​I really wanted to entitle this blog "Take Care, To Take Care Of Yourself." I know that sounds redundant, but actually, it is not. Sometimes, as humans, we give so much time, energy, and care to people, things, and foolish desires that we neglect to care for ourselves properly. Recently, I received a wakeup call to give attention to the absolute care of myself.

 

It began on August 15, 2021, the morning I was planning to announce my book release to my church, when an attack of a sudden minor stroke came upon me. My grandchildren thought I was "speaking in tongues" when the words I spoke to them came out jumbled. "I immediately remembered what God had told me years before when I suffered a mild heat stroke as I was going back down the stairs after carrying up two cases of water in the hot summer morning. As I struggled with what to do, feeling weak and disoriented, God spoke, "Don't receive that!"

 

Immediately, I declared aloud, mumbling through slurred speech, (Isaiah 54:17, KJV), “NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME SHALL PROSPER!” I followed with, (Isaiah 53:5, KJV), "With the Lord's stripes, I am healed," as I stood in the middle of the stairway. By the time my sister came back outside, the stroke symptoms had left me, and I made my way back into my apartment. I sat for a few minutes, then I asked my sister to take me to emergency room. When I arrived there, they scrambled hurriedly to get me seen and tested, so that I could get the urgent care I needed. Shortly, afterward, I received the good news that no brain damage had occurred, and there we no blood clots seen. I was released to return home.

 

The same feeling, I felt years prior, were present again on August 15, 2021. Again, I declared the same words as my grandchildren looked on in horror. I was standing at the kitchen counter cutting vegetables preparing to cook them and arguing with my grandson, two things I never usually did on Sunday morning.

 

This time, I did not go to the emergency room, instead, I pressed my way to church. My body hurt all over, and all my muscles were weak. Church went well, and I returned home feeling much better, but still in pain and weak. After a few weeks, I was back to my normal self.

 

As I stood at the bathroom sink about to apply my makeup, the same thing happened again. Again, I declared God's Word, as I tried to take a step forward. My legs felt like cement. Then, all the symptoms left me, and I went to work. This was around March 2022.

 

On August 10, 2022, I was wishing my granddaughter, a happy birthday and I got up from my chair to go to the refrigerator to check for supplies because I was going to make a grocery order, when the stroke symptoms came upon me again. Again, I declared the Word of God over me, then sat for a moment to gather my composure before I went to work. As I walked in the door, my client began giving me instructions, but I countered with, "I need to call an ambulance, I just had a mild stroke."

 

This time, I knew I couldn't just brush this one off. I needed to know what was going on with my body. As I laid on the stretcher in the ambulance, I was in utter dismay over my blood pressure reading of 169/84. WHAT!!!

 

Lying on a gurney in the emergency room, I was rushed into another room as "Stroke Patient Enroute," blurred over the intercom. They needed the trauma room they had placed me in for another patient to be cared for. I arrived at the emergency room about 10:30am. They decided to admit me, but I did not get into a room until 11:00pm., after a scan of my brain was taken. The next day, after some additional blood work and an echocardiogram of my heart was taken to check for blocked arteries, I was released to go home.

 

During my brief time in the hospital, I heard the intercom announce the arrival of 4 stroke patients. After every announcement, I prayed for each person. Then I questioned, what is causing us to be so sick? For me, I personally found out when I was released from the hospital with a cholesterol lowering drug, and a blood thinning drug. Neither of which I wanted to take. The cholesterol drug made me so weak the next day that I couldn’t walk. I stopped it then. The blood pressure drug my primary care physician put me on against my will, I took for 3 days. But I continued to take the blood thinner drug until I felt I had gotten my body out of the crisis, and I could return to my holistic remedy for lowering my cholesterol and blood pressure.

 

Note: I advise you to please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health plan.

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To be continued.