Update : Can Prayer Heal the Sick?

Happy Dasara and Vijaya Dashami

Thanks a million for all your wishes, emails, prayers, texts and messages. I have undoubtedly done something very great in my previous births to have you all in my life. It is just unbelievable how many of you wrote to me, suggested prayers, sent me well wishes. THANK YOU!

Now back to my health issue. The pain continued as usual. Every step I took, I recited names of Shree Vadirajaru, Shree Raghvendra Swamy and Shree Bhoota Rajaru. I went back to the Doctor twice. She did ECG and many more blood tests. Everything came back normal, and the pain continued as is. I couldn’t sleep, nor sit. On Wednesday last week, it was just too much pain, and before going to bed, I looked at the photo of our Beloved Rayaru and asked him “Why am I suffering so much, what is the reason, is this going to be another long road for recovery just like my foot pain?”. I had tears in my eyes, even though I was very optimistic about Doctors reports and all, I am still  a human being. I can take only so much pain, right?

Around 5.30 AM Thursday morning I had an amazing dream, I was with my Husband Raghavendra in an old temple belonging to our beloved Rayaru. There were thousands of people. The Priest calls me and my Husband and gives us Panchamruta. I immediately consume, look around and everyone else is still holding it in their hands. I immediately apologize to the Priest and he says “No worries, I gave it to drink, see I will drink it to show that it is OK”. We moved forward,  and there are many people around Singing one of my favorite Rayaru songs “Raya Baro Thande Thayi Baro”. My Husband looks at me and says “Meera, you sing this song with so much devotion, why not sing here”. I tell him “No, Raghu I don’t want to sing in public”.He keeps telling me ” you are a great devotee of Rayaru, and hesitating to Sing”. I immediately sing the song. And at this point, I was startled and got woken up. To have received Panchamruta in a mutta and in my dream was an attestation that Rayaru cannot see us crying. 

It was an amazing dream and since that last Thursday, my pain has been going away slowly. Earlier, I used to take 3 800 mg Motrin. Now this week, it has reduced to 1 in the night. No more pain when I eat, or sneeze. Too much sitting still hurts, but when compared to how much pain I suffered, it is way better.

Once again, thanks a million to each one of you who sent me messages, emails, comments, texts. Many of you prayed for me. Many of you told me you were thinking of me. Many of you shared your own pains, aches and troubles. All of which showed how much I mean to you all. THERE IS NO WORD IN THE DICTIONARY TO THANK YOU ALL. IT IS A SMALL WORD. I AM HUMBLED, BLESSED TO HAVE YOU ALL. GOD IS GREAT, AND YES PRAYERS HEAL THE SICK.

From posts which talk mostly about food and festivals to this one, you may be wondering right? Let me give you all a few updates. The past few months had been busy, very hectic with work and festivals. You all saw the pictures I posted for many of the Shravana Masa festivals and Ganesha festival as well.

After Ganesha Festival, starting September 20th, I had severe cough. For someone who boasts to be the most healthy lady, it completely took over me. I don’t remember the last time I had cough in my life.

I tried everything from, Kashaya, Honey, Tulasi with Pepper, Cloves, you name it I had it. However, the cough got worse and worse to the point where I had to finally go to the Doctor.

Doctor confirmed it was a bacterial infection, gave prescription medicine. 7 days went by and nothing changed. Went back to the Doctor, and she gave me Robutussin with Codeine to sleep. Last Friday, the cough reduced a little bit.

As I was struggling here, my Daughter was suffering with severe mouth ulcers. She hadn’t seen us in months, and so we decided to drive to North Carolina on Saturday last week. We reached there and from Saturday night I started having severe chest pain.

The pain was on the right side, so we knew it was not a Heart Attack. Sneha did some tests, and gave some pain killers. By Sunday, it became worse. We decided better to be home, than in a different place and we drove back home Sunday night.

All the way, you know what I did. Kept praying to our Beloved Rayaru to help tolerate the pain. Monday morning, I woke up to pain which was so severe, and I felt very nauseated. We rushed to the Hospital, they checked the vital signs like BP, Pulse, heart and said it is not serious and asked us to wait.

After almost 3 hours the Doctor came back, did all other tests. I was all the way thinking something had gone wrong and I would be having some kind of surgery. I kept thinking it might be Appendix which might have burst, it might be a Cyst which might have burst, having the web at your finger tips doesn’t help either. You keep entering the symptoms and worry about all the issues which might have happened.

Finally, the Doctor told me I was not having a heart attack, nor was I having any serious issue. The severe cough I had for more than 2 weeks, had caused a problem called as Chondrocostal junction syndrome or Tietze syndrome.If you read about this on WIKIPEDIA, it says “The main presentation of the syndrome is significant, acute pain in the chest, along with tenderness and some swelling of the cartilages affected, which is commonly palpable on examination. Perceived pain is often exacerbated with respiration.^[4] Although many times it can be extremely painful, to the point of being debilitating, Tietze’s Syndrome is considered to be a benign condition that generally resolves in 12 weeks. However, it can often be a chronic condition. The pain can be identical to a heart attack and can cause hyperventilating, anxiety attacks, passing out, panic attacks and temporary numbness/paralysis.”

The Doctor gave me even more high dose pain killers, asked me to do some heat therapy and sent us home.  What a relief to come home without any surgery.

The pain even now is quite severe. It is hard to sit or sleep, but I can keep walking all day and night long. I am trying to work from home as much as possible. The faith and belief I had and the prayers I kept saying might have made a difference for me to bear the pain. I now know how anyone feels when they are having severe pain, and the one and only thing which kept me sane was the name of our Beloved Rayaru.

I might have recited our Beloved Rayaru’s name almost a million times the last few weeks. I am also so glad the diagnosis was not something major. I really might have done something good to have just come out of this bad few weeks with just pain.

If you want to learn more Chondrocostal junction syndrome or Tietze syndrome, read this article on the wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tietze_syndrome

Like I said, prayer, faith and belief in our beloved Rayaru kept me going. God will not take away the pain, but he will definitely help us in managing the pain. He will give us the strength to overcome the pain. He will give us the belief that all is going to be OK. He will show us miracles will happen.

It is not possible in this world to be healthy all the time, we are humans and we will have to undergo sickness and pain. The prayer and faith we have will reduce the intensity. It reiterates to me that “God listens to our Prayers”.

Hopefully, in the next few weeks the pain will go away, and Meera can be herself.

Do you think prayers can heal the sick? What are your thoughts? Share your experiences.