God answers dreams in His perfect time...

Do you have a dream? Something you have been longing for, for many years? Something you thought was unattainable and totally out of reach? It could be anything. It may be simple as more time with your family after a long work day, or maybe it's a bit more challenging like a new, more fulfilling job, a bigger house, or a better relationship with your spouse. Then there are the really big dreams, like mine, which has been asking God for healing from a chronic progressive and disabling disease.

My dream for the past 12 1/2 years was for God to deliver me from this MS that has been slowly taken over my life, especially the past 3 years. MS is a chronic, progressive and debilitating disease. I knew that when I was diagnosed back in 1998 but I never fully realized the extent of what it could do to you until things began really going downhill for me in late 2007. Then I fell in February '08, and had to begin using a small tri - walker. Within 6 months I had another unfortunate accident on a golf cart with my son and tore the left ball right out of my rotater cuff. That really set me back for at least 6 months and put me into a heavier 4 wheeled walker. Although I've completely recovered physically from that little incident, I don't think the rest of my body had gotten the message yet cause I have really been moving slower and slower these past 3 years.

Then along comes something called CCSVI. In February, my son Biff had mentioned something about it to me in February when we were visiting my very ill father in TN. I put it in the back of my mind because I had to focus on Dad and the MS Walk coming up at the end of March, but I remembered the name of the  pioneer who discovered it: Dr. Zamboni, just like the ice resurfacing machine. I won't forget that I thought, and I didn't.

As I began my months long inquiry into CCSVI, I quickly discovered that not only was it a scientific discovery of monumental proportions, it was also an amazing love story. Well, I've always loved loved stories and this one has a terrific ending. Dr. Zamboni's wife has MS and as he watched her suffer, he just couldn't stand by and see her continue to go downhill. He began his own personal quest to look at MS outside the box and see if it be caused by something different. He discovered that in 100% of the patients he tested, every one of them had decreased blood flow from their brain. He also discovered that a simple angioplasty procedure to open up blocked jugular veins, improved symptoms of the disease dramatically! In my opinion Dr. Zamboni should get the Pulitzer price for medicine, because this is such a radical and revolutionary discovery and it is turning the MS world on it's head! 

Is it a God-thing? I believe it is. I believe with all my heart that CCSVI is the miracle that so many of us with MS have prayed for, for so many, many years,

I had the procedure done last Thursday. This is Tuesday, and I am greatly improved. My right side which has always been weaker, is now stronger. I am able to put my own shoes on, which may seem like a small thing to you, but to me and my husband it is HUGE. I can lift my right leg into bed without having to pull in it to bed. I can get up out of a chair quickly and like a normal person, which I haven't be able to do in years. I am able to walk again with my tri-walker and hope to be able to be back on a cane after I do a few months of  physical therapy. After all, I have to retrain myself how to walk now. And, even though I'm using my small walker, I'm walking like a normal person, bending me knees, which I haven't been able to do in years. My fatigue level has been greatly reduced and now I can stay up for 5 to 6 hours instead of the normal 2-3 hours and then falling down from exhaustion. I am expect that to get better as well! Thank you Jesus~~

I still have my neuropathic pain, but it slightly decreased and it is changing. I am dreaming again for the first time in years. My speech is better, I feel the cognitive fog lifting and I'm thinking more clearly and more quickly. All these things may seem pretty insignificant to you, but if you have MS these are the little things you do everyday that are taken away from you, slowly but surely, year after year as the disease progresses. Having some of those back with the hope of more and more coming down the road is definitely a God-thing. A Praise the Lord thing - a Thank you Jesus thing. A Praise Report to the Utmost! I am rejoicing in that now, my suffering is coming to an end. I am expecting a total miracle and complete healing from my CCSVI surgery.

So, CCSVI is my miracle, sent straight from God, through a passionate doctor named Paulo Zamboni. I am thanking the Lord for the many blessings I continue to receive. I have always tried to give the Lord the Praise in all situations, good and bad, but even I have to admit that in the past years, it has seemed like more and more of them appeared to be bad.

But our God is forever Faithful. When you honor Him, He does come through, in HIS PERFECT TIME, not ours. Our job is to keep praying, keep obeying, keep looking up to Him for our answers. Hang in there friends~~God always delivers, In His timing, He will answer.

My verse for today is from 1 Peter 1:1

" In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

My prayer for today:

Oh dear Lord, God of this universe,

Thank you so much Lord for Dr. Arslan, and my successful CCSVI surgery last Thursday. Thank you for answering prayers. I do Praise you Jesus for Dr. Zamboni, I do praise you for these brave doctors who are pushing the boundaries to help those of us suffering with this terrible disease. Thank you for giving me your strength to get me through many tough times living with MS. I pray that you will give your strength to everyone who is suffering with this and all diseases Lord. Be with them Lord. Open the doors of their heart so they may feel the peace and love that only you can bring. As always Lord God, You get all the Honor and all the Praise and all the Glory.

In Jesus Name I pray,

Amen