Recovery from Serious Illness: Lyme, CIRS, & More – Page 46

This not that

Published on March 8, 2017March 8, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Take a pill but this one no not that one!

Pump some iron but not too much, faster no slow down!

Swing your arms but don’t walk longer, do lunges along the way.

Eat organic and non-GMO but not if it’s locally framed or in the backyard.

Hugs not drugs but in the Emergency Room give me that good IV stuff Maynard.

Go naturale but smoky eyes and bright-colored hair will make him notice even more.

Save for tomorrow but live all you can right now because you just never know . . .

And such are the paradoxes of our time without truth to guide even the mundane stuff of life.

I think I need to read fewer magazines and open the Word more.

Know what I mean?

A Tender Place

Published on March 6, 2017March 6, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Hellebores, hybrid, tender, lenten rose, blog, poetry, prose, Winter, early Spring

So if the Lenten rose can bloom amidst the snow

Yet if I not carry forth my joy past the continuing rain

Does that make me a bad person, my beloved, my dear?

He told his tale with passion once and again and again

Yet I have not seen the same victory these many years

Does that make me ungrateful before my Savior, my King?

To celebrate this one’s renewed life, ’twas hard-won indeed

Doth makes me part of this man’s humanity in Christ

Yes, takes little, no none from my own pool of goodness . . .

And yet I cried and pushed myself away, away for a time

Lest my tears steal more than the punch line to come,

Dost my ingrace keep me from moving forward one day?

Aye this is a tender place whereat I have landed

Not bad, non-indifferent, full of meaning that I like

Where life meets the road upon which it travels and perceives.

My Lord knows this woe: He cried for the sorrows we do endure

Then gave the breath from His very lips so that we may live,

Be free of it all at last, the strife, every bit, you and I both.

For we two understand what it means to face death

To fear the life places that would ignite some others to thrive

But it took a tragedy beyond belief to get us moving right.

We may have wrestled then let go as our Redeemer carried us along

Finding one day that peace hath returned: covering the tenderness

Becoming the places that defined us whilst ending the story done well.

[My hope is that I am in one of them right now, Gentle Reader.] JJ

Progress not Perfection

Published on February 27, 2017February 27, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

All it took was one hard drug (the prescription variety) and suddenly I can function a few more hours each day. PRAISE THE LORD!

First up: finish cleaning the house to keep the risk for exposures down. Dust/mold/smells can trigger significant sickness if I don’t so gratefully I got it done today.

Second: keep up with scheduled treatments and keep trying to add in items that are recommended for me.

Third: organize medications, oils, supplements, and medical supplies that have spilled over to various locations in our home. Prepare items to donate that are no longer needed.

Fourth: begin the next filing projects needed to gather our tax records.

Fifth: prepare tax records for filing with our accountant.

For the first time in a very long time, I am making progress a “To Do” list. Lord willing tomorrow I will dig into number four. Dang this feels good!

God created our world with a masterful order, hierarchy, time table, and purpose all to bring Him glory. He knows and sees and orchestrates and cares for every minute detail of life as we know it. We get to see His handiwork: look closely and you will find it as nature wakes up again this Spring. We get to participate in the majesty of life as His children whom He dearly loves. While we will never duplicate the perfect order of the stuff and events of our lives, perfection is not our calling (it’s His!). So the stuff stacked neatly on our microwave instead of the kitchen counter is just alright with me. Perhaps we would agree that our lives do simply work better when things are cleaner and neater?

Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26

Perhaps then I will submit my wittle accomplishments today to the Lord as alms of worship and thanksgiving for the gains He has granted in my health. I am making progress in a perfect path created by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that is all it took to make some sense of my world on a Sunday.

Let’s add a little encouragement, a little promise also from Isaiah 40 for those who are weary this night:

³¹but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Isn’t that just wonderful Gentle Reader? JJ

The Awakening

Published on February 26, 2017February 27, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

No plant reacts instantly to a brief change in conditions. But a change that persists is an invitation to wake up. (From the Dirt Simple blog.)

Lately I am finding myself in a place in my world that brings me to a humbling yet screeching halt. I ask: what has happened to the me I once knew and where the heck did I land? The Lord knows the journey that has transpired; the witnesses have varying accounts of this or that as well. But it is the markers in time, the events out of the ordinary that bring the changes to light, that clarify what is actually seen. Let’s see if I can explain a bit more about what is going on over here as one of those episodes hit me hard . . .

Three days ago the daily seizure attacks that I have suffered for 5 years ramped up to over SIX HOURS PER DAY. One day these were all in a row, virtually without ceasing until the wee hours of the morning. The next day I got a divided dose of 3 1/2 hours in the morning then an encore of SIX MORE HOURS in the evening! I cannot even describe to you the mental and physical anguish this brings. Time stops. A single breath, one then the next, is the only measure in my mind of the clock of life ticking forward. Difficult decisions got made between my beloved and I resulting in his cancelled trip getting replaced with the sights and sounds of another hospital emergency room. The drug they gave me helped. Miraculously, the convulsive spikes are but a blip here and there for now.

I have had over a day now to contemplate what life might be like to be normal again. Indeed the pain has gone down some, the brain fog got less misty, and my ability to move improved. So I completed a small garden project yesterday and walked our dog this evening. I think that the ER Doctors who have told me that this illness isn’t biological are dead wrong. Stop the seizing and I don’t need a psychiatrist to tell me to get back into life. I don’t need convincing. It just happens!

There is much to figure out right now. Will I get to work on more treatment like taking down viral infections? How long will I stay on the new medication that could hurt me if it was too long? What will I really do with my life should this process of healing continue? I am hopeful again and that is good. Alas it is poetic that these changes should occur as the earth warms from the cold of Winter outside. Unlike the plants that are either remaining dormant out there or are testing their new growth with some surges in our Spring-like weather lately, I will wait to wake up all the way. In the meantime maybe I can do some good with this wee bit o’ energy. After all, there is no rushing a beautiful awakening to a new life.

Five years is a long time to have been asleep.

I bought a new truck like my Dad’s just 5 days before a kayaking trip changed my life forever. I got sick from the water. I don’t know why I told you that. It’s been a long detour. Now things are changing wildly. Maybe the new beginning will need to involve a little road trip in my sweet ride? To the nursery just out of town of course. They sell bags of shredded pine bark compost that should fortify our garden vegetable beds nicely.

See what I mean? It’s already happening . . .