Prayer Request Update - Robert Collins
Prayer Request Update - Robert Collins
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Website and Contents Copyright 2011, by COGTV -- a service for brethren scattered abroad
Next Broadcast
5-Mar-2011
BELOW IS CONTINUED FROM
THIS WEEK'S ''PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE'':
(11-February-2011 Issue)
The court granted ADHR's request for a Guardian-Ad-Litem (G-A-L) and a Protective Placement Order and instructed the ADHR to go back to their offices and prepare the order for the judge's signature. Mr. Collins requested that the ADHR forward a draft of the wording of the ''proposed order'' to him for review before presenting it to the judge for signature.
The judge heard evidence from Mr. Collins' caregiver about how he and Mr. Collins had found a facility in the Collins' hometown of Alabaster, Alabama, that has an outstanding physical therapy program and a professional and friendly staff that believes they can help Sara Collins to become ambulatory (to be able walk) again. The physical therapy r-o-o-m at the facility (known as ''Chandler'') has a kitchen and a laundry area where people, among other things, practice making meals and doing laundry with the purpose in mind of equipping a person to be ready to function normally once she is back in her own home setting. Chandler has a long-term resident program -- but for those who want to return to their own homes, the local facility works to help those people to be able to return to their home mentally and physically exercised in having recently done a home-type routine.
Our opposition seemed to overwhelm the court and no decision was ruled upon by the judge as to where Mrs. Collins would or would not be placed after the hospital releases her -- cut the court did entertain and the court reporter recordered a plea on Mr. Collins' behalf that his wife be allowed to go the local Chandler facility which has the outstanding Rehab program that we inspected Monday night and Tuesday afternoon this week. Mr. Collins' caregiver asked the judge to deny the ADHR's request for a G-A-L because of the negative impact that could have against the Collins finances -- taking money needed for Mr. Collins' nutritional c-a-n-c-e-r recovery program from their monthly income. Mr. Collins' caregiver told the judge that Mr. Collins was released from the hospital on 21-January-2011 with a terminal cancer diagnosis and added that Mr. Collins had gained six pounds since being released from the hospital (going from 142 pounds on 21-January to 148 pounds on 8-February-2011) because of a super nutrition program that Mr. Collins was doing for which we needed as much of his monthly income as possible to continue.
The judge's response was that because only the matter of Mrs. Collins was before him, he didn't care about Mr. Collins. The judge actually made those uncaring, unloving statements in front of Mr. Collins with Mr. Collins right there at the bar before him. The judge's ''don't care about you'' comment put a cold chill in the courtroom. But we at least got a committment from the G-A-L that the ADHR would provide a copy of the draft of the proposed wording for the order that the judge would sign for Mr. Collins' review, before presenting it to the court for the judge's signature. The man sitting the bench in Courtroom 6 is Judge Conwill.
Again, this whole sordid situation was started through the efforts of a couple of nurses who told Mrs. Collins they were against her and were working to put her away in the Geriatric's looney ward of the St. Vincent's Hospital. At a shift change the nurse who told Mrs. Collins of their plotting against her, took the new shift nurse sitter into the hallway and told her how the mental competence examiner was lined up to come in later that night. And sure enough, shortly after drugging up Mrs. Collins with a lot of mind-dulling tranquillizers the mental examiner came in to Mrs. Collins r-o-o-m and woke her at 10:00 p.m. for the mental competence exam. Thankfully, Mrs. Collins had enough mental acumen to challenge the man for examining her at such a late hour and waking her from her sleep to do it. Mrs. Collins was spared from being put into St. Vincent's looney ward on the basement floor then. But somehow later the staff managed to get and report to the Alabama State Capitol what's called a ''level two'' mental status from some exam they were able to work up against Mrs. Collins -- and though we don't understand this fully we've been told that once the hospital submits a level two report to the State against a patient, things start happening that are hard to stop -- and that's more or less where we are right now.
Your prayers for God's wise and helpful intervention against the evils that have been started and are being done against Mrs. Collins will be appreciated.
On 9-January-2011, Mr. Collins had an appointment with his Naturopath (Nutritional MD) Linda Jarvis who was said she was very impressed with the progress that Robert Collins was showing from his earlier examination on 27-January-2011. To continue him on a nutritional program with no drugs, she wanted to know his bloood's present ''INR'' (International Normalized Ratio -- which relates to potential blood clotting). She said this was important to her because of Mr. Collins haZving been previously on a prescription blood thinner -- Coumandin (Warfarin). On the way home from the nutrionalist's appointment, Mr. Collins was able to make an appointment at an M.D.'s office the next day for the requested INR.
On 10-January-2011, Mr. Collins had an INR exam which showed his blood INR to be 1.3 (which normally needs to be up between 2 and 3). And because his blood pressure was a little low, his nutritionalist has increased the daily dosage of the herb ''Nattokinase'' that Mr. Collins is taking to help to prevent his blood from clotting. She also ordered two more herbs to add to the tinctures specific for Mr. Collins' heart condition. Dr. Jarvis added that since Mr. Collins' blood pressure is low, we will concentrate on keeping a regular rhythm and ridding the body of excess fluids.
Are we doing this in lieu of annointing and healing? NO! Mr. Collis ins making this special effort because he is beyond the ''threescore and ten'' that David references as ''the days of our years'' -- and David's inspired words add that some men live longer by reason of ''strength.'' To live longer, Mr. Collins is applying the principle revealed there in Psalm 90:10 and he's working to help strengthen himself for the benefit of brethren who look to him for certain spiritual guidance and related needs, and for his wife's sake.
Also on 10-January-2011 while trying to help his wife to be transferred from the hospital in Birmingham to the Chandler Health & Rehab Center in Alabaster for physical therapy, the hospital told him that she could not be released until he could provide the hospital with a certain paper from Blue Cross. That evening through a little difficulty Mr. Collins rounded up that paper and presented it to the hospital the next morning.
On 11-January-2011 the hospital case worker then told Mr. Collins that he needed to get Medicare to change certain records to conform with the paperwork from Blue Cross. Mr. Collins then got a Medicare supervisor on a cell phone loudspeaker who then talked directly with the hosptial case worker, Karen Andrews. The hospital case worker said that she had tried to get a live Medicare person on the phone all week and was amazed that we were able to get her on the phone that same day. Medicare directed us to call Blue Cross and aslk them to contact Medicare again. We did that.
Then the hospital case worker leveled with us -- and in effect dropped a bombshell on us. The grossly overweight woman couldn't have hit us with a heavier blow if she had knocked us over -- and then sat on us, or run us over with a Mack truck. She told us that the hospital attorney (a woman named ''Sam Coke'') and the ADHR were working in concert to have Mrs. Collins put into a phsychiatric ward at the Cooper Green hospital in downtown Birmingham. Mr. Collins has heard bad things about Cooper Green pschiatric ward going back several decades and that announcement caused him great concern.
Mr. Collins spent the Sabbath (12-January-2011) with his wife at the hospital in Birmingham. While there he learned that the hospital case worker and attorney did not work on the weekend and they would not be in until Monday. Therefore, the threat that the case worker had stated the day before that they might take his wife to the psychiatric ward on the Sabbath proved out to have no real merit -- except to cause Mr. Collins some emotional grief. The good news for the day is that is that it wound up being a wonderful Sabbath for Mr. Collins with Mrs. Collins who very much seemed to be comforted by her husband's presence at the hospital with her during this Sabbath.
Your prayers for God's intervention on Monday as we talk with the hospital and the state people involved will be much appreciated.
NOTE: Toward the end of the prep day just before the Sabbath, Mr. Collins was able to find an electric hospital bed which is very helpful to him during this time of recovery from c-a-n-c-e-r. He found it at a thrift store for a very affordable price and there are many reasons that make him believe that the unusal and timely find was a miracle from God. Because Mr. Collins elected to go completely off drugs and into a natural health program and becuase he was making some progress (but not completely yet) on the natural program, Hospice dropped him from their program and they called earlier in the week and said they want to pick up their hospital bed. But, brethren thanks for your prayers for the needs of Mr. Collins and God surprised us with the main part of a an electric hosptial bed for only $15. We still need to find the end pieces for the bed -- a header and footer of the hospital bed. We've found a nearly-new mattress for a very reasonable price. We'll need a rolling dining tray because Hospice will be picking up the rolling dining tray that they had provided for us also.
Thank you again for your prayers. We had a great Sabbath today. There's a possibility that Mr. Collins will make a live address next Sabbath from his home via the web screen on the main home page at: http://www.COGTV.org at the scheduled times shown there.
You may check back here for further updating during the week as things may be developing throughout the week.
You can send cards of encouragement to Mr. or Mrs. Collins directly to their home address as follows:
Robert & Sarah Collins44 Southwood DriveAlabaster, AL 35007-5380Write-up by Stephen L. Gilbreath
Preaching elder Robert Collins and church brother Ray Greene spend time with Sara Collins on the Sabbath (12-February-2011) in her quarters at the St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
Mrs. Collins said twice today that she greatly desires to released from the hospital and be sent over to the Chandler Health & Rehab in her hometown of Alabaster, Alabama, to begin physical therapy to regain the full use of her arms and legs.
20110212 -- Cell Phone Photo by Stephen L. Gilbreath
