Longing..

Kerissa • August 9, 2012

Yesterday was a longgg day.  So tired now.  We arrived at the Center for Health and Healing at 7:15 in the morning and didn’t get home till after 3:00.  Almost 8 hours spent there!

Anyway, here’s an update on my left hand/arm:

Things are about the same.  It’s still swollen, stiff, and discolored.  Heat makes my hand swell up to the point that I can’t “make a fist.”  Cold air (like wind and A/C) “burns” my skin.

My pain dr. set up another treatment plan for me:

I’m to try mirror therapy again and start up physical therapy once more.  I couldn’t even stay away from rehab for 3 weeks.  I wasn’t expecting mirror therapy to be painful, but it was.  I looked in a mirror at my “left” hand, and my sis brushed her hand all over my right hand/forearm to make it appear as if she’s touching my left hand.  The weirdest thing happened- even though my left hand wasn’t being touched at all, the burning pain increased and I couldn’t stand more than a minute of that at a time!  At PT, I laid on the table, and my therapist mainly lightly brushed his hands all over my left hand/arm.  It was torture.

Lastly, my pain dr. is gonna try another stellate ganglion block on me…  He thinks that’s the best thing to do now since the CRPS is so severe at this point.  I guess I do want another block, despite seeing with my very eyes a LONG needle being driven into the front of my neck at full speed…jk.  I just want pain relief!  My pain dr.’s speaking at a pain symposium in Wisconsin till the end of this week and he’s booked up all next week in clinic, but he worked things out on the schedule so that I can tentatively have the procedure on the 15th!  So thankful for him.  If the block doesn’t help, he may think about having me go through ketamine infusions…  They are only done inpatient, though, in the hospital, so he’s not sure yet how he could make them outpatient..

I will let you guys know if I have the block for sure next week!  I will only be going through with it if there is no improvement with therapy alone.

Thank you for your prayers!  God has faithfully carried me through each day!

October prayer request

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. ❤️

Thank you! (+ a prayer request)

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

Praises & Prayer Requests

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