Happy 1st of May!
Kerissa • May 2, 2013
- Alpers Disease
- Barth Syndrome/LIC (Lethal Infantile Cardiomyopathy)
- Beta-Oxidation Defects
- Carnitine-Acyl-Carnitine Deficiency
- Carnitine Deficiency
- Creatine Deficiency Syndrome
- Co-Enzyme Q10 Deficiency
- Complex I Deficiency
- Complex II Deficiency
- Complex III Deficiency
- Complex IV Deficiency/COX Deficiency
- Complex V Deficiency
- CPEO
- CPT I Deficiency
- CPT II Deficiency
- KSS
- Lactic Acidosis
- LCAD
- LCHAD
- Leigh Disease or Leigh Syndrome
- Luft Disease
- MAD/Glutaric Aciduria Type II
- MCAD
- MELAS
- MERRF
- MIRAS
- Mitochondrial Cytopathy
- Mitochondrial DNA Depletion
- Mitochondrial Encephalopathy
- Mitochondrial Myopathy
- MNGIE
- NARP
- Pearson Syndrome
- Pyruvate Carboxylase Deficiency
- Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Deficiency
- POLG Mutations
- Respiratory Chain
- SCAD
- SCHAD
- VLCAD
Whew! All THESE names are the many types of Mitochondrial Disease (and no, I didn’t memorize all this… ;). This, my friends, is what I’m going up against. : I have a long road ahead of me. I may have one of these or several (as some go together)… But nothing is impossible with God!
Still waiting on blood work… The doctors are first checking my mtDNA for deletions/duplications.. Then, if that’s normal, they will keep going deeper in..
Next week, I have an appointment every single day except Friday… It’s gonna be busy!! I see my neurologist on the 8th, and we’ll go over the Cincinnati trip and what to do next.
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Now, on to more light-hearted stuff.. Our visit to the Creation Museum (by Answers in Genesis) on our last full day in Ohio was an amazing experience! If you’re ever in Kentucky, I highly recommend visiting it because it won’t disappoint! The Creation Museum not only explores the 6 days of Creation. We learned about fossils, Noah’s ark, evolution, Jesus, the ice age, and a whole lot more! Plus, their Dragons bookstore was soooo much fun! I bought this super cute turtle necklace that has a hematite stone on it!
Enjoy the following pictures!! Sorry that a lot of them are out of order!
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Andddd….because I have pain and lots of other conditions, it’s only appropriate that I take a picture of this. |
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Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel |
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| This exhibit actually displayed some of the first Bibles to be printed! But no cameras were allowed in it, so I had to take a picture of this. |
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| getting ready to eat lunch in Noah’s cafe! |
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| It wasn’t a very sunny day, and it was too cold to walk around in the gardens. But doncha think the landscape is beautiful? |
Dear Dr. Phillips, There aren’t enough words to express how thankful I am to have had such an amazing GI doctor like you these past 13 years. I think of all the hard challenges that have happened starting at age 20 and beyond: experiencing GI dysmotility, not being able to eat “normal” foods without terrible abdominal pain/distention, only tolerating soft consistencies like baby food pouches (which was not fun as a 22 year old!), needing an NJ tube placed down my nose, having a jejunostomy tube surgically placed, then no longer tolerating tube feeds, dropping down to 77 pounds, getting admitted the day after Christmas to start TPN, being surprised by the extremely high copper levels on my liver biopsy and starting treatment for that, going through septic shock which caused ischemic hepatitis (remember when my liver function test was 1674!), having sepsis 5 other times from multiple central lines and ports, requiring urgent surgery to remove my gallbladder, needing D10 added to my IV fluids for numerous mitochondrial crashes, and much more. Through all the highs and lows, you were there for me, and I truly feel like I hit the “doctor jackpot” to have had a GI specialist as caring, compassionate, knowledgeable, and kind as you. I shed quite a few tears to my chagrin at my last in-person appointment with you in February 2026, and I still do as I reminisce and write this letter. But, they aren’t just tears of sadness. They are also tears of gratitude—I know this journey would have been much more difficult if I didn’t have your wonderful care and support all these years. I’m so happy that I was able to get off of TPN back then after 5 years of being on it. Not only that, but I’m so thankful that I can eat orally to my heart’s content without pain and abdominal distention. I know that’s in part due to you, so thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so very much for caring for me. I will never forget you, and I wish you all the best as you start your retirement. :’) With immense gratitude, Kerissa
"God is always doing more than we know, working toward a good we will one day rejoice in." -Lysa Terkeurst
Hi, friends, I would really appreciate prayer. Some of you already know this, but at the end of January, I started dealing with an abdominal abscess right next to my j-tube. I looked back through my records, and that was my 6th abscess. :( Since then, it’s sadly been one issue after another. I won’t go into all that has happened, but I’d especially love prayer for my j-tube site. After the abscess, I had my tube changed to a new one on 2/27. The surgery nurse practitioner decided to try the next size up to see if it could possibly decrease some of the leakage, but unfortunately, that was the wrong decision. It’s too large, so now the site is leaking tenfold compared to my previous size. The small intestinal fluid that keeps leaking out around the tube is full of acid which is burning my skin and making it raw. 😭 If you want to know what it feels like, imagine having a bad burn on your skin…then, on top of that, imagine acid being poured onto the burn every hour continuously. That’s how much pain I’ve been in, and I haven’t been able to sleep very well until after 6:30-7 AM each night because the burn is so intense! :’( I could cry, and I have—that’s how bad the pain is… I would show you a picture of the site but it’s not pleasant. 🥺 I’ve been emailing the nurse practitioner every single day, asking to have the tube changed back to the previous size. She hasn’t been helpful. I’ve tried all of her recommendations, but they aren’t fixing the root cause. I had to get an x-ray with contrast earlier today to check tube placement. If she does eventually agree to have the tube changed, I don’t know how I’ll bear the pain of the procedure… Remember, they don’t use sedation for these procedures (my GI specialist is shocked they don’t!), and even though I’ve been asking for lidocaine to be injected for past tube replacements, how do I bear to have needles pushed into such raw tissue?! 😭 Please pray that I will be courageous and strong in the Lord. I think of the verse from Philippians 4:19, and it’s comforting: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” He will grant me the peace and strength I need to be brave. His grace is sufficient. ❤️
