Oct 12, 2019 (I wrote this a few days ago)
So what are we doing about this and what am I learning. We are waiting for a doctors appointment from the rheumatologist which may not happen till the end of November. Tuesday I have a couple MRI’s done on my lower back and hip area. I am fearful that I may not make it through knowing what happened in the ER. We are working on changing my diet to not include Gluten, Sugar, Carbs, Diary, and large amounts of inflammation causing foods. This week has been not that hard as Keith has been absolutely wonderful in preparing a lot of the meals to accommodate this. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing Keith is in supporting and encouraging me with this option of healing my body. This type of diet is used to help reduce inflammation that is still attacking my body and mainly my eye. I had an appointment yesterday (Oct 11) and she says its about 40% better but still has some healing to go. Please be praying that it will fully heal. I go back in a week to check but the treatment has been reduced to less often. I also have a chiropractor appointment and physical therapy appointment to help with my neck. For the most part I’m not in a lot of pain, it’s mostly just aches and pains in my low back, neck, and head and random things that happen. Please be praying that we can seek out healing through life style changes. I have been reading .https://autoimmunewellness.com/manage-stress-soul-centered-self-care/
Which tells how stress can affect inflammation. I am learning how I was living the last two years was not allowing my body to destress and to deal with the inflammation. This was done by not allowing my body to rest long enough when I was hurting because I was just pushing through it all. It was from putting too many things on my plate I thought I could handle. It was also a lot of stressors that I couldn’t prevent like our basement flooding or friend’s illness/death. I had no idea this was all affecting my body the way it was.
“Soul-centered self-care, however, is a practice that is guided by your unique desires and getting in tune with what activities help you find that state of relaxation and escape the fight or flight feeling. It is heart-centered rather than prescriptive.†Sarah Kolman.
I can’t tell you how many times I put off my desires to do something for someone else. I never got around to doing what I wanted to do. I was losing the motivation to do anything I wanted so I just worked harder. I need to learn what fills me up instead of draining me.
One last thing: The first lesson I learned after coming home from the hospital was I need to rest. Then I learned I needed to start listening to God. How do you go about that? By reading the book he wrote for all of us. I am not perfect at it and I have always struggled with reading the Bible regularly. I felt that I just couldn’t find the right passage that would apply to my circumstance. But these last two weeks I have found that if you just pick up the Bible and read God will show you how it applies to your life. Yesterday I was up at 4:30 am wide awake. I had heard the radio announcer earlier in the week quote a verse from James 1:5-8
“5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.â€
This peaked my interest so that morning I read the whole book of James. Wow there was lots of information that applied not only to my life but things I could teach my kids. If I learn anything from this health change, is that I learn to go to my God for encouragement, guidance, and for everything.