part 11 ~ the “hard” small picture

The two years I was rebuilding my blood and regaining strength, forced me to spend a lot of time propped up in bed, while still continuing my work on the computer. I didn’t know it then, but due to nerve damage, I was slowly and unknowingly developing a cervical spinal misalignment that eventually placed pressure on my brain stem. I learned the hard way that bones only do what the muscles tell them to do, and nerve damage had weakened all my muscles, and so it was only a matter of time before I would have an extreme condition in my neck to deal with.

I had experienced signs of nerve damage and nerve pain for years, probably due to so much sitting at the computer, but it wasn’t until the end of June of 2006 that I was neurologically traumatized with a grand-mall seizure that occurred over my entire brain, with subsequent minor seizure episodes over the following eight months or so, and the daily threat of more episodes. Later, what I secretly suspected was confirmed. I had a small stroke, which resulted in sudden weaknesses on my left side that left some damage the Lord has since healed (all that remains is only noticeable to me). I?experienced a pull of my mouth to one side, drooling, vision weakness, left arm and hand weakness, the weight of my facial muscles, and various other conditions. I experienced real memory loss (actually most of a year’s worth of life except it’s big generalities), and many challenges to my cognitive abilities. My symptoms not only magnified, but increased in number.

I learned through grueling experience that when the nervous system is hit everything else is as well. My recovery was arduous to say the least, because with neurological weakness, all my body’s systems came under attack, especially the circulatory, immune, lymphatic, and digestive systems, and including the adrenal glands, kidneys and liver, and with overall muscle weakness. Every hit to my nervous system became an automatic trigger for several steps backwards in my progress. This scenario played out many times over the last several years. It was like an accelerated aging process.

In the hospital after the grand mall, I?had an MRI, CAT scan, EEG, and EKG. I began seeing a neurologist who told me my brain looked like it had been on “mental overload” for a long time. It was somewhat of a relief to have confirmed to me what I had always known; he used the same expression I?had also used. I continued to see the neurologist on a monthly basis for about ten months after the grand mall seizure, but when the Lord healed the brain pain, I spent four months weaning off the anti-seizure drugs. I’ve never since had another seizure, nor have I needed the drugs even though I?was told I would need them for the rest of my life.

While it’s only cool to warm showers for my nervous system, and cool environmental temperatures, and I’m engaged in the daily battle of gaining margin from degenerative disease, I?AM becoming well. The Lord helped me to overcome adrenal exhaustion, fibromyalgia, diabetes, seizures and other neurological challenges. Unfortunately, my adrenal threshold was seriously lowered, which also means the nervous system is continually challenged just to live regular life, and very easily compromised, because any sort of life activity beyond my own personal basic survival activities brings a challenge to my adrenals. I?continued to gain a little more ground after September 2008 when my children’s wedding activities were behind us.