Please pray for Father Photios of Bakersfield

[frphoti]

Thank you and God bless you Barbara for your emotional support and prayers.

I have been suffering this for about 13 years. It all started when I was tackled by a bunch of people playing football. I bent down and they cranked my neck. On and off over the last decade, I would sleep wrong or do something major and "tweak" it, causing me a few weeks of a very stiff neck. I am somewhat of a gigantic child and am very animated in my description of things. In 2006, just before my ordination to the diaconate, I was describing a child fighting sleep during the Paschal services just before the paschal vigil. I was bobbing my head back and forth imitating this cute child trying to stay awake. He looked like a Jew at the Wailing Wall. Well, that was a short-sighted thing to do, and I messed my neck up really bad.Since then, the problem is as I have stated above and worsening.

I have been to chiropractors, medical doctors (who saw the injury with an MRI), massage therapists and God. It appears that it is my cross to bear, and that I have to live with it. While the professionals provide some temporary relief, nothing has fixed the problem entirely. It is for my humility. Glory to God for it!

Thank you again, all of you, for your prayers. May God bless you.

[Barbara]

No no I don't think you are stuck with this cross, though this is the humble approach which is pleasing of course to God.
Still it doesn't sound like this was meant to be, at all.

An MRI showed it ? Was it very obvious to the resident ?
Did they try to push you to let them operate to alleviate the disc problem ?

Don't give up, though it sounds really grievous. Have you applied any Arnica Oil ?
Let's see what else we can think of.
Something is GOING to work.

Herb-Pharm, a West coast company, has a nice Arnica Oil. It is the type for EXTERIOR use only. There is another
type which is a tincture which wouldn't hurt, too.

It's WORSENING ? That's terrible ! So sorry for you.

Cheer up, something will show up to ameliorate this condition.

[Maria]

I also have a bad neck from a trampoline accident when I was in high school many many years ago. Then it was compounded when I was in a bus accident. Three football players rolled on top of me when the bus stopped suddenly. I had just given my seat to an elderly passenger. Passengers heard the crunch of my neck bones. Had the sweet old lady been crushed, she might have died.

After praying to St. Panteleimon, I was inspired to look up medical magnets online and found a wonderful company. When I tried magneto-therapy, it worked and relieved pain within five minutes. And this is not superstition or new age stuff. In Portland, Oregon there were magneto-therapy experiments involving a young girl with cerebral palsy. She was given four hours of treatment per day for a month in a machine similar to an MRI with lots of magnets. The results were almost miraculous. Her body straightened out, her muscles began to relax, she began to speak, and most importantly, she began to smile.

May the Lord continue to heal you, Father Photios, so that you may continue in the ministry.