Have you ever had anything happen to you that you couldn’t explain? The doctors couldn’t even explain what caused it? Well, I have.
Two years ago right before Thanksgiving, I had been cooped up in the house quilting a quilt for my mom and I was going stir crazy. It was a gorgeous Friday. The temperature was cool and the sun was shining, so I decided to go to the lake and quilt in the swing that is on the pier.
I had not eaten anything all day so I took some peanut butter crackers with me. I started to get heart burn, I thought it was the kind of heart burn that you can get from an empty stomach, so I ate the crackers and got a bottle of water out of the little fridge that was on the pier. The crackers and water didn’t help with the heartburn.
The heartburn got worse and worse so I decided to pack up and go home. I wasn’t worried that it was my heart at all because the pain was going from the middle of my chest through my back and into my right shoulder. It was the worst heartburn I’ve ever had. I ended up trying to sleep in the recliner but that didn’t work either so I ended up in the bed around 2 am. I finally fell asleep sometime after that and slept until my husband woke me up at 4:30 am to kiss me bye. He was heading to work.
When he woke me, I was on my back with the covers pulled up and I was holding the cover with my right hand (right elbow bent). I realized that my shoulder was hurting and I couldn’t move it. I could move my arm at the elbow but I could not move my shoulder in any direction. My daughter later told me I had T-Rex arms. Thanks Meg!! (And I still had the heartburn.)
I needed help but I didn’t want to wake my daughter up. I laid there for 2 hours crying until I finally had enough. I woke my daughter up and told her to drive me to the EMS house in town. (I felt like I needed to go to the ER but if I arrived by car, I would have to wait a really long time, so I decided to go by ambulance.)
We got to the EMS house in town about 7 am. Obviously, we woke them up and they were not happy. They were not helpful in any way. They even told me that I would be much more comfortable riding in my own car to the ER. It was apparent they thought I was crazy.
I left there and was going to go home until Megan (my daughter) begged me to go to the hospital. I agreed to go to the ER in the next town over because I didn’t want to wait for hours just to be seen.
When we got to the ER, they got me right on back to see the doctor but within 3 hours, I could not move any limb on my body. I was in excruciating pain. They performed multiple tests on me but could come up with nothing. They called my rheumatologist and he told them to knock me out until they could figure out what was happening.
I do not remember much from the next 2 days. They were rotating morphine and dilaudid. Morphine did not touch the pain but the dilaudid was wonderful and my new best friend. Lol
I had never experienced anything like this before. To give you an idea of how bad it was, if my legs started aching in the position they were in, I could not move them. Someone else had to move them to a new position. I was basically paralyzed.
I stayed in the small hospital until Sunday night when they decided I was too big of a case for them and they sent me by ambulance to a large hospital in the city. I really hated to leave the small hospital because everyone took such great care of me and when I got to the big hospital, they really didn’t understand the pain I had been in.
They consulted with a local rheumatologist and he consulted with my rheumatologist and they came up with a plan of giving me massive doses of steroids to get me moving on my own. Steroids are great for pain and stuff but the side effects are horrible. Pretty soon after the huge doses of these steroids, my body started moving again and the pain was subsiding. I still couldn’t walk without help, but I could walk.
When I was released from the hospital on the following Wednesday, I had a new friend… a cane. I was 42 years old and walking with a cane. There was no diagnosis and no doctor could explain why my body decided to shut down. This was the first time I was truly scared about my health. I was scared it would happen again. If they had been able to give me a diagnosis, or a reason for the paralysis, I think I would have been ok mentally and emotionally. I did not immediately go to God, the Great Physician, with this, I tried to figure it out on my own. I did not pray for healing. I just kept it instead of giving it over to Him.
I do not know why I didn’t even consider giving it over to Him because He had previously done miraculous things in my life and in lives around me. I am human and I suppose I thought I could handle it.
Me handling it on my own didn’t work out like I planned. Then one day I heard God urge me to give it over to Him and I did, mostly. I have a bad habit of giving it to Him and then taking part or all of it back. When I look back on it I realize that is just crazy of me because He can move mountains just by speaking, and what can I do? Nothing!
When I finally gave it over to the Great Physician, it wasn’t long before I no longer had to use the cane. I was able to wean off the steroids, and still walk!! WOW WHAT A MIRACLE!!
GOD WANTS US TO GIVE HIM EVERY PROBLEM WE HAVE, WHETHER IT BE PHYSICAL, MENTAL, OR EMOTIONAL. HE HAS TAKEN CARE OF MY PROBLEMS OVER AND OVER AND I STILL HAVE A HARD TIME REMEMBERING TO GIVE MY PROBLEMS OVER TO HIM. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY; HOWEVER, MY GOD IS SO PATIENT. HE LOVES US SO MUCH THAT HE IS WILLING TO WAIT FOR US TO COME TO HIM. I’VE HEARD THIS FACT MY WHOLE LIFE: “GOD DOES NOT STRAY AWAY OR MOVE AWAY FROM US, WE ARE THE ONES THAT MOVE AWAY FROM HIM.” I AM WORKING ON STAYING CLOSE TO HIM BUT I AM STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS.
“Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” ~ Jeremiah 33:6
My Journey, Giving God the Glory 