A New Year.

Kerissa • Jan 04, 2015

Happy new year, everyone!!šŸ™‚  I’m sorry I never wrote my usual last-day-of-the-year “reflections” post.  I was admitted to the hospital the day after Christmas and got discharged this past Tuesday, so I didn’t quite feel up to blogging.

The jejunostomy tube feeds trial failed on Saturday—I have very slow small intestinal motility and hypoactive abdominal sounds.šŸ™  It causes terrible abdominal pain, distention, and nausea.  The IV team came by Sunday to place a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) in my upper right arm.  And Sunday night, the doctors started TPN (IV nutrition) very slowly to bypass my GI tract.

Once I got home, 3 different TPN nurses from home health came by Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday to teach me and my mom how to administer and hook up to TPN.  They also drew blood work (which my GI specialist wants completed weekly) to monitor all my electrolytes, triglycerides, etc.  I also got my PICC line dressing changed twice—a nurse will be coming once a week to do this as well.

The CRPS has been flaring up a ton in my right arm from all the trauma.šŸ™  Dressing changes are so painful with all the tape removal, etc!  So my pain dr. will be squeezing me in soon to try and figure out what to do about this.  I can’t use my arm well, and the slightest touch causes severe nerve pain.šŸ™

TPN initiation has been a big step.  I see my GI specialist this Monday to go over everything and discuss continued tube feeds trials as it’s not good to stay on TPN long-term.  And for the first time ever, the hospitalist gave me and my family a serious talk about disease progression, prognosis, and how I need to get my PCP more involved because of all these changes.  It was different hearing that for the first time..

Yes, I have been and will be facing a lot of unknowns in the future, but the Lord is Sovereign!  Since 2010, each year has been getting more and more difficult as you can see, but that’s the beauty of a NEW YEAR.šŸ™‚  I look back on the previous year, and it always gives me so much hope, knowing that a gracious and faithful God will continue to carry me and my family through these ongoing challenges and trials.

It’s already 3 days into 2015!šŸ™‚  I’ve shared this before because it’s my favorite verse!  “…it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain “(Philippians 1:20-21).

 

By Kerissa Lee 23 Jan, 2024
Hi, friends, I had a whole other post ready to go with some good news, but instead, I have an urgent prayer request. I started experiencing sudden onset numbness, tingling, and weakness in my whole left leg, and it’s been so scary. šŸ„ŗ It just came on out of the blue. I was doing so well with physical therapy each week (able to walk fast on the treadmill and leg press 40 lbs), and now, I have to limp because my left leg is soo weak. I really want to avoid the ED as much as possible, so I saw one of my doctors today. She’s concerned I’m having a big motor nerve issue. šŸ˜­ The plan is to see a physical medicine specialist, have a nerve conduction study, get an urgent MRI done, as well as see my PCP and pain doctor on the 25th and 29th for further evaluation/testing. I know I already said this, but it really has been so scary to lose function so quickly. Can you pray that I will trust the Lord and not worry? It’s been very hard, so I’d really appreciate your prayers and support in the coming weeks. Thank you so much. ā¤ļø
By Kerissa Lee 01 Jan, 2024
"Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." Hosea 6:3
By Kerissa Lee 11 Dec, 2023
"This hard place in which you, perhaps, find yourself, is the very place in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him." ļ»æ Elisabeth Elliot
Share by: