Playing Chicken

Bernadette sat in a wheelchair as we rolled the gurney through the front door. She could walk, but it was difficult and she wasn’t able to go far. I shot her a glance then looked at her mother and wondered which was the patient.

“Hi”, I said as I reached my hand toward her mom. I introduced us and asked her name. She told me hers and mentioned that she was partially blind and had difficulty hearing. The fact that she wore sunglasses inside should have been my first clue.

I asked what brought us to her house today. Getting information from her was difficult, but we learned that it was her daughter that we were transporting.

Bernadette was young, but her life had been one medical setback after another since she was a girl. At the age of 11, she suffered a severe diabetic seizure that left her with bilateral foot drop and other neurological issues. Recently, she’d had her gall bladder removed and had been experiencing chest pain for several days following the procedure. She’d been evaluated at one of the emergency rooms but they found nothing and sent her home. We were seeing her to take her to a different hospital for a second opinion and to see her surgeon.

Her countenance was sadder than a woman of twenty-something should have. A deep sense of discomfort began to stir inside me.

“Why was she so terribly sad?”

We loaded her and got a set of vitals. I asked about starting an IV.

“Don’t bother. I have a port. You wouldn’t be able to get an IV anyways. My veins are terrible.”

I could see a small bulge in her skin in her right upper chest at the edge of her tank top strap, where the port was located.

“OK....no IV.”

We did an EKG, checked her blood sugar and rolled down the road. I began asking questions.

After the routine questions, I thought about asking if I could pray with her. But she seemed, for some reason, like the last person on earth who would want prayer. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why I thought why she would say no. It just seemed to me like she wouldn’t be interested. I almost chickened out.

One of the greatest problems I struggle with is the temptation to take the position that I have no responsibility to pray with patients and nothing to loose if I decide not to ask if they want prayer. i wish I could say that I ask everyone. But I don't.

“I have one more question to ask you…..Would you like me to pray with you?”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. With a beaming smile she said, “I know God heals people and I love to have you pray with me.”

She took my hands in her, closed her eyes and started thanking God. I asked the Holy Spirit to touch her and commanded pain to leave. We prayed and prayed and prayed. Then we talked.

It turns out, Bernadette is a believer. Her husband is part of a group of men who go down to Mill Avenue in Tempe on Friday nights and pray with anyone who wants prayer. We had a lot to talk about.

We discussed her medical problems and the frustration her husband has because she hasn’t been healed yet. I told her I have the same problem. I shared with her the strange fact that many of us who see the sick healed, can’t get our own family members healed. It seems like when I pray for my wife, my prayers bounce off the ceiling and fall helplessly to the floor.

In spite of the fact that she hasn’t been healed yet, Bernadette showed an amazing love for God. Her trust in Him was deeper than her outward appearance showed. My judgment of her willingness to have me pray with her wasn’t even close to the truth. She loves Jesus and loves to pray.

She felt absolutely nothing in her body as I prayed with her. But the joy in hear heart was impossible to measure and it couldn’t be hidden behind the Great Wall of China. I gave her a card to the website and told her to look me up on Facebook.

As we pulled in the driveway of the hospital, she began to perspire. “You better check my blood sugar again. When it starts to drop it goes down fast.”

We did another check of her blood sugar. It was 60. We usually give sugar if it’s less than 70.

We transferred her to the ER and gave report. I got her a container of orange juice to drink. The nurse behind the desk gave me a scowl. “What are you doing?” I explained that her blood sugar was dropping. “Well, she’ll need more than one. I’ll get another one and you take her to her room.”

We got her moved over and gave report. I told her not to be a stranger. She promised to keep in touch.

Later that day she sent me a friend request on Facebook. She’s been admitted to the hospital. I posted a prayer request for her on my Facebook page and people responded.

She’s the first patient I’ve transported who connected with me on Facebook. I’m glad to have a friend like her.

When she’s healed, I’ll let you know.

Is There a Place in Medicine For Divine Healing?

I looked at the registration sheet in the transfer packet. His religious preference indicated “ISL”. My patient was a follower of Islam. My heart sank. I thought, "There's no way he'll let me pray for him." The unit secretary was still copying records, so it would be a while before we would transport him to another hospital for surgery. I went to his room to introduce myself.

Crammed into a room slightly larger than a closet, I found Maurice, a man in his thirties with some big problems. After passing large amounts of blood in his bowel movements for three days, he reluctantly came to the emergency room. He'd managed to flush most of his blood volume down the toilet. A normal red blood cell count (RBC) is between 4.5 and 5.5. His was 1.6. His hemoglobin and hematocrit were critical. The ER doc ordered a transfusion of 6 units of whole blood for starters.

Maurice was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 15. At the age of 18 he suffered his first stroke and spent 2 weeks in a coma. At 21, he developed kidney failure and learned about dialysis. My new friend had more medical problems than most men twice his age. I explained my part in the continuing drama of his life. We chatted as I thought about how we would get him out of the tiny room and keep the IV attached to his neck from pulling out.

Maurice was curious. The moment we got in the ambulance the questions began.

"Are the lights on?"

“Yes, but only on the left side. Most people don't appreciate bright lights in their eyes."

"Not the inside ones, I mean the ones on the outside. Are the red lights on?"

I smiled and asked if he thought we needed them. He said, "I don't know, what do you think?"

I explained that we don't use red lights much between hospitals because most of our patients are stable. We talked about the risks and benefits of running red lights and siren. But I shared the story with him about the woman we transported earlier in the day who was in premature labor. "We don't like delivering babies in the ambulance."

"What's the difference between an EMT and a paramedic?"

I explained.

"What's the difference between a paramedic and a nurse?"

More explanations.

I really liked Maurice. He was a pleasant man in spite of his medical problems and he laughed at a lot of the things I said. He didn't fit the stereotype of Muslims that I'd built in my mind. He was strangely....very much like me.

In explaining the differences between paramedics, EMT's and nurses, I told him that I was a little different from most paramedics because I saw many of my patients healed in the ambulance.

With a puzzled look he delivered his next question, "What do you mean healed?"

I told him a few stories about patients who had been healed. Now he was even more curious.

"Can you do anything about my headache?"

I asked how bad it was. He said it was very painful, about 8/10. I told him I'd command it to leave. I placed my hand on his head and commanded the pain to leave in the name of Jesus. Then I asked how he felt.

"A little better"

I put my hand on his head again and commanded the pain to leave then asked again.

"A lot better."

I did it one more time. He said, "It's gone...completely gone." He was smiling from ear to ear.

I said, "Jesus just healed you."

He wanted to discuss who Jesus was, but I kept the focus on getting him healed. I told him that God could give him new kidneys, and heal his GI bleed if he would let me continue praying. He nodded in agreement, so I placed my hands on his abdomen and commanded the bleeding to stop and for his kidneys to be healed. We arrived at the destination hospital and moved him to his ICU bed. I gave report to the nurse and left out the fact that his headache was healed.

Two days after transporting Maurice, I went to the ICU to check up on him.

When I asked what the doctors found when he arrived, he said, “You won’t believe it.”

I looked at him and said, “Try me.”

With a grin he told me his doctors ordered all the usual tests - both endoscopy and abdominal scans and found no signs of bleeding. They couldn’t explain how it happened. He was completely healed and they were sending him home. He allowed me to pray for healing of his kidneys again. He gave me permission to tell his story, but we agreed to change his name.

This kind of story has become routine for me. Three years ago, after having a few dreams about praying for patients in the ambulance, I reluctantly began asking patients if I could pray with them. At that time I didn’t believe in divine healing. But I decided to try it and see what happened.

During the next six months, I prayed with several hundred patients, but I didn’t follow up with any of them and I didn’t see any miracles. The lack of results was discouraging, but I continued having dreams about praying with my patients, so I kept asking people if I could pray with them.

One morning, we transported an elderly woman for flu- like symptoms. In gathering her history I learned that she had scoliosis and a torn meniscus in her left knee. I asked if she wanted to be healed. She said she did, so I prayed with her. Both her knee and her back were healed before we got to the hospital. She had no pain and complete freedom of movement. The same day we transported another elderly woman with fractured tibia. She was also healed, almost immediately.

In one weekend in 2010, I saw three ER nurses healed of foot problems. Two of them had plantar fasciitis and one had broken the 5th metatarsal on both feet. All three women were healed instantly. In a recent transport to a cath lab for a pacemaker implantation, I prayed with a 94-year-old woman who had bilateral frozen shoulders due to torn rotator cuffs. After praying with her, it seemed nothing had changed. But ten minutes later she suddenly raised her right arm straight up in the air and said, “Praise God, it’s a miracle!” Her right shoulder was completely healed. On the same weekend, a 95-year-old woman with crippling arthritis in her right knee was completely healed just a few minutes after I prayed with her.

In the last three years, I’ve seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of people healed. One of the great myths about healing is that healing is a gift, only given to a few special people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Twelve years ago I was an atheist. Four years ago I believed in God, but not in healing. I was the least likely candidate to receive the gift of healing if such a thing existed. The truth is; healing miracles can be a part of your life, just as they became a part of mine.

Divine healing and emergency medicine may at first seem like strange partners. Divine healing is a matter of faith. Medicine is mostly a matter of science. Our culture has at times, identified these two as being in conflict with one another. But the truth is; divine healing is an excellent compliment to the practice of medicine. There are many conditions for which medicine has little to offer. The power of divine healing has virtually no limitations. While patients have a high degree of trust in the medical community, most patients also believe in a higher power.

In the minds of our patients, there is no conflict between healing prayer and medicine. In the last three years I’ve asked over 1,000 patients if I could pray with them for healing. Less than a dozen have declined and those who did thanked me for asking. When I began to ask patients about prayer – I wasn’t prepared for what I would find. I couldn’t believe how many people not only welcomed prayer, but were deeply touched when I asked. Many cried tears of joy simply because a stranger in an ambulance asked if he could pray with them. I’ve been surprised at how many agnostics, atheists, and people of other faiths have wanted me to pray with them. The ones who saw no immediate healing were grateful. The ones who were healed were ecstatic.

My observation is this; if you’re afraid your patients don’t want you praying with them – you’re wrong. More people are willing to receive prayer than you might think. This is especially true when the patient believes they are in dire straits.

Operating as a divine healer in health care is rewarding but it does come with a few challenges. I’ve met a few people who objected to a paramedic praying with patients on duty. I had a discussion with a doctor who was offended when she learned that I talked to my patients about God. In her mind my actions were unethical. She believes patients are vulnerable, seeing medical workers as experts. Her fear was that I would abuse my ‘expert’ status and push a vulnerable patient into accepting a religious point of view, without having time to fully consider it. I suppose some people may operate this way, though it seems rather manipulative. There is no reason why discussions can’t occur that allow us to share ideas without crossing the lines of sound ethical practice.

The truth is that my attempts to proselytize patients are extremely rare. When I ask a patient if I can pray with them, I have only a couple of things in mind. The main goal is to get them healed. A secondary goal is to introduce them to God in a way that is personal and memorable. I simply invite God to touch them in a way that will allow them to know He is real. And they are fully aware that’s what I’m doing. I allow my patients to hear me as I ask God to touch them. I don’t preach to them and I’m not in the habit of asking them to believe in Jesus as their savior.

If your motive for praying with a patient is to convert them to your religious belief, people have a right to question your motives. If on the other hand, your desire is to see your patients healed; your motives will be seen as less selfish and more consistent with the goals of sound patient care.

If EMS is about delivering the highest level of care and the best customer service possible, then divine healing should be a part of what we do, at least for those interested in the realm of faith. Yes, there are cultural obstacles to overcome. But there are no legal restrictions preventing us from pursuing this avenue of care.

If you’re new to this blog and interested in learning more about divine healing and how to make it a part of your practice, check out the teaching articles and video testimonies I've posted here.

Heart Surgeon Speaks Out on What Really Causes Heart Disease

This message was written by Dr. Dwight Lundell a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. The original message can be found here.

We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries, today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled "opinion makers." Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.

The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.

Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.

Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated -- it is quite simply your body's natural defence to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process, a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.

What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well, smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.

The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream diet that is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. You kept this up several times a day, every day for five years. If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same. I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat creates small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war. Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed with omega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.

How does eating a simple sweet roll create a cascade of inflammation to make you sick?

Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works.

When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.

What does all this have to do with inflammation? Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.

While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator -- inflammation in their arteries.

Let's get back to the sweet roll. That innocent looking goody not only contains sugars, it is baked in one of many omega-6 oils such as soybean. Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil; processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for longer shelf life. While omega-6's are essential -they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell -- they must be in the correct balance with omega-3's.

If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.

Today's mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That's a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today's food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and finally, Alzheimer's disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.

There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.

There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.

One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.

Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labelled "polyunsaturated". Forget the "science" that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.

The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.


http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-World-Renown-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease

Confessions of a Junk Food Junkie

I have a problem.

For the last three or four years, I’ve kept a 10 pound bag of chocolate chips in my pantry. We've made good use of them, though it was only by the grace of God that none of us developed diabetes. Part of my morning ritual was to grab a handful of chips from the bag, savoring their sweetness on my way to the coffee maker. On occasion, they would get a smear of peanut butter first. Potato chips, pretzels and Doritos occupied a place of special honor, residing in the penthouse on the top floor of the pantry. The view was breathtaking, if not a bit salty.

Nearly all the hospitals in Phoenix provide a room for paramedics and EMT’s to do their reports, watch TV and have a snack between calls. The snacks vary depending on the hospital, but chips, cookies, pastries and muffins are the usual fare. Break room refrigerators are stocked with soda, Gatorade and water.

Some of the hospitals provide free meals for us. We can visit the café between calls and pig out until the cows come home. I rarely miss an opportunity to have biscuits and gravy with a side of sausage. And some chocolate covered pretzels for the road.

This is a glimpse into the kind of lifestyle that I’ve enjoyed for the last 30 years. Last weekend this lifestyle has come to an abrupt end.

I’ve been aware of my less than ideal eating habits for years. Aware – but living in a sort of happy rebellion against the truth. I had a support group of friends who joked with me about how we’d prefer death over a bland, tasteless diet of tofu and sprouts. We’re been proud of our preference for junk food. I’ve know all along that it was all just a front. I’ve been rationalizing a deadly diet and ignoring the warning signs that a change was needed. One definition of rationalization is trying to convince your mind that something is right when your heart knows its wrong.

One of the major obstacles I had to overcome before I could seriously consider making a change in my eating habits was correcting my perception of what a healthy diet looks like. In the last few weeks, I’ve come to realize that healthy diet isn’t much different than the one I already have. Change can be frightening. But the changes I need to make aren't as severe as I once thought. (And a healthy diet still has room for a little chocolate)

My diet includes some foods that are actually healthy, like peppers, onions, carrots, pineapple, nuts, beef, olive oil and butter. In future messages I’ll discuss the controversy surrounding foods like beef and butter, which have been called unhealthy but actually provide nutrients we need.

A healthy diet includes more of the healthy things I’m already eating, while reducing or eliminating the unhealthy ones.

Another consideration (for me) is how my health affects the security my wife has in our marriage. My wife is pretty crazy about having me around. She’s come to depend on me a lot. She leans on me for emotional support in hard times and I do a lot of things around the house that she values highly. We spend a lot of time discussing life and sharing our dreams for the future. One of her greatest fears is losing me to a serious illness or premature death.

I have a number of brothers, uncles and a father who have all recently died from cancer. My wife doesn’t want me to be the next victim.

Personally, I think of heaven often and wonder what it will be like when I go there to stay. Having seen glimpses of it and having heard testimonies of the incredible things that happen there, I know it’s an amazing place. I’d be lying if I said I had no desire to go there. But I have things to accomplish before I move to my mansion in eternity. One of the main things on my list is to outlive my wife.

So my task is to take care of this tent to the best of my ability as long as I reside in it. And I haven’t been doing a good job of that. So I’ve been given time to repent; time to change my thinking and actions concerning the foods I eat. God has given me a few dreams about a healthier life. I’m inviting you to come along on yet another journey of discovery. Don’t worry. I won’t become one of those pushy know-it alls, who insists that everyone eat only the things they eat. I’ll share with you what I learn and let you decide if it’s something you’re interested in doing. If not, we’ll still be friends.

'till next time.

I wrote the draft of this message a week before posting it. In the first week of my new lifestyle of eating I've lost 10 pounds.

David Hogan - Muslim Woman Healed & Delivered

I'm at a loss for words to introduce this speaker and his message. David Hogan shares a testimony at Bethel Church.

Fasten your seat belt and hang on.

A New Direction

Suzanne worked at one of the pediatric hospitals in Phoenix. While at work she experienced a sudden onset of pain in her left arm. She was taken to the Emergency Room and quickly assessed. She developed numbness on the left side of her face with loss of muscle tone. The pain in her left arm gradually turned to numbness. An IV was started and she was given aspirin. We were called to transport her to a hospital that treated adult stroke patients. Her symptoms were classic for patients in the early stages of an evolving CVA.

I introduced my partner and I as we got her packaged for the transfer. As we disconnected their equipment and attached ours, I gathered her history, which was significant only for occasional anxiety and depression.

En route, I jotted down as much as I could recall about her present illness and made contact with the receiving hospital. They were expecting us and had the stroke team on stand-by.

"Can I share a bit of advice with you?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Have you heard about the new cardiology?"

She had no idea what I was talking about.

"Years ago, a few cardiologists began studying heart disease from a different perspective. What they found is amazing. They realized that the model of heart disease and stroke they'd been telling us about for years is wrong. All these years they've been telling us that heart disease and stroke are primarily a problem of high cholesterol. But they found that the real cause isn't cholesterol. It's chronic inflammation."

She was surprised to hear this. And I was surprised when I first heard about it two years ago. And if you're surprised, I have some eye opening news to share with you in future messages.

I've reached an uncomfortable place in my earthly journey. I've been a junk-food junkie my entire life and I've been very happy with it. But God has been speaking to me lately about making some big changes in my eating habits. My days as a cookie chomping, brownie gulping medic are numbered.

One of the features I'll be adding to this website is an occasional discussion on health and nutrition. Don't ask for details. I haven't got them. This is something new for me and I have a lot of learning to do.

I gave Suzanne a quick lesson on how inflammation works in our bodies, creating an environment that makes us targets for stroke, heart disease and diabetes. I recommended Doctor Stephen Sinatra's book "Reverse Heart Disease Now" as a place for her to start her education.

We arrived and transferred Suzanne to the waiting stroke team. She asked if she could pee. They said no. They had tight time restraints to work with in getting her to CT and beginning the treatment and told her she'd have to hold it. (Whatever happened to professional courtesy? She's a nurse for Pete's sake.)

I got her signature and headed for an open area at the nurse's station. I took a deep breath before finishing my report.

As I wrote, the busy bees of the ER gracefully raced up and down the hallways, moving the sick and injured from room to room in caffeine induced states of semi- euphoria.

Such is life under the red lights.

Cancer Healed

These two men testify of being healed of cancer.

We love you Peter and Tiffanie and we're praying for healing.

Blog of The Year Finalist

I’m pleased (and a little surprised) to announce that the this blog has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 EMS blog of the year contest.

You might be asking yourself, “Why should I care?”

Let me explain:

The purpose of this blog (at least from my perspective) is to spread the message that God is madly in love with mankind and His desire is to see us healed and set free of oppression and sickness. That message is for everyone, but this blog has a target audience or two.

Although many of my readers work outside of healthcare, the target audience I hope to reach is anyone working in the fire service, EMS or the broader field of healthcare.

A few years ago God gave me His vision for changing the world of medicine. It involves the incorporation of healing prayer as one of the primary means of treating illness and injury. Today, prayer is not one of the first options most of us consider when faced with a disease or injury. Sadly, its one of the last, even among believers.

The aim of this blog is to demonstrate that prayer coupled with faith can indeed move any mountain we face and that the rightful place of prayer is at the forefront of our arsenal of weapons against disease and injury.

This message needs to reach more people. Such messages are spread by word of mouth through people like you. We spread the message by telling our friends, posting links on our Facebook pages, Tweeting and using other social networks, and by inviting others to share the message with their friends.

The contest is a means to gain greater exposure in the world. If this blog were to be selected as the winner of the contest, it would be highlighted by several prominent publications and recruit more readers. As a result, more people would see the miraculous works of God and the teaching about healing that is presented on this website.

I said this in my last message, but it bears repeating; my participation in the contest isn’t really about me. Very few of my readers know who I am. The competition isn’t about money. I don’t have ads on this page and you may have noticed I removed the “donate” button. (It seemed pointless, since I hadn’t received any donations). This website is a labor of love. There is no other motivation I need to keep publishing this blog.

My participation in the contest is an extension of my desire to see the works of God openly displayed for all to see so that He would receive honor and glory from those who visit this site. If you share this desire, please consider getting the word out to others.

What next?

For the week of March 14- 21, readers can vote for their favorite blog. After the votes are counted the winners will be announced. There will be two voter's choice awards - one for Fire and one for EMS. This blog is in the EMS category. A third award will be awarded by a panel of judges.

The competition is steep. Some of the other blogs in the final round have 10 times more readers. But with God, all things are possible.

Now its time to get out the votes.

To vote, you must visit one of the host pages which are listed below:

To vote at the Fire Critic website go here

To vote at EMS1 go here

To vote on Facebook, go to the EMS1 page (click like) and cast your vote.

Please consider posting this story or a link to one of these pages on your social network sites. If you’d like to use Twitter, here is a hashlink for the contest: #EMSBlog12

Thanks so much for sharing this dream with me.

Praying Medic

Water of Life

I was never was a big water-drinker before I moved to Phoenix. But my first summer here taught me a quick lesson about the harsh life in the arid desert.

Drink or die.

The scorching heat of the southwest makes dehydration a constant threat. Most hospitals stock refrigerators with bottles of water for fire and EMS crews. Some of my co-workers bring gallon jugs of water to work. You might think it would be impossible to drink too much water living in the desert. And if you did, you’d be mistaken.

We arrived on scene in a nice neighborhood in Mesa. The curious neighbors stared as we pulled the gurney to the front door, which was ajar. They were expecting us.

The caregiver met me with a stack of papers and explained that our patient had been drinking too much and according to their protocol, needed to be seen in the emergency room.

It’s not hard to find someone who tips a few too many beers, but this wasn’t the case with our patient. He’d been drinking too much water. In fact, the home we were at was a group home for people with a disorder called polydipsia; an obsession with drinking to much water.

I’d only met one such patient, previous to this call. A few years ago, we had a frequent flyer who went from hospital to hospital being treated for her dangerous water obsession.

Dangerous?

Yup.

Polydipsia can be a life threatening problem. An obsession with drinking too much water causes the body to eliminate water continuously. The mechanism for eliminating water involves eliminating sodium, because “water follows sodium”. As more water is eliminated, the body’s supply of sodium becomes depleted, resulting in hyponatremia.

Hyponatremia is a serious electrolye imbalance that if untreated, can lead to death. It’s for this reason that patients with polydypsia must have their water intake carefully monitored.

The group home has a set of guidelines in place that allow them to weigh clients several times a day. If a client is found to have gained weight suddenly, it’s assumed they’ve been drinking too much water and they’re required to be evaluated at a hospital. Our patient stepped outside for a cigarette and paid a quick visit to the convenience store on the corner where he promptly downed a couple of 32 ounce bottles of water. When he returned, the caretaker weighed him and found that he’d gained 6% of his morning body weight.

He was busted.

We got him loaded and headed toward the hospital. There wasn’t much for me to do except write my report and monitor his vitals. He wanted someone to talk to so I listened as I wrote my report.

His thoughts were a bit random at first, but eventually he stumbled on the idea that God might be mad at him for something. I took advantage of the opening and shared a few of my thoughts.

“I don’t think God is as mad as a lot of people think. He understands our problems.”

He replied, “Yeah, He knows us pretty well, doesn’t he? He sees our struggles. Maybe He isn’t mad at us….. Jesus knows. He’s been in our shoes.”

“Jesus is our friend”, I replied.

With a profound peace in his voice he said, “Yeah…..Jesus understands”.

I was impressed with his understanding of the nature of Jesus. He may not be seminary trained, but his theology wasn’t bad. He is thirsty, but the physical thirst he has only suggests a deeper thirst....

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink...he who believes in Me, from his innermost being will flow springs and rivers of living water.

We arrived at the hospital and checked in at the desk. He was promptly put in a wheelchair and rolled into the waiting room, where dozens of other theologians pondered the nature of God and the meaning of life.

I hope they understand that God isn’t mad at them for being a little messed up. That’s just part of life. And if that’s all it took for God to be mad, we’d all be in trouble. Thankfully, God is in a pretty good mood.

And He likes us more than we realize.

NASA Scientist Investigates Healing Prayer

One of the strongest objections to supernatural healing is the lack of scientific evidence to support the claims that power is released during prayer. The critics argue that if such power is real, we should be able to detect and measure it.

Dr Issam Nemeh, an anesthesiologist and long time healer has teamed up with a NASA research scientist to see if the power of prayer can be measured objectively. Their findings may not be conclusive, but they do open the discussion of healing and prayer to scientific exploration.

The first video introduces the NASA scientist, who explains his proposed method of testing. The second video shows the testing process.

The Nurse Feels His Presence

It's been a busy couple of weeks on the ambulance. So busy that we've been held past the end of our shift an hour or two almost every day.

Our first encounter came on a transport of a patient going from a nursing home to a hospital for an abdominal CT scan. This was the second day in a row we transported him for the same procedure. The previous day, we brought him to radiology only to learn that his insurance company had not yet authorized the test. So we took him back after waiting for an hour. Today, the insurance approval went through.

While waiting in line for an open scanner room, a nurse came by and asked if we'd been helped. I told her we had and noticed an immobilizer on her wrist. I asked if she wanted to be healed.

With a puzzled look on her face, she asked what I meant. I told her I pray with people and God heals them. She seemed to understand but I could tell she was nervous having a paramedic ask if she wanted to be healed in a busy hospital corridor. I took her aside to an alcove out of the main flow of traffic and said, "If you want to be healed, it will only take a minute." She agreed to let me pray with her.

I asked the Holy Spirit to bring His presence and immediately I felt lightness and joy come over me and I began to sway gently back and forth. (I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this part of the job)

I commanded ligaments, tendons, bones, nerves and muscles to be healed then asked, "What do you feel?"

"Tingling....and it feels better."

I repeated the process and asked how she felt.

She smiled...."The pain is completely gone!"

I asked if she was serious. She was. Her wrist was completely healed. I told her that's how God is - He heals us because He loves us. She had to go back to work.

The next transport was to a nursing home. After dropping off our patient, I gave report. My partner took the gurney outside to clean it. After giving report, I stepped into a hallway and realized I was lost. I walked to the end of the hallway and checked in both directions looking for something familiar.

Just another hallway that I didn't recognize and no obvious clues pointing to the way out.

I decided to go to the nurses station at the other end of the hallway. But I didn't want look like an idiot.

How do you ask for directions to the front door and not look foolish?

I found a nurse who didn't seem too busy and asked if she'd point me in the direction of the front door. She politely gave me the route. And I asked how she injured her wrist.

She looked at the immobilizer and said, "I don't know. I've had a CAT scan, and MRI and all kinds of tests and they can't determine what's wrong with it. It's swollen and hurts like crazy.

"Would you like to be healed?"

"I'd love that", she said with a grin. "I was at a healing meeting last night. I do Reiki healing."

I wondered to myself ..."if you were at a healing meeting last night, why weren't you healed?"

I thought about asking, but I kept it to myself.

"Do you want to be healed?"

"Yes."

"Are you certain?"

"Absolutely."

I asked the Holy spirit to bring His presence and a few seconds later I was swaying back and forth and commanding her to be healed in the mighty name of Jesus. We were both enjoying the glory when another nurse came by and looked at us strangely.

"We're just having a special moment", she said.

I laughed inside and thought, "it's just as special for me as it is for you".

I asked how she felt.

She looked at her wrist and moved it around. "It feels good."

I said, "Take off the brace, I guarantee you it's healed."

Releasing the Velcro straps she pulled off the brace and tested her range of motion. "Wow....that's amazing. It doesn't hurt at all. There's still a bit of swelling , but it doesn't hurt at all."

"That's how God is. He doesn't do anything half way. The swelling will go down. Just wait a little while and you'll see. Do yourself a favor - get rid of the brace and don't put it back on. You're healed, for good. If the pain comes back, just tell it to leave in the name of Jesus."

It's been a busy few weeks on the Mobile Intensive Prayer Unit. God's been healing and setting people free and I just love working alongside of Him.

Thanks for coming along on the ride.

2012 Fire & EMS Blog of the Year

As part of the blogging community, I'm connected to a network of other bloggers who honor writers with an annual award. The award is the Fire & EMS blog of the year.

Anyone can nominate a blog for blog of the year. But before we go any further, let me explain why I'm mentioning this award.

I don't really care if this blog wins an award or or not. I'm already honored beyond my wildest dreams because I have such faithful friends like you who show up and read what I write and learn with me week after week. That's enough honor for me.

But this blog is about getting a message in the hands of certain people. They need to hear about the reality of God's power to heal and set people free from pain and suffering and in the process, draw them closer to God, Himself. That audience is rather large. But this blog has a small following.

The blogs that are selected to go to the final round for voting, will receive greater attention. More attention means a wider audience of readers and a greater potential to get the message out to people who need to hear it.

My desire is to see more people encouraged, trained and equipped to do the things you read about on this site. If you want to help get the word out, you might consider nominating this blog for that reason.

Of course, that's just my perspective; you're entitled to have your own.

Here is the information about the contest:

Hosted by EMS1, FireRescue1 and FireCritic.com, and sponsored by the American Military University, this contest has the goal of finding the best bloggers in the EMS and fire industries.

This is the third year of the contest. This year, we have streamlined the process and made it easier to understand.

The contest has two stages:
Stage 1 – Open Nominations (March 1 – March 10)

Stage 2 – Vote for the Finalists (March 14 – March 21)

The judges will select ten finalists for each category (Fire & EMS) Everyone will then get to vote via poll from these ten (in each category) for their favorite Fire blog and their favorite EMS blog. The voting will be for the “Reader’s Choice” winner for each category. Both of the bloggers will win a pair of ATAC Duty Boots.

To nominate a blog go HERE

Thanks for your support - PM