Good morning and welcome to today's fireside chat sans the fire and the side, on this
Wednesday, January 29, 2020. My wife has a condition called Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). It is an inherited issue in her family. Her mom suffered mightily from it at a time when it wasn't even recognized as a treatable illness. Her preacher boy brother who passed away a few years ago, he too battled it. Her remaining brother and her sister also have this malady. The wife's may be slightly more advanced than her siblings. This past weekend beginning on Friday evening she was beset with a particularly virulent attack that pretty much racked her entire body. It is still with us. She gets almost no sleep when one of these attacks come. We don't know what triggers these severe bouts and the science is being worked out even as I write. With some 30 million people dealing with this challenge, much has been done to try and figure out what to do about it. There is still no known cause for it, although stress, anxiety, fatigue, and other factors are known to be contributors. We have a specialist, a neurologist, but when we tried to get in to see her she was completely booked. This past Monday evening it became pretty much unbearable, therefore, shortly after 11 p.m., we headed to the ER. We were there until 3 a.m. They gave her a powerful sedative with next to no results. They gave her a pill known to invoke sleep with no results. I can hardly stand to see her suffer and when we were in that room together she looked at me and said this, "I suppose you are now getting the full measure of 'in sickness and in health'." We are now working to try and get them to fit her in this week to see her specialist. They are working to find us a slot. I did observe some things while at the ER. Pretty interesting stuff.
More later.
She does better during the regular daylight hours, therefore, she continues to keep up with most of her service projects and ministry schedule. However, she is operating on very little sleep. I'm not a doctor and I'm not the son of a doctor, but, my guess is that can't go on ad infinitum. That also may contribute to the hard crashing at night. What's that? No. I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. You folks are a hard audience. I'm just doing some throwdown stuff as we hope to get this current painful episode out of the way. She wasn't able to be in Church last Sunday morning. Know this. That means something. Big! When people asked I told them I did not know what had triggered this most recent event, however, based on several factors I had some guesses. She is her dad's daughter. He was a man of God, preacher-man, and pastor, for many years. He was fairly headstrong and at times he could be stubborn. I'll let you fill in the blanks on that one. She has always had a proclivity towards overdoing whatever it is she is involved in. Helping others? Check. Yard work? Check. Being unable to say no? Check. Staying on the run? Check. Taking care of me? I'm not going there because I just put that in to show I'm very comprehensive in my analysis. At any rate, we want answers. And, please pray they will be provided soon. Thanks.
Amen. (You had all better know that photo is nothing but a joke. A good one, but, still only a joke.)
Prior to their passing, I'll never forget seeing my dad totally immersed in trying to take care of his and mom's medical needs, appointments, and a variety of treatments. He would spend hours day after day dealing with all the issues that come with coordinating care for older people like themselves. He was a bulldog in his tenaciousness. It takes that. I was on hold for 20 minutes just waiting for the neurologist's nurse to come on the line. I could probably recite from memory the half dozen ads for a variety of medical services that were played over and over again. For dad, it may have taken hours. Literally. This is one reason we do as much as we can online. Yes. I am very much aware of the risk of handling identification information along with medical records online. I should know. In my past life, I was ultimately responsible for all corporate sensitive data for a dozen or more years. One thing about dad, he was committed to getting it done. Period. My point? Getting the healthcare one needs today is a arduous and complicated process. To me, it seems to be that way by design. For instance. Had I not been willing to wait 20 minutes to talk to the person I needed to talk to, I would have ended up being nothing more than a call abandoned on hold. Dad wouldn't take no for an answer. Let's hope my following his example will bring some help to my dear wife.
Amen. ....More later.
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