This is My Job, My Battle...I'm Waging War

I used to have a vocation that demanded I show up every day and give 100% while I was there. I still have a job like that, but now I've added a new full-time job:  studying my disease.

It's ironic. Those of us who have the least amount of energy in reserve are also the ones called upon to expend the most energy working two full-time jobs.

I guess I have two choices:

1) Work just one full-time job and let Parkinson's Disease happen to me like a hurricane relentlessly pounding on my door in increasing severity every day. Let other people control my health plan. Accept PD as my new lifestyle and let it in my door as if it were that one family member we all dread spending time with because they just won't leave. Resign myself to entertaining PD during its permanent, and demanding, visit.

OR I can

2) Look PD in its wicked evil eye, put on the boxing gloves, and take it head-on. Study it. Build a mental picture of me without PD.  Use healing words, think healing thoughts, eat healing foods, participate in healing exercises. Find out how other people with PD are managing their symptoms through food, exercise, glutathione treatments, essential oils and other holistic approaches. Work at it like it's a full-time job. Work at it like it's my first priority full-time job since I have two now. One job pays the bills, and one might save my life.

PD...it's requiring action and a new commitment from me. If I don't fill the space in my life with this new job, PD will seep in like a silent noxious gas, filling every corner with suffocating invisible fumes.

PD, you will never be my friend. You are not welcome here. I'm declaring war right here, right now. No longer do I say, "I have Parkinson's Disease." Instead, I'll say I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, or I exhibit PD symptoms. I don't claim this disease as my own, even though I might suffer today with symptoms that look like PD.

I'm at war, but I need help. I need the energy of my family and friends to infuse me regularly. I need the prayer support of people who love me. I need encouragement and new ideas from everyone I know. I need to be reminded that I am not alone. On some days I might even need to be carried. But, hear this: I am not pulling over and stopping. I am not giving up. I am not rolling over.

I'm fighting.

chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo1VInw-SKc

"Starting right now I'll be strong...and I don't really care if nobody else believes 'cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me."  Rachel Platten, Fight Song

Will I Be Healed?

That question has been wandering around in my head for a while now, so I thought I better let it out!

Will I be healed?

Can we just be real with each other for a minute, and admit that's a little tricky?

Will I be healed? Well.. I grew up "safe." We said safe things like,"If it's God's will, you'll be healed." If we weren't healed, we said God had a purpose for our sickness; it was part of His plan. We trusted God for our salvation, but it stopped there. We ignored troublesome passages like the verses in the prison epistles that talk about our faith making us whole.We were afraid to say we could be healed if we had enough faith, because what if we said that, then we weren't healed? Wouldn't that be embarrassing? Wouldn't that tell everyone we didn't have enough faith? And so we  protected ourselves by asking God to heal Susie Jones or deliver Andy Smith "if it's Your will."

Will I be healed? Well...Joshua at the Life Wellness Center says unequivocally, "Yes." He cites all the people Jesus healed in the New Testament. He cites the woman with the issue of blood who was healed when she came up behind the Lord in the crowd and touched the edge of His robe. He says anyone with enough faith will be healed. When asked about the Apostle Paul, who asked the Lord to remove his physical infirmity three times, but was denied, Joshua's answer is "That was for Paul, not for you." Joshua says God sees us as already whole and healed. And Joshua lives out what he preaches:  he has his own physical infirmity, and is at perfect peace waiting for the healing he knows is coming. And you know what? I believe him. I believe God is going to heal him.

But am I going to be healed?

Let's change the question by one word:  Could I be healed? Of course I could. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and didn't He heal people before? He is unchanging and faithful; won't He keep all the promises that say things like the faith of the righteous will heal them? He keeps His promises. He still does miracles in the midst of the mundane. Could I be healed? Absolutely, I could.

So, back to the harder question.

Will I be healed? I don't know. I don't know which doctrinal stance is right because there's evidence to support both of them. I don't know if they can co-exist together. If faith is my part of the healing, then do I have enough faith to be healed? Apparently not, since I still have Parkinson's symptoms. (I don't feel very full of faith most of the time anyway, so that's no surprise!)  So if God doesn't heal me, maybe it is because I don't have enough faith. Or maybe it's just because He is more greatly glorified in my sickness than in my health.

So, while I'm trying to figure this out, I'll just keep praying for God to increase my faith because I know that pleases Him. And I'll keep praying that He will be glorified through whatever path I walk today.                                      

Okay, I can sleep now that I let all of that out of my head and onto my blog.

Good night.                                                                                                                                                                                    

Hope Unfolds

Today we went to see the Lymphadema Draining Specialist, and it was quite an experience. My husband believes, and I agree, that this Life Wellness Clinic is going to be able to drastically decrease, if not eliminate, the lymphatic swelling in my feet, legs, arms, stomach, and neck.

As I explained in an earlier post, the lymphatic fluid is the "soap" of your system, and it's important for it to run efficiently, for obvious reasons. What I didn't know is that years of a sluggish system results in overload on your kidney, liver, and spleen. Before you unclog your lymph system, the kidneys, liver, and spleen need to be clean and functioning well enough to accept the overload of debris that will be released when opening up the lymph blockages.

We started by sitting down with the specialist and orally giving her my entire medical history, which she carefully noted (thank you, Yolanda, for not making me write it all down!). During that time, we did a foot bath. The water in the foot bath eventually changed colors and started to bubble, which indicated to the specialists what kind of cellular debris was stagnant in my system. In my case, it was heavy metals and stagnant lymph fluid (no surprise there!).

At that point, we took pictures and measurements of my feet and legs, and treated them with peppermint oil and cream to open up the lymph nodes. I moved from the chair to the treatment table, where the Yolanda dimmed the lights, placed a pillow under my head and knees, put on relaxing music, and covered me because I was cold.

All settled in now, the other specialist, Joshua, began applying acupressure to the lymph nodes in my feet, primarily to find out how my body would react. He was able to open one node enough that I could actually feel the fluid pushing through the previously blocked node. He said I had come just in time because the acid blocking my system was beginning to become encased, and that would have been a much bigger challenge.

When Joshua first applied pressure, he would ask me to tell him what level of pain the pressure was causing, in terms of a 1-10 rating. As  he continued to push and hold these pressure points, the pain would eventually disappear as the blockage began to give way. We stopped after just a few minutes because our goal today was simply to discover how my body would respond.

In preparation for my next visit in a week, I am supposed to be hydrating my body with alkaline water, which "power washes" my system. Additionally, I am to eliminate corn, peas, potatoes, dairy products, citrus fruits, and red meat, as these are high-acid foods. Lastly, I will take a cocktail made of a couple of juices, vinegar, and distilled water three times daily. When I return for my next appointment (next Monday), I should be sufficiently hydrated and the acid in my system should be sufficiently decreased that we could see progress in the acupressure treatments for the swelling in my feet and legs. The minimum expected time of treatment is 90 days. The specialists show you how to take care of your own swelling, should it re-occur.

Yolanda asked me to journal each day about how I am feeling -- both the good and the bad so we would know what to work on in our next session; i.e., what works and what doesn't. So... guess what? You get to see my journal since I plan to do it in blog form online.

When I left, Yolanda gave me her cell number and invited me to text her any time, and she gave me the warmest hug.

I'm beginning to dare to hope that this might actually work. I think that cleaning my system has to be good for my Parkinson's Disease. A working lymphatic system would help detox my body of heavy metals, and would boost my immune system. I can only guess at what kind of impact that might make on my symptoms.

The expectation set by Yolanda during our hour-long introductory phone conversation was that they may be able to reduce my swelling by 70%, and eliminate my asthma and heart palpitations. She did not promise any progress on my Parkinsons, but part of me has to think it's all related.

Here's hoping I'm right!

Thank you for your prayers.

Hope is on the Horizon

Sometimes blogging is better than a conversation.  When someone asks you how you're feeling, you have to go through a zillion mental gyrations at lightning speed, so  you can answer appropriately:

Are they sincerely concerned? How much do they really want to know?
Are they just being polite, and are expecting a quick "I'm okay today -- how about you?"
I see them looking past me toward someone else. Am I giving more detail than they wanted?
Am I just the topic of their next gossip-fest?
And then the worst:  "My grandpa had Parkinson's and he did real well after he got on some medicine" (inference: if you aren't doing well, it's because you're doing something wrong).

With a blog, all my well-wishers can read as much or as little as they want... and I can just be authentic and real about everything and get it all out of my system. I think this is going to work out great!

So, I'm hopeful today, and here's why (I'm putting it in a blog, so you can read as little or as much as you want!)

I went to The Climb exercise class today and one of the instructors was helping me through some exercises. A couple of minutes later, she whispered in my ear and asked me if I had lymphadema. I showed her my swollen feet, legs, arms, neck, and hands and told her I certainly do. She asked if I had ever been to a lymph-draining specialist. Until earlier this week, I had never even heard of such a thing. I only saw the term in someone's blog I happened onto a few days ago, and had no idea if it was legit or not.

Not only did the instructor today tell me about the specialist, but she also gave me a name and contact number for them. I called them just now, and got such interesting and encouraging information. The lady at the Life Wellness Center spent almost an hour on the phone explaining what they do and how it can help me.

In very simplistic terms, it seems that the specialist will first consult with you, put you on an initial detox program, map the obstructions in your body, then begin therapy, which consists of diet, nutritional supplements, and physical therapy of sorts. I think that therapy is when she kneads and massages your lymph nodes until the blockages break loose, causing the lymph fluid to flow freely. As I understand it, in my non-medical mind, the lymphatic fluid is like soap for your immune system. It cleans out disease-causing elements in your system. The implications for that are obvious, I think. They also work on detoxing the liver and spleen, which are also key in cleaning your body's systems. I am encouraged that this wellness clinic employs lymphadema draining specialists, as well as a chiropractor, an internist, and a host of other professionals from "both sides" of the medical/complementary medicine dividing line.

The specialist I spoke to thought they could probably improve my lymphadema by about 70%, which sounds awesome to me! She thought 100% was probably not realistic, given the long history I have with this issue. I appreciated her candor.

Another wonderful piece of information is that she feels absolutely sure my stomach swelling is due to the lymphadema worsening. I forget the exact number she told me, but a huge majority of your lymph nodes are in and around your abdomen, as I understand it. This is more information than anyone in the medical field has given me; I have asked 3 doctors about it, and every one of them has declined to even look at my stomach.

Again, this is going to be an expensive venture, but both Mike and I agree that we cannot put a price on rescuing my health to the degree that we can. We're both willing to sacrifice almost anything to increase the number of productive years I have left. Encouraging to know, however, that the clinic expects this course of treatment to take about 90 days, so it's not forever. From what they told me, I expect treatment for 90 days to run about $1500 in total. Of course, insurance won't touch this kind of treatment. I feel like this was a divine appointment, so I am confident the Lord will provide the necessary resources.

The specialist thought she could help everything except the Parkinson's and the mitral valve prolapse. And... you never know if the Parkinson's symptoms would also improve if my body's systems were cleaned up and not sick anymore.

My situation may be too complex and severe for the specialist, I don't know. But I am positive it's worth a shot!

Down the Rabbit Trail

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Today I had an appointment with a doctor who practices complementary/holistic medicine in addition to other more traditional methods and medications. I believe his general approach is to find out the root cause, then treat it as naturally as possible with a combination of diet, supplements, exercise, and a host of other tools he has at his disposal.

I had great hope that this doctor would be able to tell me where to start to alleviate some of my Parkinson's symptoms. I wanted him to tell me what's wrong with my stomach -- why it stays swelled up and continues to get worse with time. I secretly hoped he would help me get off my PD medicine, which is so hard on my body.

Mike took off work to go to the doctor with me, and we agreed that whatever he told us, we would do.

As it turns out, the good doctor's private practice was recently purchased by a large hospital, and he apparently no longer has the freedom to practice the kind of complementary medicine that caused me to choose him in the first place.

He, was, however, quite helpful. Here's what we found out:

1)  He seems to believe all my issues, including the increased swelling in my feet, neck, arms, legs, and stomach may be rooted in my Parkinson's Disease, or in some of the medications I am taking, which may actually worsen these conditions. In some ways, that is comforting to me -- he didn't immediately send me for a CT scan to find out what's wrong, nor did he seem unduly concerned about those particular symptoms.

2)  He talked to us about Glutathione. It is recognized in complementary medicine as a highly successful, low or no side effect treatment used to alleviate symptoms in a number of diseases, including Parkinson's Disease. It is most effective when given intravenously, and costs about $3000 a year. I believe it may be a method of chelation -- cleaning and purifying the body of heavy metal poisoning, the symptoms of which can mimic Parkinson's Disease. It is a natural anti-oxidant found in fruits and vegetables. It is also recognized somewhat by the mainstream medical community, and recently gained exposure on Dr. Oz's show.

3)  The doctor I saw today is certified to do this treatment, but cannot do it for me due to his contract with the hospital.

4)  He did, however, point us to one of his prodigy, a doctor in Seymour who is also certified to do this treatment, and who comes highly recommended by the doctor we saw today.

5)  I believe the famous author and medical doctor, Dr. Perlmutter, pioneered this process. He practices in FL and our doctor's recommendation was to see Dr. Perlmutter himself, or see the guy in Seymour.  Of course, we will try the local doc first.

Today was not my first exposure to glutathione. I had read a blog from a woman with Parkinson's who had taken it intravenously for 2 years with great success. At the end of 2 years, however, she started to decline again.

Another exposure to glutathione came when I was first diagnosed by a different neurologist than the one I am seeing now. She told me about glutathione and said she would refer me to someone who could do it for me whenever I wanted. At the time, I was quite overwhelmed and did not act on her offer. Later, she referred me to my current neurologist (seems I am a difficult case), and we have not spoken about it since.

Amazingly enough, earlier today I had yet a third exposure to glutathione before I left for my doctor's appointment.  One of my friends invited her Facebook friends to a seminar on glutathione coming up in Brownsburg this Sunday night. The particular version being discussed Sunday is an oral application. I asked my doctor about it today, and he said it would not be as readily absorbed by the brain as the intravenous version would be, but he still said it wouldn't hurt for us to attend the seminar.

So, no immediate answers today, but we now have another source and another option.  We'll be calling to make our appointment with the doctor in Seymour, and will keep you posted.

This whole thing sometimes feels like we are playing a board game, progressing through the game one dice roll at a time. I'm sorry, but I just want to pass "GO" and collect my $200. I don't like this game anymore.

Maybe you should pray for me to have a better attitude. I hear people say all the time, "I'm grateful that I got Parkinson's Disease. If this had never happened to me then I never would have ______"  (fill in the blank with something good, like "reconciled with my daughter."

I can't figure out if those people are just putting a pretty face on an ugly disease, or if I just have an extraordinarily bad attitude, because I do not feel that way AT ALL. I am NOT glad I got Parkinson's, and it has not done me any good turns. As a matter of fact, I'm a little mad about it!

So there ... I said it!

Apparently, I need some prayer!  Thanks for caring enough to keep track of what's happening as I try to negotiate my way through this crazy medical system of ours!