When treating chronic diseases is complicated

                Last Friday we visited the kids who hold church in the pick-up truck and then went to see one of our friends who we had been told was not well. When we got to her house, Se Odette told me she was having a headache and left-sided chest pain radiating down her left arm.  As we talked to her more I learned that she had a stroke at some point in the past and had lost most of the use of her left side. Through therapy and perseverance she is walking and moving again, but she always has pain in her left arm. I went ahead and checked her blood pressure and it was well over 200. We talked with her about whether she had ever been told she had high blood pressure before (yes), and if she had been prescribed medication (again, yes). However she had stopped taking her meds a few months ago because she could not afford them. We got her prescriptions refilled and got them to her to start taking them again.

                Yesterday we were back in her neighborhood. I rechecked her blood pressure, hoping for better results. Her diastolic (bottom) number was in the 120s. Her systolic (top) number was well into the 230s. No one was happy about it. She had been taking her meds as prescribed but they were clearly not working. As in Abjirs’ case, we were in the neighborhood after working hours, so there were no medical options until this morning. We gave her money, and I wrote down the numbers I got when I checked her blood pressures and told her go back to the doctor today. Join me in praying for wisdom and compassion and medicines that work for her?

                I want to tell you a little but more about Se Odette’s story and the challenges she has faced in complying with her treatment regimen. After her stroke Se Odette sold everything she had to pay her bills for treatment and medicines.  She sold her house to pay her bills. The man who bought the house (just the house, not the land the house is on) has allowed her to remain in it a little while because of her health problems. She had not refilled her prescriptions for two months because she did not have the money. What’s more, the man who bought her house is asking her to vacate it so he can tear it down and using the materials to build his own house elsewhere.

                There’s so much in this story that tears at the heart, so much unfairness. My mind balks when I try to wrap my head around it. Will you join me in praying for Se Odette, for the immediate concerns of her blood pressure and suffering, the intermediate concerns for her housing and the long term concerns for her as she manages not only extreme hypertension, but also diabetes? Chronic diseases pose so many unique challenges that I am only beginning to figure out how to approach them. I need grace. She needs grace. Join with me in petitioning our great God?