I believe there was a 1980’s Rolaids commercial about relief.  How consumer-focused we communicate using the ideas we have seen in old television ads.

Last week I saw real relief.  One of our patients was suffering from constant and worsening air hunger (he has emphysema).  Air hunger is one of the most devastating symptoms.  It is the persistent sensation of almost drowning.  For the patient, release from the constant struggle to get air came 7 minutes after he received his first low-dose morphine.  He is enjoying his last days and weeks much more now.

Misery is watching a loved one suffer like that, and not being able to do anything about it.  In hospice work, we provide tools for family members to care for their loved ones.   Relief for this out-of-town family member occurred when we called for a continuous care nurse and a bottle of liquid morphine. 

I’ve written about the many uses of morphine in end of life care.  In this setting we used it to control the sensation of air hunger.  It works very well, and if given in low doses, has few side effects.

“Even if you bring a cup of cool water to the least of these it is as if you have done it unto me” . . . that’s a loose paraphrase of one of Jesus of Nazareth’s many great sayings.  In this case it was bringing a bottle of morphine.

A local physician asked us to take one of her patients who is suffering from multiple sclerosis.  What a discouraging disease this one can be.

MS attacks younger people, usually women.  It strips the nerves of their outer covering, making them useless.  The patient experiences weakness, pain, and loss of bodily control.

It varies in severity.  Some folks lead a fairly normal life.  Others are wheelchair or bed confined.  Depression occurs frequently, which isn’t a surprise.  Complications from immobility are common: bed sores, lung and kidney infection, immune suppression, and constipation.  Life expectancy shortens.

Hospice gets involved when there is a rapid decline in function and the patient has a concomitant illness such as anorexia or lung disease.  We, at Texas Hospice, try to minimize pain and depression, provide assistance to family caregivers, and spiritually nourish everyone involved.

I wonder if the lame man whose friends lowered him through the roof to be healed by Jesus suffered from MS.  It is interesting what Jesus did and said in that moment.  At first, he told the ill man that his sins were forgiven.  When the doubters scoffed (these were the religious know-it-alls), Jesus healed the man’s infirmity to prove that He held authority to heal bodily, and to forgive a sinner’s sins.

If Jesus is who He said He was (”Before Abraham was, I AM” John 8:58), why didn’t He snap his fingers and instantly heal everyone within 5 miles of him?  He had that power.  I suppose He wanted something more valuable than the man’s physical wholeness.  He desired to be personal with the man.  To become his Lord.  To draw out of the man his deepest longings, and in doing so have intimacy with him.

If I suffered from MS, it would be hard for me to believe that anything could be more valuable than being made physically whole.  Jesus’ way of  healing tries to teach us that relationship with the loving Creator is the greater/est treasure.