Breathless In Chicago
I met him six years ago. Walking to a local restaurant, to finalize some business plans, he had to ask me to slow down so that he could breathe and walk at the same time. Chewing gum while walking and breathing was obviously out of the question.
At the age of 28, he was diagnosed with irreversible multiple chronic lung disease by Dr. Thomas Shipley, MD and Robert A. Miller, MD of Medical Clinic Foundation and Aultman Hospital. For decades a normal year was just worse than the year before, with at least one hospitalization for lung infection requiring both Prednisone and antibiotics. Bob shared, “A very quantifiable thing for me was each year on the same exact camping weekend I could swing the axe fewer swings than the year before until at age 59, all swinging was done.”
We met again in the spring of 2011, doing a presentation together in the Chicago area. Again, while walking, a high risk activity for him, we passed through the hallway leading to the pool area and the chlorine in the air sent him into a respiratory crisis.
Getting him to a place where he could nebulize his silver, I placed his feet on my Electro Reflexology Energizer (ERE) from H T E. Within seconds, his face registered disbelief as he uttered, “I can feel my lungs opening up.” After this incidence, the ERE became part of his daily routine.
July of 2012, after turning 64 years of age, Bob visited his family doctor for an annual exam and to review notes from his visit to Dr. Randal Harris, MD, lung specialist, who had just repeated the full pulmonary function study he did five years previous. Bob recalled the moment: “My doctor mentioned she had gotten a call from Dr. Harris, and I got that cold feeling. You know the one you get just before you faint? Dr. Harris had called to say that my lungs had improved and that they should have gotten worse.”
Bob decided to conduct his own test to verify the reliability of the doctor’s assessment. “Alone, I headed to the campground and began chopping wood; something I hadn’t been able to do for 5 years. God answers prayers. He put me together with people like Carla in Michigan and Dan and Ann in Salem Ohio, who shared things that helped. It has now been close to 2 years since I have been to the Emergency Room, needed Prednisone or antibiotics.”