I had been deteriorating in my symptoms, but it had been happening so slowly that I was unaware of just how badly I was doing.

At the time, I was teaching three sections of Christian Studies to 7th Grade students at Oak Grove. I was having a great time getting to know the kids, but frustrated at my inability to “lecture” for more than a few minutes at a time. I could eat lunch on the days when I didn’t have a class after lunch, but many things were on my “cannot chew” list. 

Since July of 2022, I had also been preaching at a couple of churches in the Grand Forks area. On the first of the month I would bring the message and communion to Beaver Creek or Sharon ELCAs and always to Holmes UMC, a rural congregation near Reynolds, ND. On those Sundays, over the months, I had gone from being able to easily preach a sermon to struggling to preach for 10 minutes. This was then followed by mumbling my way through the Great Thanksgiving. If you know me, you know that being unable to lead Communion well was hard on my spiritual well-being.

Things weren’t great, but that’s why I still have regular appointments with my neurologists.

So, I went to see my Neurologist in Fargo on February 14. After about five minutes of conversation and exam, he stopped the tallying of my physical symptoms with “Well, I’m not going to put you in the hospital, but you’re not doing well.” After I recounted this story to Aimee, her response was: “What did you tell the Doctor that kept you out of the hospital?" 

The doctor prescribed a treatment that he had wanted to put me on a year before. My Insurance (which is really great—I cannot say that enough) had wanted me to try the other treatments for a year, but that year had gone by, and now I was eligible for these infusions. The treatment I am on now is an antibody treatment, in the class of, but not quite the expense of, the treatments you see advertised on TV.

When I was finally approved for this infusion, I received it as quickly as possible, on a Thursday afternoon. As fate would have it, I had agreed to preach for a colleague that Sunday. My colleague was aware of my ongoing difficulties, and had arranged a volunteer to read the liturgy and lead prayers, so all that was required was the Sermon. But, I felt great.

On that Sunday, after the opening of the worship, I felt so normal that I just kept going. I led worship, read Scripture, prayed the Pastoral Prayer, and preached for 23 minutes. It was a medical miracle. Just a couple of weeks before, I should have been in the hospital, and now I was preaching. What a blessing. I actually preached three times in the next three weeks, filling in for colleagues and preaching at Holmes. But now, I had a problem.

I’m going to end my story here today, but there will be another update coming!

Thank you for all your continued support, prayers, and love.

Dayne