A Day of Celebration!!!!

Today my friends was the day that I got to take all my leftover pain meds, muscle relaxers, and stuff that doctors tried to fix me with back to the pharmacy to be disposed of. And in true, drama queen fashion I chronicled it with a picture because I'm all for commemoration of a BLESSING FROM THE LORD!

(Pic of the BIG celebration today at Target Pharmacy with friends Marci- who lovingly helped fill all my pain meds with a smile, Lily who gave me my popcorn combos everytime with a smile, Trish who also helped with my meds with her smile, and Anthony who always helped me get from my crutches to the wheelchairs with his smile. Bye bye pain meds!)

This is a the kind of post that my fingers can't type as fast I as want them to because my joy is pouring out!

Quick Backstory that friends can pass over for time's sake:
You know I have that freaky-deaky "unspecified" connective tissue disorder that affects my eyes and my body glue right? I'm a proud member of the 10 eye surgeries club and I could not walk for 7 months due to some unexplained swelling in the bone marrow of my hip bone- the femoral neck to be exact. I had pain beginning a looong time ago that got so excruciating it left me in crutches, wheelchairs, bed-ridden, and one time at Mayo Clinic (that's where I got the "unspecified" diagnosis). And tomorrow, July 27th, marks one year from the doc appt where they told John and I that I had a stress fracture in the femoral neck of my hip, which turned out not to be the case.
Fast Forward to the Present:
I no longer am in pain. In February the pain had eased up a great deal, and I started to walk short distances. I started to drive again. And it got better and better. And just this month, a year from when I completely stopped walking, I have felt no pain. Not even when I bend down. I wake up and have to switch gears from anticipating pain to thinking I can just walk out of bed and not hurt. It's more than amazing. I was used to pain before with all the eye surgeries too, so now I basically have a pain free life. Thank you Jesus! So I decided it was time to let go of all the medicines that I had been storing just in case it would come back. The best medicine was the unconditional love I got from all my friends, daughter and husband.

It occured to me that instead of throwing out the drugs you no longer use, you are actually supposed to have them disposed of by your pharmacy that originally dispensed them. Then God gave me the great idea to make a big deal out of this blessing and have all the sweet people that loved on me at Target (intentionally and unintentionally) in on it! Hence, the celebration today. It was so great going to their various posts and collecting them for the picture. I would start out with, "Remember how I used to be in a wheelchair and you helped me ___________________. Well, can you come take a picture with me in the pharmacy? I'm giving back all the meds I no longer need because God healed my body." Here were the answers I got:
"PRAISE GOD!"
"Well, maybe she (other person in concessions) could go with you instead of me." To which I said, "No I want you to be in the picture, you always helped me with my popcorn combos and you are my friend. My name is Gillian by the way!"
"It's a big deal!"
I'm telling you guys that the picture only shows five, but there were LOTS more that didn't work out (I did a no-no in throwing them in the trash) and ones that I took multiple ones of. And let me just say, they were not pain meds they were muscle relaxers. Thankfully, I'm not dealing with an addiction from pain meds because pain killers NEVER WORKED since it was a muscular deal.

So that's the story for today. I think this was a good one. And if you are interested in the flat out phenomenal lesson that I believe God wanted me to learn from the pain then please check out this post.
And if you prayed for us through this trial, please join me in praising Him for your answered prayer! You are a part of this celebration too! We are victorious through Jesus Christ our Healer!