In past parts to this series I told of how I
had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, but I had an special encounter with
Jesus. He came into my bathroom and met me there. He told me that He
would heal my left shoulder that I had hurt while working in the yard. I
was excited; but what I really wanted was to be healed of dementia. I
asked Him then if He would heal my cognition instead, and His response
was that He would heal that too!
My shoulder pain was gone the next morning and
hasn't returned. Since that time, I have also been experiencing gradual
improvement of my cognition. I don't lose things as often, I can
remember the day of the week, I am beginning to be able to remember
codes, and slight changes don't confuse me as much. Bit by bit, I know
my cognition is returning.
Today I went to see
my gerontologist, the same one who told me I had Alzheimer's. When he
entered the office, he was surprised that I was reading J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Children of Hurin." From his response, I had to wonder if he had
ever met anyone with dementia who would read such a book.
He then asked how I was doing. My response?
"I'm doing great!"
You could tell by the look on his face that he
figured I was talking about my physical well-being, not my cognition;
but when my wife began to explain all of the improvements she has been
noticing, he didn't know what to say. She explained how I was able to
better organize my pictures on the computer than I was back in January,
and she described how I am improving in problem solving and time
orientation, as well how I am not losing things as much as I was. She
told the doctor that she felt I had regained about 40% of my lost
cognition.
You could tell that this news really took the
doctor by surprise. After all, hadn't the results of the recent PET scan
come in as "suggestive of Alzheimer's"?
His response? "What are you doing different?"
"Nothing!" we assured him. "Only a miracle can
explain the improvement we've seen."
The doctor dismissed the idea of a miracle and
proceeded to try to find logical reasons for my improvement. He wondered
if possibly I had suffered a stroke that hadn't been seen on the
original CT scan. My wife reminded him that my cognition had been
declining steadily over the course of two years, and if they had been
caused by a stroke, there would have been a sudden onset.
He then suggested that I suffered from small
vessel disease, again, too small to have been picked up by the CT scan.
My wife asked him if he had ever seen people with small vessel disease
dementia get better. He had to admit that he hadn't.
He then suggested severe depression. My wife
assured him I had never suffered from depression. "Not even Seasonal
Affect Disorder?" he asked. She shook her head. "I suffer from that,"
she admitted, "but he doesn't!"
When none of his logical explanations would
hold water, the doctor finally made the following declaration, "People
with dementia don't get better. You are getting better; therefore, you
don't have dementia."
My wife and I just
smiled. It's easy enough to try to explain away God's miracles; but it
changes nothing. God visited me and told me He would heal my cognition,
and He is doing so!
My gerontologist ended our visit by saying he
still wants me to follow up with a world-renown gerontologist in a large
city nearby, and he also asked me to return to see him every 6 months. I
agreed. I pray that I will have the opportunity to explain to him why I
was healed. There is no human cure for Alzheimer's, but with Jesus,
there is always hope.
As for me, my trust is in Jesus alone. He is
my healer. My cognition will continue to improve. My dementia will soon
be a thing of the past.
Wow!
If you have illnesses, ask Jesus to heal you.
You will not be discouraged. God the Father is crazy about you. Jesus
loves you enough to have died for you, and the Holy Spirit takes up
residence in you. No one can heal like our Jesus, the Holy Father and
the Holy Spirit.
Get to know Jesus.
Develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Spend time with the
Holy Spirit. In fact, ask God to be part of your family and to reveal
Himself to you. Remember: "He who did not spare His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
all things." (Romans 8:32 NIV)
Remember: we need Jesus; we need the Holy
Spirit; we need our Heavenly Father. No one else is always there for us.
God loves you. He will never forsake you. He loves you, and I repeat: He
loves you!
There is ALWAYS
Hope!
In His Love,
Rob Chaffart