4 Comments

This is such good news! I remember feeling in my addiction and drug use that I had done irreparable damage. Praise God that the brain can heal, along with the spirit in recovery!

Expand full comment
author

Amen!

Expand full comment

Honestly, this is something that I struggle with almost daily... my radiation oncologist told me that the gamma knife radiation caused radiation necrosis and that it couldn't come back, that it is just dead forever.

However, I'm believing that God will restore what was lost and make it new again. That He'll give me my memory back. I wish I could afford to go see Dr. Daniel Amen, but I'm on a limited income because of social security disability. My husband has a job, as one of the absolute best automotive electrical engineers in the state of Oklahoma, but we're believing that God will give him an increase in his salary soon. It's such a blessing that God brought us together, knowing how I missed my Dad who was a mechanic/racecar builder/drag racer. I honestly believe that at some point they probably raced each other before my Dad's passing in 1999. I see the similarities between both of them, in how amazingly their minds work/worked. They both believe(d) in going the extra mile to help someone in need, and not charging an arm and a leg to those who couldn't afford to pay.

Anyway, all that to say, please definitely keep me in prayer, or be in agreement with me that God will repair the damage done in my brain (the right temporal and pariatal places) due to an undiagnosed Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) rupturing when I was 4½ months pregnant with our first son William. And the embolization that was only 70% successful, leading to me having to have the gamma knife radiation.

I'm blessed to be alive for sure! Now we have 3 wildly wonderful boys (14, almost 9, and 6 year old's). They sure keep me on my toes!

By the way Doc, I have been encouraging my older brother Joshua P. to reach out to you because I'm constantly telling him of things I've learned through you, your podcast or newsletters. I'm one of many that are encouraging him to start his own podcast, sharing his journey of having a kidney disease diagnosis as a young child, getting his first transplant from someone with a PERFECT match, then as an adult last year, being told his 30 year old transplant was failing. He required dialysis more than 12 hours daily for a year and had multiple super scary medical issues related to that. Then this year, receiving his second kidney transplant, who God would have it, was the son of the man he received his 1st perfect match kidney from! Isn't that amazing!?!

God is So Good!

Expand full comment

Oh, also, something really special to me, is that God called him, my brother Joshua P., to attend ORU, was/is still friends and next door roommates back then to my now Pastor Paul Daugherty. Pastor Paul tells funny stories of his encounters with my brother Joshua. One specifically was just so funny to me. He was at Pastor Paul's parent's house (founding Pastor's Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty) eating lunch and when he saw Pastor's Billy Joe and Sharon, he looked at Paul with a strange look and asked if he thought it was strange that the Pastor's of the church were in his house 🤣... Another funny story, Josh doesn't allow anyone to sit in the front seat of his vehicle because he says "that's where Jesus sits". And saying that to Pastor Paul made him laugh. He still does that to this day, except he now has a precious french bulldog Moose, and he sits in the seat "on Jesus' lap". I just love that!

When he was young and undergoing everything with the kidney disease, he was a Make-a-Wish kid, and his wish was to meet my favorite children's show cast of "The Sharon, Lois and Bram Show", they had the theme song "Skidda-marinky-dinky-doo" song. That was super cool to me!

Expand full comment