God's Provision

Throughout this journey, God's provision has been apparent to our family in often miraculous ways.  

One day, I hope I will be in the position to be able to share more details about this provision, but even if I'm not, rest assured that God has multiplied loaves and fishes, moved mountains, and rained down manna from Heaven at the exact moment my family needed it...time and time again.  He has taken my breath away at times from sheer amazement at His provision.  

Today was a wonderful day of provision for my parents.  I thank my Heavenly Father for that provision and know that there will never be a day they will be without His heavenly blessings.

One way God provided for my Dad was in giving him an amazing doctor.  Many of you read our story on facebook several months ago.  My "baby brother" Alex (who is 32) is quite a talented golfer.  Dad had been waiting 6 weeks for Emory to call him and schedule his appointment.  His disability benefits had been stopped until this appointment documented what was wrong with him.  We knew it was something serious (he was sent to Emory with suspicion of Frontotemporal Dementia), and we knew he needed to be seen immediately, but time dragged on.  

Enter my hero, Alex.  

Alex called a golfing buddy who just happens to be the CEO of one of Emory's smaller branches.  His buddy called the CEO of Emory Healthcare, and then Alex's friend assured mom and Alex that he should be getting a call soon.  He got that call within a few hours...and he had an appointment the following week.  What a relief we all felt when we got the appointment scheduled!  

Unfortunately, disappointment set in for me when I learned that he wouldn't be seeing the world renowned specialist he was originally referred to.  

Enter God's provision.

Instead, Dad was placed with a truly gifted and compassionate doctor named William Hu.  Mom and Dad love him more after each visit.  18 months of visits to a variety of specialists had yielded dad no diagnosis he could hang his hat on.  Dr. Hu recognized the combination of cognitive and parkinsonian symptoms immediately and diagnosed Dad with Lewy Body Dementia.  Dr. Hu trained at Mayo Clinic and is highly intelligent.

We were criticized by some well-meaning folks in the beginning about going to Emory...They said, "No!!  He needs to go to Mayo Clinic."  But, traveling to Jacksonville 3-4 times per year for a couple who is dealing with Lupus and LBD is a nearly impossible feat, especially when all of their children are working full-time jobs.  We felt good about Emory.  Dad researched and saw that Emory, UNC, and Mayo are the top three centers for LBD and other dementias, so we already felt confident about going there.  When God put us in Dr. Hu's hands, we knew that His provision was evident yet again.  God intended for Dad to be at Emory Healthcare.  And he intended for him to be under the care of Dr. Hu.  I will never doubt those two facts.

Dad had his third appointment with Dr. Hu today.  Dr. Hu wanted to know which symptom was the most troublesome right now:  the parkinson/physical symptoms, sleep problems, or cognitive symptoms.  Dad has been very cognitively stable these last couple of months and for that we are thankful!!  He has fuzzy days, but overall he is himself.  I know that this will not always be the case, so I am clinging to every great moment and holding on tightly!!  Dad said the physical symptoms were the most troublesome.  He feels pretty terrible 90% of the time.  He hardly gets out of bed, and when he does he feels miserable.  Dr. Hu started him back on a Parkinsons Drug, Sinemet.  He tried this before he was referred to Emory, and he didn't respond too favorably the first time he tried it as far as reducing his tremors or shuffling gait, but it did help his extreme neck stiffness/pain, so it is worth it to go back on it.  He is also switching him from a prescription sleep aid to Melatonin.  I like that Dr. Hu is conservative.  He likes to use natural approaches whenever possible...like the Jobst waist-high stockings which are doing more for his Orthostatic Hypotension than any other thing we had tried.  He also doesn't believe in starting more than one medicine at a time.  Since Dad's cognitive symptoms are stable right now, he will wait until the next appointment to begin the Alzheimers drug Aricept.  

Dad left there in good spirits.  It was a good day...full of God's provision.  Days like this make my heart smile.

~Ashley