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Thursday, February 4, 2010

A critical step to healing



1:38 p.m. Today's project was to take Steve to our long time doctor and friend, Richard Guzman, to address the breathing problems Steve has experienced for many years.

Steve was actually scheduled for sinus surgery almost 10 years ago, but just before the operation, he cracked his wrist at work! We all agreed, "You're not going to have a cast and a messed up nose at the same time!" So the very bad and noisy breathing, gasping and choking episodes that disrupt our sleep have continued. It has just been a busy decade; dedicated to the Lord, but busy nevertheless with our large family, career and ministry responsibilities.

Now that I have been enabled by the Lord to stay home with Steve, he has made blessed improvements in his cognition and memory, as well as his physical health and mood. Holly, Dr. Guzman's nurse, remarked at the new sparkle in his eyes and his confident manner. God has truly been glorified in making our life choices not just possible, but astoundingly successful! "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven," Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, so the timing is right to address a different facet of Steve's health.

As the doctor paged through the long-ago notes in Steve's file, he came across the recommendation for surgery on the sinuses and the actual date it was supposed to be performed. He remarked that while both mouth breathing and a constant feeling of a stuffy nose during the day point to sinus issues, the night time noise episodes and pauses between breaths point more to sleep apnea, a potentially dangerous condition. We can do without many things in this life, but breathing isn't one of them!

Family history comes into play here, again, like with the Alzheimers, unfortunately. Steve's dad underwent sinus surgery decades ago, and his older brother has a C-PAP machine. I won't get ahead of myself worrying about future remedies, however. Dr. Guzman recommended a preliminary sleep screening test from the neurologist. This test consists of attaching a monitor to Steve's finger that will measure breaths taken during the night, as well as blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of oxygen. Thank the Lord for technology--seems utterly amazing for one little device to yield so much information! After that test, if it seems warranted to Dr. Rai, Steve will go to the office for a full sleep study, and we'll see what the big-time meters and gauges show!

Diligent inquiry is a scriptural value that leads to truth. I like the examples of judges making "diligent inquisition" in Deuteronomy 19:18 to ferret out a false witness; and the psalmist's spirit making "diligent search" as he meditated within his heart (Psalm 77:6). We too need to inquire, and investigate, not just take statements and assertions at face value!

While Steve, Dr. Guzman and I were discussing healthcare, particularly the hoopla over swine flu [and our longstanding choice not to get flu shots of any kind] from a political perspective, the topic came up of the legal department at Loma Linda University, where we fought to let my mother recover from Guillame-Barre disease four years ago, to no avail, due to a friend having a more current power of attorney that allowed her to cause my mother to die in hospice instead.
(That tragic episode still crosses my mind every day, though the Lord has given me peace and even forgiveness toward the offender).

Dr. Guzman remarked, in an almost casual aside as we were all leaving the exam room, "Since you have a family history of Guillame-Barre disease, you should NEVER get a flu shot--it can trigger it!" Whoa!!

Steve and I were blown away by the protecting, providential hand of God, using our personal, perhaps quirky, health choice to save us the devastation of months of Guillame-Barre paralysis, organ failure, and speechlessness from overcoming me! I would have recovered from this condition as people do, but what havoc it could have wreaked on our family!

Meditate with me on Romans 11:33:

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and his ways past finding out!"

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