Brief Update

Hello friends,

I had hoped to put together a more detailed update, but my strength is already gone. Tomorrow morning I have a 12:15 follow-up appointment with a doctor I saw a few months back to look more closely at the possibility that I'm still dealing with one or more of the coinfections that come with Lyme Disease, along with other things that could be the underlying cause of my gastroparesis and GI/neurological issues. I have a lot of questions for him, and I will need much strength to communicate.

I recently saw a new motility specialist at Hopkins and am considering having a few more tests done, but he was not able to provide me with anything too encouraging at the moment. 

As some of you know, I have been seriously praying about going to the Mayo Clinic to get a fresh look at everything. They are the best in the country for GI issues. Well, God has recently opened up a door at the Scottsdale, Arizona location, and they have scheduled me for the week of May 13th. I don't know if they will have answers, but it appears that God is leading me to walk forward in that direction and see what happens. I will share more of the story as I can. It is so encouraging to see how He has gone before me to make a way. At the moment, I have not yet booked flights because I need to find someone who can travel with me and help me during my time there. My parents would love to go, but there are significant needs at home right now, and my brother, Nathan's seizures have worsened.

One praise report is that I have been consistently sipping 3-6oz of chicken broth each day and hope to keep this up. On the other hand, my pain, GI, and neurological symptoms are increasing and worsening by the day, so it is very difficult to fight through. I have also been very anemic, so I am trying to take iron supplementation to see if I can avoid intravenous iron but that will be determined at some point this week. When I focus on how hard it is I always start to sink, but God never lets go of me even in my most overwhelming and fearful moments.

Thank you all for your prayers which continue to carry me from moment to moment! I look forward to sharing more of His faithfulness in the days ahead. Right now, I would be so grateful for prayers for peace, sleep, hope, relief, endurance. Whatever God lays on your heart.

He is good.