Thrown a Curve Ball

Kerissa • July 27, 2013

San Diego is very possibly a no-go!!  I’m as surprised as you are.  I found out on Wednesday that the mitochondrial specialist that I got referred to is booked through the month of December..  Plus, he only sees 3-4 “adult” patients one day per month.  And I just can’t really wait that long.

My G.I. system hasn’t been functioning well at all for the past 2 weeks, I’m starting to get right-sided muscle weakness, and as I wrote before, I’m losing movement in my left eye.

I also got my holter monitor results last week—I wore a holter for 48 hours, and in just that short of time, the report states I had over two thousand single premature atrial contractions (PACs) and over fifty PACs in pairs.

Plus, my sleep hasn’t been great…I often wake up in the middle of the night with sopping, sweaty legs.  The holter report also said my heart rate dropped to 55 bpm during that particular night.  So my neurologist ordered a sleep study for me.  Unfortunately, the place is booked, so the study isn’t until September 4th.

I see my neurologist in 2 1/2 weeks and my cardiologist this coming Monday.

But anyway, back to the story.  So San Diego looks like it’s not working out…no worries, though, because my geneticist in Cincinnati referred me to an even better place!!!  But until I know for sure that it’s a go, I won’t be saying a word about where I may be going!  Please say a prayer that this particular dr. will be willing to see me and sooner rather than later…it’s sad that there are so few mito specialists in the country.

Stay tuned!

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