12 Your Health
12.1 My Story
Following my wife’s diagnosis with Melanoma cancer, I scheduled an appointment with the same doctor to get myself checked from head to toe. I needed to stay in good health to care for my sweetie.
The doctor looked at every blemish, mole, and age spots on my body. She even removed a few skin tags. We scheduled a follow-up appointment in six months.
At the follow-up appointment, I mentioned I had seen my dentist who referred me to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon had biopsied a spot in my mouth. The inflamed area wasn’t cancerous. It was oral lichen planus. He told me to speak to you, my dermatologist, for follow-up treatment.
Oral lichen planus (see footnote 1). (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the mucus membrane of the oral cavity. It is a T-cell mediated autoimmune disease in which the cytotoxic CD8+ T cells trigger apoptosis of the basal cells of the oral epithelium.
The dermatologist told me she knew I was under excessive stress with Miss Benita’s cancer treatment. I shared the added responsibility I was under from caring for my 89 years old father. Life circumstances also didn’t help as my long-term day job had just completed a significant reduction in force and reorganization. I was still employed and experiencing the stress of the changes requiring doing more with less.
Just days before Miss Benita went into hospice care I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease, Irritable Bowel Disease (see footnote 2). The gastro endocrinologist said while there is no known cause, he was assuming since I had the oral lichen planus and that I was under excessive stress with Miss Benita’s cancer treatment and care responsibilities that stress was a major contributing factor.
My point is the stress of caregiving may impact you physically. I do not give medical advice. This blog is not intended as medical advice. If you are having health issues see your physician for medical advice.
For you to provide the best care for your loved one, you need to also care for yourself. I saw the physicians. They helped me to keep on keeping on and continue to be a caregiver for my spouse.
12.2 Real Prosperity is in the Lord Jesus Christ
Part of learning to care for a person with a chronic or terminal illness realizes our real prosperity is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s passage speaks about our mental health and general well-being.
12.3 Bible Verse
3 John 1:2 (KJV), “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
12.4 What the Verse Means
John, the author of the Bible verse, is addressing Gaius. Prosperity here is mental health and general well-being. John wants Gaius to prosper and have good health equal to his spiritual health.
12.5 Pray Using Scripture
- Heavenly Father I pray that I may prosper, that is to be healthy fiscally. Why? Not to be rich but to care for my family and pay my medical bills.
- Lord Jesus, I pray that I would be in physically good health and that health would mirror our spiritual health.
- I pray for rest and peace of mind.
12.6 Responding to God’s Hope
- Do you have any medical concerns about yourself? If so, seek medical attention as soon as possible.
- Are you getting adequate sleep? If not, talk to your health care professional for advice.
- Are you eating properly? See the advice of your health care professional if you have questions.
Footnotes:
1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329692/
2 https://medlineplus.gov/irritablebowelsyndrome.html
Photo Source: Pixabay
This blog post is from the forthcoming book, “Caregiving: Biblical Insights from a Caregiver’s Journey” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.
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