Tim's Story: A Spiritual Perspective of Health

By MD Ed Dodge

This book is a short health guide based on new scientific findings that our bodies are built on a foundation of energy. We are learning through research that spiritual qualities like love and hope, once considered as being outside of the realm of science, are in fact powerful factors in determining our health. Science cannot say that we are spir

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Jul 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648954955

MD Ed Dodge

Ed Dodge grew up as a missionary kid in Angola, Africa, in the 1950s. Some of his adventures included living in the frontier territory of northern Angola, hunting for wild game, and traveling across many poorly charted areas of Africa.Ed obtained his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and his Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University. He taught public health in Ethiopia for two years and then became a public health director in rural USA. He concluded his career in the USA as a family physician with a teaching appointment at the University of Florida. After retirement, he volunteered with Volunteer in Mission teams in Africa and was appointed as an adjunct professor of health at Africa University from 2010 to 2015.Through his experiences, he grew to understand the value to health of the whole person being embraced-body, mind, and spirit. Tim's Story describes this emerging trend in medicine and defines the individual's responsibility in this new paradigm of health.In 2019, Ed was given the 2019 Healthcare Heroes Award by the Citrus County Chronicle, Crystal River, Florida. He was chosen for this award by his peers in Citrus County, where he had practiced for twenty-five years. In 2020, Dr. Dodge was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by Who's Who.

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Preface

Cutting-edge research is transforming our basic understanding of biology and health today. This work is concentrated in laboratories of leading research institutions and universities around the world.

Much of the information coming out of these labs seems incredible, but truth is stranger than fiction. The truth is that scientists are revolutionizing our understanding, not only of the universe, but of our own inner workings. The deeper we probe, the more we find that we are beings of energy, not simply consumers of energy.

We are learning through research that spiritual qualities like love and hope, once written off as being outside the domain of science, are in fact powerful factors in determining health outcomes. We are learning that the energy of intention can influence other living organisms, perhaps helping explain why prayer can be effective.

This book is a short health guide written with these new scientific findings in mind. It points toward a spiritual perspective of health. Science cannot say that we are spiritual in nature, but if our essence is energy, it is not a great stretch to conclude that we are spiritual beings. Whether we make that stretch or not, responsibility for our own health is clearer now than ever before.

Your health is not something that can be maintained by anyone else—not parents, spouse, or doctors. It certainly cannot be maintained by any institution. The most important factor in the quality of your health is how well you care for yourself. Tim’s story sets the stage for this new paradigm of health. I hope this small volume may be of help to you.

Ed Dodge, MD

Acknowledgments

First Edition

My thanks go to countless people who have helped in the development of Tim’s Story. Thanks also go to a number of people who graciously read an early draft of the manuscript and gave me helpful feedback. That list includes Carol Dodge, Ralph Dodge, Randall and Colleen Dodge, Jeffrey and Tammi Dodge, Paul and Amy Alford, Clifford and Sandie Dodge, Peg and Len Miller, Lois Stewart, Gerry Mulligan, Les Saunders, and Tom Thorpe. Lois Stewart in particular was very helpful with many detailed editing suggestions.

Special heartfelt thanks goes to my wife, Carol, who read every word in multiple drafts of the book. She made many editing recommendations that were a great help. In addition to textual editing and proofreading, she made many valuable suggestions to improve the general readability of the book. Her support in every way was invaluable. Thank you, Carol!

Acknowledgments

Second Edition

Thanks to Zoey Morgan and the editing team at Stratton Press for their help in updating my book.

Tim Goes to Africa

Tim was born in Salamanca, New York, in 1936. He was the firstborn child of a young couple who planned to become Methodist missionaries in Africa. The dark continent, as Africa was then known, was rife with unknown hazards. A newborn baby might have stopped some couples, but Ralph and Eunice were both idealistic and determined. Tim was three months old when they left America.

Upon arrival in Angola, Ralph and Eunice were assigned to work in Luanda, the capital city. Busy with mission work, they delegated Tim’s care to Julia, a motherly black nanny. She carried Tim swaddled on her back while she did housework, just as all Angolan mothers carried their babies. Belonging to the Kimbundu tribe, she spoke both Kimbundu and Portuguese. Since Tim spent most of his waking hours with Julia, his first language was Portuguese. English came a bit more slowly—early evidence of the advantage and disadvantage of growing up in the midst of different cultures.

The advantage was that Tim learned more than one way to say or do things. No single way was perfect. The disadvantage was that, betwixt and between cultures, he belonged to none. For many years, he felt like a misfit wherever he lived.

Infectious diseases were a hazard in Africa; chief among them was malaria. All missionaries took quinine daily to ward off malaria, but it was not completely effective. In traveling to churches throughout his far-flung district, Ralph was exposed to malaria constantly, and it was not unusual for him to come home with fever and shaking chills.

Children and babies also had to take their daily dose of quinine, even though it was exceedingly bitter. Tim fought his daily dose vigorously, so when a missionary nurse gave his parents a new chewable quinine pill for babies, they were delighted.

A toddler by then, Tim chewed up his new pill with gusto every day. However, he began to suffer from chronic diarrhea, lost a third of his weight within a few months, and became too weak to stand. By the time he was a year-and-a-half old, he could only lie in his crib. His desperate parents finally called a Portuguese doctor. The doctor could find no explanation for Tim’s difficulties. Puzzled when told about the chewable quinine pills, he asked to see them.

After carefully reading the Latin inscription on the bottle and then chewing up a tablet himself, he snorted explosively, This is not quinine! It is calomel. Calomel was a mercury compound widely used laxative in that era. The mystery was solved: Tim’s diarrhea was due to the laxative effect of calomel, and it was reversible. The mercury toxicity was more serious. The doctor