Once again, it has been too long since my last post… but this time there is finally a good reason for the time gone by. On December 23rd after beginning some new and very strong medicines to fight off this horrible disease “babesia”, I began having insane bouts of pain in my head and stomach which led to a long night of seizure episodes. These seizures and horrific pain nights became a daily/ nightly occurrence and each night I became more and more weak and less able to fight through the pain. After a few nights in a row of too many tears to count, having to be “jaw thrusted” so that my breathing would start again countless times, my left eye twitching to the point of being very achy, my right hand and arm convulsing so much that it completely cramped up, and amounts of pain that I have no words to describe… I found myself going through these nights without tears and with no fight left in me. I hadn’t given up, I was just so exhausted from the pain and the work that it takes to make it through each night. I told my mom at one point that “I had no more tears to cry.”
Bend has been having some very, very extreme cold weather this season and I was noticing that each time I was outside even for just a short time, my joints would begin to seize up. My knees and back were the worst by far and it was debilitating for sure. But what was worse is that these spots in my head along with my neck would tighten up so much immediately when I got cold and then these tightened spots would knot up resulting in the severe pain each day that led straight to seizures. I was having anywhere from 12-30 seizures EACH and EVERY night. One day, these started at 4pm which means that it was no longer possible to hide what was going on in my body from Grey. In the past these would not start until about 8pm… so she was naive to this and I wanted it that way. It absolutely broke my heart to see her sweet face as she would hide, cry, and be so afraid. And it broke her little six year old heart to watch her mommy writhing in pain, crying, and fighting with all I had.
Cory and I knew that these episodes were definitely onset by the cold and some by the medicine that was new to my body too. We had to find a way to get out of the cold quickly if there was ANY chance, even a small one that these episodes could be lessened. Thankfully, Cory’s family is from Hawaii and has a home that is being remodeled and we are able to stay here for a little bit before it becomes a rental property. My parents literally bought us one way tickets over here and less than 48 hours later we hopped on a plane and made our way to warmth. Praying the entire flight that this would in fact work… we were DESPERATE for relief… all of us needed just a glimpse of hope!
Well… we made it after 21 hours of travel, over 6 hours of delays, etc… and God has been answering prayers. I have not had any seizures since arriving in Hawaii. It is winter over here too… which means there are some cooler days. I got pretty cool a few days ago and never recovered and that night was full of really bad pain, but thankfully no seizures. It seems that my body is very, very sensitive to the cold, so overall this is a great place to be.
Beach time!
I am beyond thankful for the relief. Thankful that there is a home we can crash at. Thankful for plane tickets. Thankful for my brothers vehicle over here. Thankful for a doctor who will treat me long distance. Thankful I homeschool the kiddos and we haven’t had to skip a beat. Thankful that Cory works for himself and is portable. Sooooo very thankful for less fear on our kiddos faces, less stress on Cory each night, and less pain and no seizures for me!!!
Please pray for:
-wisdom for our next steps
-seizures to stay away
-pain to continue getting better
-lots of work for Cory… we still have all our bills at home and lots of new here
-friends over here
-complete healing for all five of us
God is good all the time and I am excited to see what He has for our family in 2017. Thank you for your continued support, prayers, and love on our family.
“Live It Out”
Sincerely, Dani
XO
Creative Writing, and History on the beach today!
My bro and his sweet girlfriend made us an amazing homemade dinner… it was delicious! Thanks Joel and Ally!
