You may recall last year an off-the-wall post scratched out at Dunkin Donuts that a wrote on the way to an MRI lab. I had been suffering from depression and headaches, sometimes so serious that I couldn’t think straight.
Rarely, in these cases, the symptoms indicate a brain tumor or some other neurological problem. So at the expense of my health-insurance company—and possibly also to protect himself from a malpractice claim—he ordered an MRI scan on my head. I implied that I promised to post pictures, which I never did… not that they’re that interesting. They found nothing there. Uh, nothing that wasn’t supposed to be there. (As you can see from the photo above, my perfectly healthy brain.)
I still say the depression had a pretty obvious cause. And the headaches, I’m convinced were caused by stress, poor sleep, and caffeine abuse. (UPDATE: And bad diet, lack of exercise, and dehydration. Duh.)
My friend wasn’t so lucky.
I worked with Bogart Salzberg a few years ago on a successful software project for a company out west. He is one of those few developers I would heartily recommend on another project. Last month, he was diagnosed with a gliosarcoma.
That really hit me.
(Update: Bogart posted some MRI photos of his gliosarcoma on his cancer blog. Deeply creepy images.)
A gliosarcoma, in case you’re not familiar with the term, is a rare form of brain cancer. It’s similar to what Ted Kennedy died of. And indeed, if you do a web search for “gliosarcoma” or “glioblastoma,” you’ll discover how grim the prognosis is.
Reading down his list of symptoms, and seeing the similarities to mine… That really hit me, too.
The Jews have a prayer they say each morning upon awaking, entitled, “Modeh Ani”:
מוֹדֶה ×Ö²× Ö´×™ ×œÖ°×¤Ö¸× Ö¶×™×šÖ¸, מֶלֶךְ ×—Ö·×™ וְקַיָּ×. שֶ×הֶחֶזֲרְתָּ בִּי × Ö´×©Ö°×מָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה. רַבָּה ×Ö±×ž×•Ö¼× Ö¸×ªÖ¶×šÖ¸. I offer thanks to You, living and eternal king, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me. Great is Your faithfulness.
Thanking God for his faithfulness each morning puts life into perspective. As a friend pointed out this past weekend, we tend to discount God’s faithfulness when things are going badly for us. But both Jews and Christians (and probably those of other faiths, too) say grace to thank God for the food we eat. Indeed, Jewish teaching holds that it “is forbidden to taste anything before saying a blessing over it.” And there is a blessing for everything, and for everything a blessing.
If we thank God for the dinner on our tables, how much more so then for our very life?
-TimK