We Have So Much To Be Thankful For In America

Psalms 73:1, “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.”

Psalms 145:9, “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

Luke 6:35, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”

I was watching an interesting YouTube documentary today about 20 Horrible Historical Facts School Doesn't Teach. The second thing mentioned was our first U.S. President, George Washington's false teeth. A common misconception is that he had wooden teeth, but in actuality George Washington's dentures were comprised from gold, lead, ivory, human and even animal teeth. By the time George was inaugurated as our country's first U.S. President in 1789, he only had one natural tooth remaining in his mouth. Ouch! Poor Mr. Washington!

By God's grace, at age 56 I still have all 28 natural teeth in my mouth. My four Wisdom Teeth have all been removed (which many people do for various necessary reasons). I realized today how blessed I am to still have my natural teeth. I brush my teeth after every meal, and so should you, to prevent bacteria from accumulating that will rot your teeth over time. I also rinse my mouth a couple times a day with Listerine, to kill germs. Albeit, it is not good to use Listerine dozens of times a day, because your mouth needs some good bacteria.

I have suffered in much bodily pain for the past couple week. I went to the hospital Emergency Room last Tuesday. They did blood and urine tests, and a CT scan, but couldn't explain the reason for my left shoulder blade pain, and also sharp pain on my right flank (in the kidney area in back). I went to a chiropractor on Wednesday, who took x-rays, but also couldn't explain the reason for my two areas of pain. On Friday I had a MRI, and met with a doctor on Tuesday who looked over my MRI notes.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find any reason to explain my pain. So now today I have an appointment with a Physical Therapist, who will do a Deep Tissue Massage on my left shoulder blade. The doctor I saw this past Tuesday thinks I might have a deep knot in my shoulder blade. If after a few sessions with a Physical Therapist I still have horrible pain, he is going to schedule a CT scan on my neck at C5-C6-C7 (where I had surgery in 2009 and 2010, and I have surgical hardware). The doctor on Tuesday told me that my surgical hardware produced a glare on the MRI imaging, which makes it difficult to see what's going on, so there might be still a problem in my neck (in a blind spot that an MRI cannot detect, but a CT scan will).

One day at a time. I slept terrible last night, continually waking up due to the intense pain. The shoulder pain during the day is a 6-7 out of 10 (10 being the worse pain), but at night is an 8-9 out of 10, stabbing to 10 at times. The right flank pain is likewise 6-7 during the day time, but at night is about an 8. The pain is bad enough to prevent me from sleeping well. I took 100 mg of Diphenhydramine last night to help me sleep. I had my appendix removed in 1999 and my gall bladder removed in 2015, so it cannot be those organs. The CT scan showed that my kidney is okay on the right side. X-rays showed that there are no kidney stones. Pain can be difficult to diagnose from what I have being reading. I'd appreciate your prayers. Thank you.

In the YouTube video that I mentioned earlier, the narrator mentions that the first commercially available microwave oven was sold in 1947, which measured nearly 6 feet tall and weighed 750 pounds. Wow! We sure have come a long way since 1947. Today's convenient home microwaves weigh under 10 pounds and cost less than $100. We are so blessed by God!!!

I admit that last Tuesday night at Baptist Hospital, after the CT scan, I had already prepared myself for possible bad news that my kidney had failed and I needed it removed. The stabbing right flank pain was that bad. The pain has subsided somewhat since (thankfully), but it still hurts a lot, so something is still wrong. I even told the Lord at the hospital that if it was His will for me to go home to be with Him in Heaven, I am ready. You never know when pain starts in the body what it might be, anything from harmlessly sleeping awkward to terminal cancer. At my age, 56, my mind tends to think the worst. My pastor's father is now 59 years old. Just two years ago he had quadruple heart bypass surgery. So you never know. Thankfully, at least at the present time, there doesn't seem to be anything major wrong with me to explain why I am still having horrible sharp pain in two different areas. One day at a time. Hopefully the procedure today will prove to have been helpful. We'll see. God is so good!!!

No matter what happens, I choose to always remain grateful to God.