with me why you started seeing a counselor to begin with." the handsome doctor said
"Okay. Well... Six years ago I was injured at work and I ended up having back surgery because of it. That surgery left me paralyzed for six months. I then had another surgery and tho it took me awhile I started walking again. However, I have to deal with chronic pain ever since. Because of this I am unable to work. I could feel depression setting in so I figured I better talk with someone." Lola explained.
"Oh my, that had to be very scary for you. Do you have help at home?" Dr. Ken Litch asked
"I have a ten year old son, Seth, who worries about his mom more that any ten year old should ever have to. And I have a sixteen year old girl, DaniMarie, who is very angry at me. According to her I have no life and I'm selfish." she answered.
"Have you ever brought your children into a session?"
"No, I would rather them not know I'm seeing a counselor."
"May I ask why?"
"Seth already worries enough about me and DaniMarie would just say "what ever." That is her reply to everything." Lola explained
"Lola, if it helps; that seems to be the word teens use the most these days. So what type of work were you doing?" Ken said as he tried to make her feel a little better.

Page 1

"We have thirty minutes to kill while your brother is at his guitar lesson, what do you wanna do? Lola asked her sixteen year old daughter.
"Go home!" the teen snapped.
"DaniMarie, I don't know why all of a sudden you are sportin such a shoddy attitude; it doesn't make sense for us to go home. By the time we get there we would have to turn around in the driveway and come back and pick up Seth." Lola explained
"Sport this" Dani said under her breath.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?"
"Nothin"
"That's what I thought. There is a second hand store down the street do you want to go and check it out?" Lola asked.
"Fine, whatever." The teen agreed
As they walked to the store Lola couldn't help but to wonder why her sweet child had grown horns over night. Once inside they went their own ways.
"Mom, check it out, I found an album" Lola heard her daughter call out. Walking away from some old clocks she had her eye on Lola walked over to where Dani was. "Oh sweetie" mom chuckled "this isn't an album it is a 45." she explained. "What's the difference" the now curious teen asked. Lola reached up and pulled an album off the shelf, "This is an album" she told her. Lola then found an old record player and showed her daughter how everything worked.
"Wow, pretty cool" Dani stated. She then saw something that was peeking out from behind the record players. It was shiny and sparked her interest. She reached in and carefully pulled out the beautiful eye catching item. It was a box, a wooden box. It was stained very dark almost like a cherry oak and it had one large gem in the center of golden swirls that were covered in glitter.
"Mom can I get this?" Dani asked.
"What is it?"
"A cool looking box that I can keep my earrings in."
"How much is it?"
"I don't know there isn't a price on it." Dani explained.
Both women walked over to the counter where a little old man was sitting working on what appeared to be an old radio.
"Excuse me sir, could you tell me how much you want for this? There isn't a price on it." Lola inquired.
"Oh boy, that is a very good question. I'm here just filling in for my sister while she went on vacation." the old man started to explain. "Do you feel it's fair of me to ask seven dollars?" he finished saying.
"Sure that sounds fair." Lola reached in her pocketbook and paid the man.
After leaving the second hand store Dani asked her mother if they had enough time to do something else. However, they had used up most of the thirty minutes they had to kill leaving enough time to walk back to the music store to pick up Seth.
"If you'd like, you can come with when I drop Seth off at next week's appointment and we can 'hang out' then." her mother told her.
"Whatever." Dani stated.
On the way home Seth popped up with a question. "Are we still going to the water park on Saturday?"
"Sweetie, you know we have to take each day as it comes. If my pain level is low, yes, we will still go. If not, then we will have to try another day.
"Fair enough." the ten year old agreed.
"Fair, how is that fair? If she's hurting we have to suffer? That's not fair." Dani said loudly.
"It's not her fault she gets bad days." Seth protected his mother.
"It's not our fault either." Dani told him.
"Kids, let's talk about this tomorrow. We have had a long day I want to get ready for bed." Lola told both kids.