The Health Factor
Do you know someone whose health issues inconvenience others?

8 years ago I was diagnosed with a lung disease, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (www.alpha1.org). I’ve never smoked so how could that happen?

Alpha-1 is genetic. It took several doctors and their misdiagnoses to be accurately identified. For years medications had been prescribed for bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, COPD, and other lung ailments. The symptoms persisted intermittently.

One night in 2001 I could barely breathe in my hotel bed. I was at a conference 3000 miles from home. Not wanting to bother my sleeping husband, I decided to try to endure it. In my denial of possible consequences, I thought it would just go away. Have you ever thought the same thing?

Thankfully I saw the sun rise the next morning. But I knew something was wrong.

Enter God’s gifts. First, the timing of my near suffocation in this particular location. Next, the conference had vendors in attendance relevant to the main theme of health care. One of the free tests they offered was a spirometry, which measures breathing capacity. I was first in line. The results were scary. I was told to make an appointment with my doctor when I returned home. I did. Armed with the records, and over time, I was accurately diagnosed-finally.

Friends, family and those I interact with have had to adjust to the limitations on my activities due to my breathing challenges. I have severe sensitivities to environmental toxins and the list goes on.

What’s my point? There have been many occasions in which I have felt less than valuable because of my limitations and how I have had to inconvenience others. Sometimes “others” have been annoyed and inflexible. Sometimes “others” have been kind and accommodating.

This afternoon, after taking my husband to yet another doctor’s appointment, we decided to treat ourselves to an early-bird dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It felt good to be able to eat out again after so many months of confinement. We ate slowly, enjoying the experience. Suddenly I noticed the manager and an employee head toward the huge fireplace nearby carrying butane lighters and paper bags. I had seen real wood logs on the grate, but assumed they were for decoration. Nope. Soon a fire was blazing in the fireplace. It was beautiful. It created a coziness on a chilly day

I thought, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

Why? Why couldn’t I stay and enjoy it? My lungs. The fumes would be hazardous to my breathing.

The necessity to make a quick exit inconvenienced both me and my husband. After 44 years of marriage, and sharing the traumas of the last 6 months, we have learned to adjust. He could have devalued me as an inconvenience, but he didn’t. He valued me by leaving together.

He struggles for dignity as he fights for recovery. I strive to value him.

Ultimately, however, it’s not our value to each other that matters. It’s our value to God. It’s how we walk out this journey serving Him.

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