Be Inspired

I'm beginning this week knowing that in a few days, I will sit with my doctor and discuss what we do next, which treatment do we try and then hope for the best that this one might work. I trust the Lord will give me guidance. But still, I know how easy it can be to feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of finding medical treatment for yourself when you have a condition that few doctors treat and many ostracize. People say 'you are your best advocate', but all too often, you are sadly your only advocate. And while opinions are changing in our favor in the medical community, it's still a battle to find and receive adequate treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease. So this post today is as much for me as anyone who chooses to read it; I too need to be inspired.

The clip below is from one of my all time favorite movies, Patch Adams. Based on a true story, the movie tells the story of a man who set out to change medicine from a biological model to a HUMAN model. I am inspired all over again each time I watch it- encouraged to always consider the entire person, reminded to laugh more, and challenged to see beyond the parameters that currently exist. The clip I've posted below is Patch's monologue when facing charges of practicing medicine without a license because he was welcoming people with no health insurance to come and receive free help and advice at his ranch. Watch...

Dr. Hunter Patch Adams dreamed of founding a free hospital, and later he would- the Gesundheit Institute. I know I often dream of what it would be like for there to be a place where Lyme patients could go for treatment- effective, holistic treatment- and I'm sure others of you do as well. And it's in the works. Mara Williams, author of Nature's Dirty Needle, is bringing this dream to reality at the Inanna House. I encourage you to look into what's building there, encourage their founders, and spread the word. And in the meantime... Cheer on the advocates and physicians who are passionate and compassionate. Pray that they may spread their knowledge and the fire within them amongst the rest of the medical field.

And you yourself, whether a Lyme patient or not, be inspired today.
Indifference, mediocrity and apathy, these are the greatest diseases of all.

With love--
Samantha