2025 – A Summer and Fall of Surprises – God has a Plan and Purpose for Our Lives – Part I

It was great to retire in January 2025, looking forward to spending time with my wife, Stephanie, and doing some travelling we had been putting off for years. At 73, I was ready to refocus my attention after decades of devotion to various employers, many of those years commuting back and forth to Atlanta on a weekly basis.

To be totally honest, my retirement was also necessary to help Stephanie deal with some health issues that caused her to step away from her work as a tour guide and interpreter with the Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson, under the ownership of Historic Augusta. Those issues worsened in 2025, resulting in two hospitalizations in June and July, including a couple of seizures in July. The family naturally was quite concerned about her health, and worried that this would end very badly.

During this time, I was Stephanie’s chief health advocate, working with physicians and questioning things, as hospital stays now require constant vigilance, creating lots of stress. I felt I couldn’t trust the system, with oversight by a variety of hospitalists.

I was in good shape at the time of the two hospitalizations, at least I thought so, and kept up my exercise routine and sleep, although I got several calls in the middle of the night, which stressed me, afraid I would miss a call from the nurse or from Stephanie alerting me to any health changes, and potential movements to a more intensive care units, which happened.

During the second hospitalization, following a severe seizure at home with Stephanie, which I witnessed along with my daughter and called 911, I began to notice a slight change in my voice, and having trouble swallowing food, which I thought would be temporary.  Things gradually improved with Stephanie after being discharged from the hospital, and she returned to overall improved health, to the point that she was recently able to return to work a few hours per week.

In August, my speech became slurred, while swallowing food and drink became increasingly difficult.  I made an appointment with an ENT physician and became concerned that the presence of aches in my stomach and esophagus could be cancerous, so I consulted a GI physician to have an upper GI endoscopy.  So far, a biopsy has been completed with two follow up CT scans, with no cancer so far.  One more endoscopy has been recommended by the GI doctor, to be sure with a suspicious lymph node in question. 

My ENT ordered a speech analysis, with a speech therapist doing an uncomfortable procedure, inserting a thin wire probe with light and camera through my nose to examine my vocal cords. The ENT concluded my problems were neurological in nature and referred me to a neurologist, with the earliest appointment available in January 2026.  Today, I meet with a speech language pathologist to do a two-hour swallow study in radiology at Piedmont Hospital in Augusta. 

It gets better, literally, as I found an earlier neurology appointment at Emory Healthcare, in Atlanta, in two weeks. Meanwhile, my voice has become monotone, without much inflection, and less audible, and eating a meal with drink can be difficult to consume, with some choking. Despite these issues, I can otherwise do normal daily activities and exercise.

I remember praying for Stephanie in early July, pleading with God to return her to her normal state, and I would do whatever He asks me. Stephanie returned mostly to her earlier healthy state, and perhaps in return, I was asked to endure physical setbacks, so I thought. Maybe through my recent health challenges, there’s a purpose in helping others, although I have not met and heard of another person yet with speech and swallow issues.

As these conditions unfold, I will keep you posted, and I much appreciate your prayers for me and Stephanie too. 

Blessings!

-Joe