TIA
“TIA” has three meanings.
It’s your Spanish lesson for the day. Tia means “aunt.” You can impress (or confuse) her by using it at the next holiday family gathering.
TIA is internet shorthand for Thanks In Advance. Like there’s a Facebook group we belong to called “Families with Children in Central Valley, Costa Rica.” The ex-pats are often asking for recommendations and end their post with TIA. Now you can post like a pro.
TIA also is the acronym for a Transient Ischemic Attack, which the Mayo Clinic defines as “a temporary period of symptoms similar to those of a stroke.” I (Dave) seem to have had one on November 3rd.
Temporary tingling on one side of my body caused us to call a neighbor doctor friend who took me to the ER. On the way, it started on the other side. Then for about fifteen minutes at the hospital, I couldn’t quite pull my thoughts together to text or speak what I was trying to. It was pretty scary.
As I left Heather and the kids at home, their hearts and minds spun. “Will we ever see him again?” “Will he return unable to function as he did?” “What is happening?” A small army of prayer support began to rise, prompted by Heather’s texts. We were literally carried by those prayers, as 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 boasts, “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”
My blood pressure was a very high 179/90. After a CAT scan, EKG, and blood work at the public hospital came back normal, we went to a private doctor and had more blood work done. The only thing out of the ordinary was my thyroid hormone level, which was significantly off. I’ve been hypothyroid for years and take medicine daily, but at the beginning of the year, the public health doctor cut my prescription in half because of a previous lab that showed I was taking too much.
All we can figure out is that with my primary existing risk factors of minimal physical activity and carrying too much weight, the error of making too drastic a change with my thyroid meds led to high blood pressure. Adding the stressful summer schedule to the other factors likely set up the TIA.
About a month earlier at a regular checkup, my pressure was 150/90, and I was advised to make changes. That alone scared me into some action, like the intermittent fasting I’m doing. It’s simply not eating for 16 hours a day, half of which I’m sleeping.
But I was arrogant and didn’t take my health seriously enough. This TIA has been a real kick in the pants.
I’ve been walking an hour most days, usually with one of the kids. I’ve been monitoring my eating, especially how much salt I take. I’ve lost over 20 pounds, and, in general, I feel great. Sometimes I get a bit light-headed after I stand up, but it goes away quickly.
We’ve all been anxious for a day here and there, but we are growing in the strength and confidence of the LORD. Of course, it’s affected our whole family, and we’re going deeper with Him, slowing down, focusing on the present and what we can do and control, not on what we can’t. There has been sweetness in the hardness.
I feel like I’m a caterpillar who has found himself with a cocoon spun around him, awaiting the process of my Creator to unveil the butterfly He’s transforming me into. Not just physically but in every way, retrofitting me for His plan. And whatever that may be, I say yes one hundred percent!
We’re so grateful for your continued prayer support!
Love,
Dave, Heather, Aspen, Clementine, Louis, Juliana, Huxley, and Caspian Helmuth
