Keeping the Faith

Kerissa • January 29, 2014

This recent article makes me happy. :]  It’s pretty much the only happy news in this post. lol


_________________

I saw my GI specialist on Monday.  As of now, I don’t have to alter my medications for all the GI stuff, but I’ll follow up with Dr. P again in 3 months or so.

Thursday I have a return appointment/x-rays with my spine dr. to check up on my cervical spine instability from the EDS..  Every time I get a new set of x-rays, there’s been a slow increase in vertebral slippage, so we’ll see how it is now.. :/

Trying not to stress or grow discouraged about it, but starting last week, I’ve been losing my grip in my right hand.  *sigh*  Seriously, something new always comes up every 2-3 months!  It’s hard to explain, but this seems more than just weakness.  For example, I was holding my phone in my right hand the other day, and I suddenly dropped it on our hardwood floor because my grip didn’t stay.  Another time last week, my mom trimmed my bangs, and I held newspaper underneath to catch the cut hair.  My right hand grip of the paper suddenly let go.  It’s as if my brain is not sending signals to my hand…  My neurologist is usually booked out months in advance, but by God’s grace, she has an opening two weeks from today.

I hate that my case is always so complicated. :[  I’ve never had something as simple as a broken bone….I don’t have a common disease like arthritis or diabetes or heartburn.  Instead I have disorders people have never heard of—all my genetic mutations are associated with diseases like distal hereditary motor neuropathy, central core disease, charcot-marie-tooth disease, minicore myopathy, malignant hyperthermia, mitochondrial disease, and many others.  What makes things worse is that they’re all similar in nature.  And THAT’S why I’m a hard case for my doctors.

And IF this new symptom is related to distal hereditary motor neuropathy (a motor disease of the spinal cord) or the like, pray that I won’t go crazy from all these countless diagnoses.  Serious!


“It seems like there’s so much to hope for
So many dreams I wish they all could come true
But when I think about Your ways, Lord
It gives me so much faith in all that You do

Faith to see beyond what I can see
Faith to know that You will do great things
I will trust You, Lord, I’ll always believe
As I hold onto my faith,
Jesus, You are holding onto me”
~partial lyrics from one of my favorite songs
By Kerissa Lee October 19, 2025
Dear friends, At the beginning of October, I started taking a new medication for the autoimmune disease. I thought I was tolerating it just fine, but after several days passed, I began experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, weakness all over, and increased pain. 🙁 It’s like I’m experiencing another “mito crash.” I found out that this specific lupus medication affects mitochondria. That is, it causes an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This, in turn, causes cell damage and oxidative stress. I sure wish the rheumatologists would have known about this before prescribing. But I have to remember that Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome is rare, and they’re not “mito experts.” Anyways, the last time I felt like this was back in May.. I’m so grateful to God that I haven’t needed to be hospitalized from this, but at the same time, I’m also sad that this happened at all, especially because I had such a nice stretch of stable health. I’d really appreciate your prayers, that this muscle weakness can resolve soon, and that this increased pain all over will get back to my baseline. Every time I have a “mito crash,” it feels like I’m fighting the flu which always sucks. The pain has been hard to bear. And whenever I’m in the thick of it, it’s difficult to remember that this too will eventually pass. 😢 Pray that I will endure and follow Jesus’ example like this passage from Hebrews 12:1-2– “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...” Thank you all so much for praying for me. ❤️
By Kerissa Lee October 4, 2025
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3
By Kerissa Lee September 3, 2025
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23