I have been writing about dealing with adversity and a great guy from our church has had adversity thrust on him in a mighty way over the last six weeks. I asked his permission to share a letter of testimony and thanks that he wrote for our church this week. Enjoy and be encouraged ...
I was scheduled to have gall bladder surgery on Jan 3rd of this year. On Dec 29th, I began having a sore throat and congestion. Because of my job, I was unable to see a Dr until Jan 1st. A strep test came back negative and I was put on a z-pack of antibiotic to kill whatever was going on. I was told to call the surgeon's office first thing Monday morning to let them know what was going on. They called the Operating Room and we were given the green light for the surgery.
I arrived at Jewish hospital in Shelbyville Monday morning for my surgery at 11am. As we were sitting in the waiting area, I looked up, and here came Jason Haggard (my first warrior). I was really surprised to see him. They took me back and prepped me for surgery. My wife, Nikki and Jason then came back to lead me in prayer. I was pretty anxious about the surgery (this was the first time that I had been really sick in my life) and don't really remember all that Jason said. Basically, he said "Here is your Shield!".
The surgery had lasted longer than they thought it would because my gall bladder was 8 cm long with a 5 cm stone in it and they had to widen the opening mid-surgery. After surgery, as I was coming to, I saw my second warrior, Mary Beth Eades, one of our great singers, who works in the recovery area. The first thing I remember is her in my face saying "Hey, Ken, wake up!" I went straight home and back to bed.
On Tuesday, I awoke with numbness in my feet and hands and thought that maybe it was the pain killers or from the anesthesia. Wednesday and Thursday were the same. On Friday, I went off the pain killers to see if that was the issue. It wasn't. On Friday night, we went to the ER. After 7 hours, we had no answers and were sent home.
On Saturday, the 8th, I awoke with double-vision and the numbness was now throughout about 90 per cent of my body. I couldn't feel my mouth, my mid-section and my arms and legs. The condition had crept up my body to my stomach, then jumped to my head, skipping my lungs and throat. I was unsteady on my feet and needed help just to walk from the living room to the bathroom. I guess that we should have been more concerned, but every time that Nikki and I talked about it, we always came to the same ending; God's got this!!
We met with my family Dr the following Monday and he immediately sent us the the Neurologist in Shelbyville who ordered an MRI of my head. We had to wait until Friday to get into the MRI in Shelbyville. The MRI on Friday showed no stroke in the brain stem, so another one was ordered for my neck. He was sure that it was a stroke somewhere. 41 years old and a stroke!! We were scared! The local Neurologist also referred me to the UL Neurologists because of the severity of my condition. The second MRI was done in Louisville on Monday the 17th. We met with the UL Neurologist on Wed the 19th. Again, no stroke. What was it?
The Neurologist from UL was 95% sure that I had something called Miller Fisher Syndrome, an autoimmune condition where my body was attacking my nerves and causing paralysis. It affects 1 out of 100,000 people. Normally, people who contract this condition have to be put on a ventilator because of paralysis in the lungs. The Neurologist was amazed that never happened to me. He couldn't understand why or how it crept up my body, got to my mid-section, then jumped to my head. We know, don't we?! Because of the length of time it took to get a diagnosis, there is really no course of treatment to take. I had already started to get better by the time that I was diagnosed. If the paralysis had hit my lungs, I would have died! By the time an ambulance could have gotten to our house, it would have been too late! That is probably the scariest part of this whole thing, how close I came.
I want to give thanks to all who have helped us through this ordeal. YOUR ARE MY PRAYER WARRIORS!! Our entire LIFE Group; someone was calling or e-mailing everyday to check on us and many dinners were brought by. To everyone in our church who lifted me up in prayer!!! ALL OF YOU ARE THE REASON THAT I AM STILL HERE AND CAN ENJOY MY WIFE AND 5 AND 2 YEAR OLD DAUGHTERS!! THANK YOU!! And last, but not least, my beautiful wife, Nikki. You carried me through this and I owe you big!!
As I have been contemplating writing this e-mail, I have been trying to come up with a way to express how I feel about how serious this was. As I stated before, for the entire time, Nikki and I knew that God would provide. I feel that your prayers were a huge part of keeping us calm and safe. It felt like we were in a huge field and you all sat me down, circled around me facing outward with your swords and shields and defied anything to come after me!! I know that sounds corny, but to me that has alot of power to it.
Aside from the double-vision, I am now almost completely healed and have been cleared to return to work on Feb 6th. It can take up to 6 months for all of the effects to wear off and only a 3% chance that it will happen again.
I ask for one more prayer from you all. Please pray that God will show me why he saved me. There is something that He wants me to do, and I pray for the wisdom to know what His plan is.
Also, please know that any time that you need a prayer, I am honored to be considered YOUR prayer warrior!
We have seen so many examples in the past couple of years how God takes care of us, I just wanted to add my story.
Again, sorry if I rambled, and that this was so long!
Thank you,
Ken Canterbury
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