Walt Yocius

On Friday, March 31, 2017, my life and the life of my wife, Judy experienced a tsunami.  

I have paralysis in my lower legs and feet that makes walking or driving impossible at this time. It makes dressing, going to the bathroom and lifting your leg up one step extremely difficult/impossible. It’s like the waves of a tsunami crashing on you out of nowhere. This overwhelms your emotions, with confusion, chaos, sadness with tears, anger, fear and aloneness.

My life has changed forever. My body started doing things I didn’t understand. After a long amount of sitting working on my computer, my legs and feet got numb. Thinking I had cut off the circulation, I got up to “walk it out” with no success. So, I went to bed for the evening. Upon awaking, things seemed better but I still had tingling and numbness in my legs and feet and it was getting progressively worse. Then, my legs gave out and I fell. Making a long story shorter, I ended up in the ER and got the results of the Lumbar (lower back) MRI that indicates that I have facet degeneration of the lumbar region/ degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. In other words, I have arthritis in my lower back that is causing swelling and narrowing of the spine causing pressure on the nerves leading to numbness and weakness in my legs and feet. I still have some feeling and strength in my legs, but need a walker because my balance is so unstable. I went to my Orthopedic Dr. who referred me to a spine specialist, who wanted a thoracic(chest) MRI that found a lesion in my spine pressing against the nerves. I was referred to a neurologist who placed me in the hospital for further testing. After another Cranial (brain) /Neck MRI, that found another pressure point on nerves in my neck. They have done a spinal fluid tap and blood tests in an attempt to find out what is happening and are referring me to Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison or Mayo Clinic. The numbness, tingling and leg/foot weakness are getting worse even with the steroids treatment. I am finding it hard to walk even with a walker.   

So, my life has changed- forever.

My faith walk has kept me calm in the midst of the unknowns. I’m praying for and claiming healing and trusting His path for that healing. I am waiting to see what the answer is. I am asking God to intervene and heal my body and know that He can heal me. And I believe that God has purposes and plans for the good of me and the world He has created which I may not understand or agree with. So, I trust Him. And pray for His direction. 

As He heals me, immediately or progressively, I will be sharing with the world how much He loves me and takes care of me and encourage others to trust Him also.  

However, if I remain as I am or even get worse, I will be following His direction as He guides me down the road of life, knowing that He will take care of me as he promised.

I have no idea how this will end.