New Avenues...

So in my never ending quest to figure out why everything seems to be funtioning WRONG in my body, I have begun to research some new disorders. While I know it seems I may be grasping at straws I have found one that seems pretty promising. . .I hope I can get the doctors to agree.

These diseases or disorders or whatever you chose to call them involve the fact that I may be producing too much cortisol which comes from the adrenal gland. . .near the kidney. I have asked to be referred to a doctor that can help me have that tested. The eye doctor that I see for my optic nerves agrees that this is an avenue to look at and is looking into finding me a doctor. I am excited and apprehensive, and praying that this may be the answer...please join me in those prayers.

On another note I did see the eye doctor yesterday, 12-22, and my eyes are looking really good and seem to have stabilized. This deserves a PTL...

Again another note....

MERRY CHRISTMAS...

Life Is Crazy. . .

For those of you that think I may have dropped off the face of the earth. . .I haven't. It has just been WAY TOO CRAZY here.

On top of successfully adding about 30 matches to the Big Brothers Big Sisters School Based Program, (woohoo me) I have to do all of the paperwork that goes along with those matches. I am still not done.

Then lets factor in the fact that I have a seven year old Girl Scout who also takes piano lessons, and a 6 year old Girl Scout who is involved in Dance and gymnastics.....One of them has had strep this year, the other ran a fever for about 20 minutes then it was gone.

Oh and I have a husband too. :) Love ya babe.

Okay so on top of that IT'S THE HOLIDAYS!!!

So that is why I haven't blogged in a while. . .and why this one is also VERY short.

Shoeless at Church

Today I went to church with a really cute pair of flip flops on. I was savoring my time in the decent weather to actually get to wear them. However, it quickly became apparent that my feet didn't think they were as cute as I did. I have blogged in the past that I have been having troubles with my feet and hands swelling. I had actually sort of improved and the swelling was starting to go down. But last night, while at my niece's 9th birthday party, the swelling started to come back. As soon as we got to my brothers house, I did what I always do when I walk into any house, I took off my shoes. Well I think my feet saw their chance and they just started to "explode" in a manner of speaking. I was asked to go to my vehicle and retrieve my camera which had pictures of our newly painted house on it. I COULDN'T GET MY AWESOME HUSKER FLIP FLOPS BACK ON. So I took it easy the rest of the night, and went straight to bed when we got home.



This morning I woke up and knew they were still swollen, because it even hurt to walk. But I forced my feet into a cute pair of flip flops and got the girls ready for church. We got to church and I sat down for Sunday school, slipped off my flip flops because they were feeling extremely tight and noticed that it looked like I still had them on. I had the perfect imprint of flip flop straps in my feet. Needless to say I did not put them back on.



Essentially what I am saying with this blog update is that I would appreciate those of you who have been my prayer warriors, to go into battle again, because I do not know, nor do the doctors, what is causing this swelling. I am going to begin in the morning a new avenue of searching for answers.



I pray God's blessings on those who pray for me.

Oh My, Time Flies

Six years ago today, I was in labor, hoping my little girl would come out soon. She had other plans. . .

I was induced at 6 a.m., then I proceeded to labor for about 8 more hours before the nurses decided I could push. I started pushing around 2:30, but I also started swelling. . .which meant Myka was stuck. For some reason my crazy doctor thought that upping my dose of pitocin would allow the swelling to go down. . .HE WAS WRONG. At around 6 when he sauntered back into the room, I looked him in the eye (as only a woman in labor can do) and said, "Get this baby out." So a C Section happened within the hour. Myka had joined us. We were so happy and we still are.

Today my baby is six and on her way to the pumpkin patch with her kindergarten class.

I am feeling really good these days. My feet continue to swell at times, which we have yet to figure out why. . .but other than that, I feel great.

I Went Back So Far So Good

Okay so I FINALLY got to go back to the Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair in Hillsboro, KS. I have not been there since the whole crazy health episode started three years ago. Incidentally, this would be the week that it started too.

I was lucky enough to go with a great friend, Crystal Dieckmann, and her daughter Katelyn. We had a ton of fun, and I was literally fried in the process. Who would have thought that while it was a low 50 degrees here at home, it was 94 in Hillsboro. But it was good. The best part for me was watching the looks on Crystal's face when she first saw the show, the witnessing her excitement when she purchased a sled with the families name on it.

I say so far so good, because this week I feel pretty good. I joked with a friend that because I hadn't gone back since the whole episode started, I was hoping to go down and be healed. I am in no way healed, but I at least haven't had an episode of blindness, a migraine headache, and my feet are near as swollen as they have been the last few weeks. So really it is so far so good. . .

On another note, I am in the middle of my EXTREMELY busy time at work so I just wanted to warn all of you if it takes me awhle to post again it is because there really is NO TIME!

Turning a Corner

Eliana was trying to help Myka tie her shoes.


Preparing to leave for the first day!

This week our family turned a HUGE corner, the SCHOOL corner. Jeremy and I sent both of our girls to school this year. Yes, that is right, for those of you who know me, I was VERY excited for this day to come. I love my babies very much and would love to keep them with me, but I rejoice in the money saved! Our day care payments are no more until the summer.

Myka outsider her Kindergarten room.


Eliana just outside the Second Grade room. . .how is it that I have a second grader???

I have always respected those of you who CAN homeschool. I have also said that I love my children enough to send them to school. Now before any of you get offended by that statement, let be elaborate. . . The relationship I would have with my girls would not be a good one if I were to stay home with them all day AND try to teach them all that they need to know. I get frustrated very easily with my girls, and vice versa, I am sure I frustrate them. I WOULD NOT have enough patience to teach them. I know that sounds funny coming from someone with a teaching degree, I know it would probably be different if I had them in the school setting. What it boils down to is that I have no desire to home school. Those of you who do, go for it and enjoy, in some ways you are much stronger than me.

BLESSINGS

I Am My Own Mystery Diagnosis

A new wrinkle has surfaced in what I have decided is a real life Soap Opera. . .I am the main character and the supporting cast is all of the doctors who can't seem to make a decision. Well here is the new wrinkle or story line, if we were talking in Soap terms. . .My feet and hands have swollen A LOT!! As a matter of fact, I cannot even get flip flops on! So at night I go home an dsit down and doe NOTHING but put my feet up. By bed time the swelling goes down enough that my feet don't hurt, but not completely away. Then in the morning when I wake up I pull my block feet out of bed and begin the swelling process again. . .

I went to the doctor this morning to see if he could figure something out. . .guess what. . .HE DIDN'T. He ran a full panel of blood tests, and everything came back completely NORMAL. However, how can extremely swollen feet and sort of swollen hands be NORMAL? But then again I AM NOT NORMAL :).

Oh I want to offer a prayer point as well. . .my sister will be having a minorish surgery on Thursday. Please pray for the doctors hands and the decisions he has to make while he is working on her. Her thyroid has been "dead" for over a year and now her parathyroid gland is OVER ACTIVE! So they are planning to remove the parathyroid gland on Thursday, but the doctor has said if he does not like the looks of the Thyroid, he will take it at the same time.

Thanks for your prayers for both me and my sister, I would be as peaceful about my CRAZY health as I am without them.

Saw the Doctor AGAIN!!!

Okay, so I went back to the Dr. in Omaha yesterday. I planned and strategized with my mom about how we were going to "lay down the law" while were there, because these drives every six weeks were getting old, not to mention the time I was taking away from work. We get in there and the dr. once again says I DON'T KNOW why you are losing your peripheral vision. And mom and I both say that we can't keep coming back every six weeks when there is nothing being done. She agrees with us and suggests one more avenue. . .

She has a colleague who used to practice in Iowa City that she would refer patients to when she couldn't find the answer herself, but he has since moved to Texas. She is going to email him and ask him if he has any suggestions and hope that he has some clue as to what we could do. I jokingly told her that it would be awesome if he would come here to see me so that in the event he does want to see me, I wouldn't have to travel to Texas.

So let's go to our knees and pray that God will guide this doctor to give us the answers we need.

Reflections on a Good Life. . .

11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.14 I will be found by you," says the LORD.

I have really been thinking recently about our dear friend Curtis Lautt. I don't know if it because I am in the process of getting a children's book published that will honor his memory or if it is just God wanting me to spend some time thinking about the important things.

When Curtis went home, we were all devastated. I had only seen my husband cry one other time and that was when we thought we were losing Myka. He had been Mr. Tough guy up until Curtis's dad, Bryan, had handed Jeremy a letter that Curtis had written before he left for one of his missions trips. Jeremy keeps that letter in his Bible along witht he "program" from Curtis' funeral.

I can honestly say I sit and smile about the few days we spent in Harvey. That was one of, if not THE, most amazing journey I have ever gone on. Yes is does beat Travel Camp, AND my honeymoon.

Why you may ask, well I could literally feel God; as I'm sure most everybody there could. We arrived in Harvey just before the praise service that was being held the day before the funeral. This time was spent remembering the good things about Curtis and singing praises to God. This was when I finally got to meet Ginny and see his whole family again. The funny thing is, Curtis's mom mistaked my husband for one of her nephews. . .

I of course shared about the times I spent in Curtis and Jeremy's dorm room with the two of them, laughing until I hurt. I would watch Curtis practice his rope tricks with the ceiling fan running. I patiently waited for the time when the rope caught the fan and it came crashing to the floor, it never did. I had been amazed to listen to all of his close friends talk about what a gifted singer and guitar player Curtis was. . .Well I was there when he was first learning, he wasn't so gifted then.

I miss him dearly, but know that he is having the greatest time where he is. Maybe he is even watching over the child we just lost. . .Hug him for me okay Curtis.

I miss you. . .God Bless.

Open Arms. . .

There are babies everywhere. . .most of them of course are at church, it seems there is a new baby born each week within my church family. Each and every time there is an announcement made that a new baby has joined us, I rejoice with the family, yet a little piece of my heart breaks off. It is not my baby that has been born. I have never made it a secret to anyone that I truly desire just one more baby. . . and yet, Jeremy makes it no secret that he has no desire for a baby. So we are at an crossroads, which way to we go, my way or Jeremy's way???? I have recently gained some peace in realizing that we go neither of those ways. . .we go God's way. For His way is PERFECT!

Just before Easter, when the doctors had decided that I also needed to have my heart checked for defects (there were none). I discovered that we were going to take a turn down my road. . .there indeed was a baby on the way. I was excited and apprehensive in the same breath. . .I had had enough health issues over the past few years, that I wasn't so sure this was the right time for a baby. It turns out that God revealed to me and my family that, I was right. I was able to walk down my road for about 3 days before He welcomed my third child into His open arms.

People would tend to spend the rest of there time for me now feeling sad for me or telling me how sorry they are for the loss of a baby. The truth is, I was okay with a miscarriage before it even happened. Yes I want another baby, and Yes I can feel that baby in my open, empty arms, but you know what???

My arms are full. I have opened them and embraced God. I know that maybe there is one more baby for me and maybe not, only God can determine that. But for now with all the babies at church, my brand new beautiful niece, and the two other babies at work (my boss and another co worker have recently added to their families); I will have open and full arms for a while.

God Bless Everyone!

My Crazy Eyes and the 4th of July

Okay so my crazy eyes decided to fuzz themselves out over the 4th of July weekend. I really was not seeing well most of the weekend. It was even giving me a headache, but I chose to sort of ignore it most of the time. I have been so used to not being able to see well, that it is common place for me to have a "fuzz out" from time to time. The more I thought about it I decided that maybe there has been an improvement (crossing fingers) or deterioration in my sight again that will require a new glasses prescription. Guess I should call my local eye doctor again and discuss it with her.

We had an amazing 4Th of July. Church in the morning which was fun (always is), nap after lunch, then we spent the evening at my sisters house. My mom made some amazing ribs, and when I say amazing, all of her food is amazing so this just added to my enjoyment of the holiday. Jeremy and I took our girls and my niece and nephew to the Giltner park where they shot off something like 80 to 100 parachutes for the kids to catch. That was fun to watch the kids rush for them, plus then I didn't even have to purchase my yearly supply, I knew they were going to shoot them at the park. The fireworks display in Giltner was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Especially the final ground display, each shot had red white and blue in it, gorgeous.

Oh and the Agency I have been corresponding with has decided that they would like to go ahead and represent me so that my dream of becoming a published author is becoming more of a reality than I ever dreamed it would. The next step is to have the manuscript formally edited and critiqued.

So once again I have exciting things and not so exciting things, but God blesses me daily, and I pray He Blesses You Too!

Happenings. . .

So last week was a busy one for us. . .

The girls both had swimming lessons, Eliana was very excited for them; but Myka was not so excited. She doesn't or didn't like the water too much. She to "swim" which loosely translated means, she like to stand by the wall. However, this year she had an excellent teacher by the name of Ashton. By the end of the week last week, Myka was floating in the water without screaming. Her teacher was even able to have Myka on a noodle and walk away and have her "swim" to her. It was great. . .So great Myka gets to go back soon for some more work. Eliana was really good, she didn't quite pass level 3, but she was still able to jump off the diving board and swim to the side of the pool by herself. Something I have never done!!!

For me it was kind of an exciting week. I have long been holding onto a manuscript that I have dreamed of publishing. Periodically I try to work on finding an agency or some way to publish, but then I get distracted. Well last week I started inquiring again and was asked by an agency to submit my total manuscript. I was excited, I am taking a step forward in my publishing dreams. I was also invited to a workshop that will allow me to become a trainer on 40 Developmental Assets for children. This was exciting for me because I am an educator at heart, and this could be one way I can do that.

Well that is all for now, I will write more later.

VACATION

So we returned last Friday from a week long vacation with Jeremy's family. We traveled via a stop to see famliy in Iowa City to the Bloomington/Normal, IL area. We spent abot 4 days there with Jeremy's sister Sara. We were able to attend church with her, let's just say that the church that Jeremy andI attend would fit inside hers about 6 to 7 times. IT'S HUGE! I really did enjoy the experience though and decided that if I had to give up my small church, I could go to one like hers.

We were able to go to a small zoo one day, that was fun, there are not a lot of animals in this zoo but the ones they do have are cute. The girls and Jeremy also did a lot of swimming, I got in a couple of days, but just wasn't really into it this time.

On Wednesday morning of the week, we left Normal and went into Chicago. Sara was nice enough to get us tickets the Cubs game that was being played on Thursday. So, Wednesday was set aside for sight seeing, sort of. We arrived in Chicago and went straight to Soldier Field. Jeremy has always wanted to see this stadium so that was the first stop. Of course we couldn't get inside but we did get to see the outside. We also walked all over "museum campus." The Field Museum, which is where the house the T-Rex Sue when she is not traveling, The Adler Planetarium, and the Shedd Aquarium are all right there within walking distance. Eliana wanted to go to the Planetarium so she and Jeremy stayed there while the rest of us went into the Aquarium. There was a really neat live show with Sea Lions, Beluga Whales, and Penguins. The penguins even came out into the audience.

After the live show everyone but Jeremy's mom boarded a water taxi and we rode on Lake Michigan to Navy Pier. We did not spend a lot of time on the Pier as it was really time for us to get to our hotel. I did however, get some really neat pictures of the Chicago skyline from the boat.

All day Thursday was spent in Wrigleyville, shopping and seeing the sights of Wrigley Field. That was a lot of fun. And the CUBS WON THEIR GAME!!!

So there you have it our vacation in a nut shell, it was a lot of fun but it really is good to be back at work.

Advice Please. . .

Okay all, now that most of my medical drama is taking a down turn for a while, I will be blogging about different things. Today I am coming to you for advice. . .

I truly desire a Masters Degree, in what I am not sure. I love to learn and I love to write. I am proud of my teaching credentials and really want to keep them current, however I need to get started on something or that will not be possible. I have a few options. I can get my Masters in Special Education, which would be interesting, but I am not sure my heart would be in that. I also like the idea of a Masters in PreK through 12 Reading. I have often thought about becoming a reading specialist and helping people understand how kids learn to read and making reading curriculum better. But the other option that I have recently been considering in a Masters in English. I have been discussing with a colleague this possiblitiy, because I have been helping them with some English homework that they get from the Community College here in Grand Island. She continues to tell me that she wishes I were her English teacher because she understands it so much better. So what do I do, or what do you guys out there in blog land think would be some good options. . .

Dead end again. . .

Okay so I took some time away because there was nothing to share, however, now I have something so here you go. . .

I recently went to see my eye doctor in Omaha again, hoping that she would agree to treat me or at least try to look into Sarcoidosis again. She was and she sent me home with a prescription for Prednisone and took some blood to test again. However, I just received a phone call from her that my blood tests were normal AGAIN! Of course that made me very frustrated, what is wrong with me????? I guess only God knows.

I do feel better on the prednisone, my eyes seem much clearer and I don't hurt all over place. So I guess we continue to search and hope for more answers soon, or I just live with it. . .

Please continue to pray, because at this point that is all I have and I need your prayers.

Searching. . .

The search has begun for a doctor that will agree to treat me for Sarcoidosis. I don't think it will be hard, as I know of one doctor that would most likely do it for sure. The issue is the long term affects of steroid treatment, however at this point I am willing to try anything to get my sight back. I have an appointment with my Neuro-Opthamologist in Omaha next Thursday, we will see what comes of that.

So now that the Mayo trip is done, this blog may become very boring, unless I get inspired or something. I will continue to post about health issues, but right now our house is consumed with softball games and an upcoming dance recital. All of which are very exciting for 5 and 7 year olds.

Eliana did have her first softball game last night, they lost, but that is okay. It should be an interesting season. . .

Myka had dance recital rehearsal last night, and she has full dress rehearsal on Saturday with two shows of the recital on Sunday. Should make for an interesting weekend. . .

Home. . .

I am truly glad to be home. We have spent much time on the road the last few days, and we arrived home yesterday around 3 o'clock. Of course the first thing we did was pick up Myka from daycare, then we waited for Eliana to get out of school. Needless to say, she was very excited to see us. I am learning that I still have some of the effects of the lumbar puncture that was done on Wednesday. If I sit or stand for too long, my neck hurts to the point that I must lay down.

It is now back to the family routine. Jeremy is now outside mowing and I want to plant flowers, however, I cannot do this until he helps me till my flower bed. I am also looking at putting a new flower bed in so I am really excited about that.

We are still leaning towards a possible Sarcoidosis diagnosis. Some of the medicines I had been on before this trip really scewed the results, plus I would be in the very early stages, which makes it hard to diagnose. So I will keep you updated on that.

Plans

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, " plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.". Jeremiah 29:11-14a

Should we EVER make plans???? Jesus brought this verse to me while I was sitting in the hotel restaraunt having desert. God knows the plans He has for me, they are good plans. Plans that will lead to my well being, plans that will give me the future that He has for me. They are not MY plans, they are His. When I came back from the MRI, I was still a little sad, because it seems like we are not going to get answers from this whole trip.

I had made plans for myself, when I found out that I was going to get to come here. Those plans were that I would get to see these doctors, they would take one look at me and say, yep this is exactly what is wrong with you. God had/has other plans. HE knows that there are issues with my brain, HE knows that my vision is struggling, HE knows why and in HIS time HE will reveal it. So now I have to rely on His plans and seek His wisdom. Sometimes that is hard to do, God will give me the answers soon, I hope.

Day Four: Done with MRI's

Okay so this one wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. The Tech running the machine and telling it which pictures to take was VERY good. He was telling me how long each one would take, I think these pictures will be good.

Thank you so much for your prayers, they definitely go me through. Well time to find something to eat, my eating schedule has been kinda screwed up this week. I'm hungry!!

So excited to come home tomorrow.

Day Four: Doesn't look like we will get answers any time soon.

So all of the tests we needed to come back as abnormal have come back normal. . .AAARRRGGGHHH. So furstrating. I finally broke down today. . .I am about at the end of my rope, wish there was something actually wrong with me. These people are supposed to be the experts and they are finding nothing, really kinda ticks me off. I was really hoping that the doctor would say guess what, we don't need the MRI's, but that didn't happen. Now I will be spending at least an hour on the MRI table today at 4. NOT FUN!!!!

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray for answers, right now we have none.
• Pray that I don't continue to be discouraged, because right now I am completely discouraged and ready to quit.
• God's hand on the doctor's.

Day Three Cont'd: Pretty Sure We Are Moving In

I think the doctors have decided they like us so much, they are going to keep us. I now have to see a doctor, and have some more MRI's done tomorrow. I was so excited earlier cause the prospect of going home was looking like tomorrow, now it is looking like Friday morning. I love my little girls very much and I miss them very much.

The spinal tap went very well today. Oddly enough the thing that hurt the most was when they put the numbing medication in, it burned more than I thought it would. I'm just excited that we are taking steps towards answers. . .

Please continue to pray.

Day Three: Time to sit and wait

So Day three has truly been interesting. The good news is I got to sleep in. My appointments so far has been very early in the morning, and today I didn't have to be anywhere until 10:30. I very much enjoyed the extra few minutes of sleep.

Anyway, we first had to go to one of the hospitals here in town to have my spinal tap done by xray because of my shunt. They also measured my spinal pressure at the time, not sure if it was hi, low, or just right. From that hospital, we headed over to Mayo and now I am currently sitting on "stand by" kind of like at an airport. I have an appointment, tomorrow, but Mayo allows patients to come and sit and HOPE they can get in earlier. We are hoping for this so that we can come home tonight and not miss Myka's graduation from PreSchool. We understand that it may not work out, but then we will be spending another night in the hotel, something that is getting very expensive. I want to extend a huge thank you to my church family for the financial help that they have provided. It is definitely making a difference. THANK YOU!!

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray that we can get in today and I don't have to come back tomorrow
• Pray that this new disease that they are looking into is the right one, it is a very treatable issue, that can be treated with steroids, a very good things. If you missed it yesterday, the new idea that they are looking into is called Sarcoidosis. Sounds scary but it really probably isn't.
• Pray for safe travel and that our girls are not driving my mother too insane.

I will keep you all posted as to whether or not we get in. . .

Thanks for checking back and for praying.

Day Two: HMMMMMM

Cruddy, that is how I would descirbe today. Sorry to be so negative, but it is becoming more and more evident that we are probably going to miss Myka's preschool graduation. I have a spinal tap scheduled for tomorrow morning 10:30. The neurologist we saw today wants to check my spinal fluid since I did have a recent episode with my eyes. She also brought up a new idea of a disorder/disease called Sarcoidosis. You can look that up yourselves! :) We are encouraged by the fact that this doctor is intrigued by the case and is wondering wy this new disease/disorder was never explored, discouraged about the delay in testing and such. Back to appointments, we will come back to the neurologist tomorrow and sit one stand by (hoping we can be worked in) if we can get worked in, we will most likely get to come home tomorrow. If we do not get worked in the we will not get in until 2:45 on Thursday. Please, please pray that we will get in tomorrow, niether of us wants to miss the Preschool graduation.

Day One: Good News and Ok News

Well I have seen one doctor today. She is a neuro opthamologist. I went through all of the same tests that my doctor in Omaha did and got just about the same results. She said that my nerves look really good and she was really happy with that. BUT, she did say that she is going to defer to the doctor that I will be seeing tomorrow for answers. She wants one of the Mayo radiologists to look at my MRI scans and all of the things she did today before making any decisions. She did however predict that I would probably have a spinal tap done tomorrow. I am not excited about that.

Anyway we have the rest of the day to relax, not sure what we are going to do yet.

We Made It!!!

So Excited to be in Rochester, MN!! It took us just over seven hours to get here. We loved seeing the sights, some things we hadn'et ever really seen. The coolest thing were the WIND FARMS, they were majestic. God has made a beautiful earth and we all need to stop and thank Him for it.

Tomorrow my appointments are at 7:30 and 9:00. Will update after that, have a good evening.

Busy Day

Tis the grand day before we leave for the trip to Minnesota. All the preparation that goes into something of this magnitude is mind blowing. I have yet to pack a suitcase, or even the girls' for that matter. (they will be staying with my mom) I have yet to get all of the laundry folded and let me tell you it amounts to just about two mountains, I can't seem to keep up. I have managed to make it to WalMart today, hopefully I won't have to go back. I have fed my children their lunch, and I have successfully procrastinated by writing on this blog rather than doing the things I need to do. So I will sign off for the moment and say thank you for the prayers, thank you for the thoughts, and I will come back later either tonight or late tomorrow.

Lacie

Preparing

I have been doing a lot of prep work behind the scenes for this trip to Minnesota. Most of that prep work has been spent on my knees in prayer. I know that somehow and in some way God will bless this trip and we will come home with answers. He has been such an ever present force in my life in the last three years that I know He is traveling with us on this journey.

Please know that I appreciate every prayer that any of you send up to His ears. I know He hears everyone and will answer them all in his own time. I sometimes struggle with how much people have been praying for me. Sometimes I wonder if I really deserve the attention that others prayers are giving me. God has blessed me with an amazing immediate family, church family, and Christ family. You all love with all of your heart and it humbles me. I am a part of that love, Thank you Jesus. I guess my struggle comes from that fact that I know that there are people in this world that may need prayer more than me in this season of their lives.

• Little Sophia Hope Wymer, 9 months old, brain cancer. she is at St. Jude right now receiving treatment. She is God's child too, and much more sick than me. Please please lift her up, pray for healing, pray for comfort, pray for peace.
• All the men and women over seas protecting us. Pray for protection, pray for peace in this great fight. If you feel so lead lift up Jeremy Straatmann, he is not over seas, but he is in the Navy, and those here at home are doing just as much for us here as those over there.
• The men and women fighting the floods in Nashville and beyond. Pray for dry land.

I am just one small part of God's amazing plan for this world. I intend to do all that I can to see His plan realized and I appreciate your prayers. God loves you and me.

Thank You!!

And so it begins. . .

Okay so I am posting now. . .

I wanted this here so that some of you will be able to catch up on this journey to Mayo and beyond. I am VERY excited for this trip, it has been a long time coming. I feel like I am finally going to get some answers next week.

For those of you just coming into the story here is a brief recap. . .

Almost three years ago, I got the worst migraine ever while at the Hillsboro Craft Fair. The following Monday I awoke with very bad vision, flashers and floaters everywhere. The world had definitely dimmed in two days. Naturally I was consumed with fear, I wanted to be able to see so I called my eye doctor. While at the appoinment, Dr. Gleason said that my optic nerves were swollen and that I needed an MRI of my Brain immediately. She was hoping it would show that I had Psuedotumor Cerebri. Instead the MRI showed that I had a significant amount of white matter changes throughout my brain. This lead the radiologist to believe that I may have Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This was a devastating blow, I have seen the effects of MS on my Aunt, I didn't want to go through that.

That began the three year journey I have been on. The Neuro Opthamologist I have seen since the beginning, fully believed that there was no MS and it was in fact Pseudo Tumor Cerebri and could be treated with a medication call Diamox. This medication worked for a while however at some point in the journey, it quit working. I believe it was about the time the doctors decided to try an MS medication. Once I was on that I became very puffy and everything started to swell. So I took myself off of that, but the damage had already be done to my optic nerves and the continued to swell. It came to the point where there was no more room to swell and something had to be done. One option was a shunt that would drain the excess fluid off my brain that was causing the swelling. The other option was something called Optic Nerve Sheeth Fenestration. This would have involved cutting small holes in the sheeth that lines my optic nerve again to drain the excess fluid that was causing my nerves to swell. The risk there was that my nerves were so swollen that the doctor would run the risk of cutting my nerve too, causing blindness. Naturally we chose the shunt. . .IT WORKED WONDERS! My nerves are now back to normal size, but there was damage from the intense swelling. . .damage that will never go away.

In my latest MRI, the white matter changes have no started to invade where the optic nerve meets the brain, causing some significant sight problems. Yes I can still see, yes I do still drive, and no I won't stop until the doctors tell me too. The last time I saw my neuro opthamologist (which incidentally was my third trip to Omaha in three weeks), I told her that I was DONE, decisions needed to be made and a treatment needed to be chosen. She agreed and said lets go to Mayo!!! Needless to say that was relief to me and I am ready to find out what can be done for me if anything.

Lacie

This is just the Beginning

Hey All,

I am starting this so that people can follow me on my journey to Mayo clinic and after. Will add more later.

Lacie