Jesus is for the Wounded

Treatment Update and New Learning

Published on March 10, 2017March 11, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

So they say that the brain is relatively “plastic” meaning that new associations can form within it over time, over the synapses between cells, even structures. This can make a critical difference in the long term outcome of traumatic brain injury, seizures, stroke, toxicity, and disease processes affecting our central nervous system. Thank goodness. I might just make it out of this neurological illness with something good?

New associations can form in the brain via various mechanisms: learning a new skill, subject of study, or behavior (such as breaking a habit and replacing it with another). Utilizing memory can draw together old and new centers of the brain where information is stored. Sensory stimulation from the five senses and movement also have an impact as each stimulates different centers in brain stem and cerebral cortex. Movement increases blood flow to virtually all of the tissues of the body including the brain. I understand that all of these activities but new learning in particular, can help slow down the onset of age-related dementia. Never stop learning folks . . .

My own ability to learn new skills appears to be improving. I have volunteered to help a friend finish her website and continue to be the Assistant Editor of the quarterly Canoe News magazine of the United States Canoe Association. Both require learning how to use software programs I had only heard of in the past; never used them in my occupational therapy career. Cool beans. Thank you Lord for these projects and my ability to tackle them! When faced with a problem to solve, my attitude of late has been more of, “I’ll figure it out,” than anything else. I like it!

And in general, the seizure attack episodes that I have suffered daily for 5 years are trending downward again. Thank you Lord again! My Doctors have transitioned my care from anti-bacterial (Lyme) to anti-viral medications and supplements. We are re-testing several areas this month as well. The biggest help overall appears to be the addition of 100% THC-free hemp oil. This is a special kind of CBD oil made from industrial hemp NOT medical marijuana. All of the cannabinoids except CBD are removed; not even the legal limit of .3% THC remains that is present in other CBD oil products. (I wrote more about this here.) It’s the only independently lab tested product of its kind that I could find in the United States. Note that the CBD oil I am taking is LEGAL in all 50 States! I know. I have been researching this issue for 4 years and have tried other CBD products available in my State.

My activity level has gone up some with pain coming down enough such that I can: work on the 2 projects noted above, walk the dog 3 times per week, and leave the house for one non-medical activity per week. So far, that is. Looks like I might have had 2 outings in the past 6 days of this past week already! I have started to be able to do my physical therapy exercises. Thank you Jesus! And when I got sidelined last night with noxious symptoms in the middle of the night, at least I had strategies to get me through a rough headache and morning today. I’ve got tools to use now that actually help my symptoms. This is a big deal to me.

Lord willing, Monday will bring an important imaging test in a large city about 3 1/2 hours from home by car. My beloved hubby is taking me. The test is a special MRI scan called an “MRI with NeuroQuant processing.” The NeuroQuant software takes volumetric measurements of various brain structures and compares them to a normal brain. Experts have identified parameters of significance in both the Lyme and Mold illness that provide diagnostic information and help in determining the severity of these respective illnesses. This test is also used in traumatic brain injury, stroke, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis care and more. I am pursuing it due to headaches virtually every day in addition to the remaining convulsive episodes. Several EEG and sleep studies have shown no negative findings. My regular brain MRI a couple of years ago was normal. Maybe the NeuroQuant will help rule out other causative factors?

So did ya learn anything new today Gentle Reader? I sure did. I learned that there still is a someone-or-two who cares about me and what I have to say. Thank you for that dear one.

You rock! JJ

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 . . .