"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
-Hebrews 13: eight-
What a profound comfort this simple yet prfound verse is to me. No matter what the changes or circumstances around me I can cling to this truth and know without a shadow of a doubt it is true. What beautiful hope there is in this!
As I mentioned in my last Notes from the Porch update there have been several things that have taken place. I am first so overwhelmingly humbled and grateful for two amazingly generous donations to my go fund me page from the Warren's and from Laura. Your generous gifts and thoughtfulness was a miracle answer to prayer and showed me once again that the Lord always provides. THANK YOU so much!!!
In addition to the updates I mentioned last time there have been several changes that have come about and I would covet your prayers as I take things day by day.
(one) As y'all might remember from a couple of months ago I was a little surprised ... ok, blindsided to learn that I was also dealing with an environmental illness on top of the Lyme Disease. I started a medication (and some supplements) specifically for this and the goal was from my last doctors visit (phone call) to the next one (which was on Monday- so approximately 6 weeks) that I would be able to get at 1/2 of a dose of this particular medicine. Well we all know how uncooperative my stomach likes to be (*smiles*) so I want to preface the following statements saying that I am so thankful that I have not had an allergic reaction to this new medicine!! But to be frank a 1/2 dose in this case is two packages (approximately 12 teaspoons) and after 5 weeks I am only able to take 1 teaspoon. Yes, you read that correctly. (I am not going to go into all of the details here but yes, this medicine is the correct medicine, yes, this is common for Lyme Disease patients to struggle with medicines, and yes, I am very disappointed.) My body seems to be able to handle upping the medicine by 1/16 every 3-4 days and this keeps me feeling pretty sick but not to the point where I need to go to the hospital. The original goal was that I would be able to get to a full dose by the end of the summer (24 teaspoons) and this is not going to be feasible at this moment. In addition to this...
(two) I am in the process of "correcting" the MTHFR mutation. For someone who is as seriously ill as I am this is a critical part in the healing process. Without my body being able to detoxify the bad things in my body and without it being able to distinguish between the bad and the good there is obviously lots and lots of toxins in my body. SO during this process of "correcting" the MTHFR I am on a number of supplements and medications to help with this. This puts my body in a detoxifying state which is a great thing but unfortunately as the toxins are released into my body and my body learns how to "properly" release things my fragile little body struggles. I feel pretty poorly due to both of these things and due to that some new summer plans have been made...
(three) At this point I have made the decision not to get Vitamin C IV therapy. I just don't think with all of the things that we are trying to get my body to do it will be able to handle that on top of it. We have decided that I will be making a trip out to California in October to receive two weeks of hard cover hyperbaric oxygen and vitamin c therapy out there. This will coincide with about the same timing that we will be heading home to the south and will be a perfect time for me to get a boost as my goal (now) is to be at the 1/2 dosage point of this medicine.
(four) I will be heading back out to Pacific Frontier Medical to see my doctors in September (I go every six months) and at this point the goal is for me to add in Antibiotic Shots (so the picc line will wait until March) to start killing the Lyme.
(five) a HUGE prayer request is that my entire digestive system will remain stable enough for #'s 3 & 4 to happen. This really is the key to moving forward and I would continue to covet your prayers that all of the supplements, medications, diet, detox baths, oils, ETC. that I do every day will continue to keep my digestive system calm and that the inflammation will go down and of course for healing.
(six) Due to the fact that I will not be needing the Vitamin C IV therapy this summer I have adjusted the go fund me page needs to the lesser amount that I need. Again, I am so thankful for all of your support financially and all of your prayers for me during this journey.
The verse above has brought me such comfort as I rest in the unchanging truth that the Lord never changes despite the plans that seem to constantly change with my health. I am beyond thankful for my doctor who has been such an incredible blessing, the kindness of the entire medical staff at Pacific Frontier Medical, all of your prayers and support, and the thousands of daily blessings that the Lord provides. In my disappointment that this journey of healing is not going "as fast as I would like" I am reminded once again of the greatest blessing. And that is the unchanging truth that the Lord is close to the broken hearted and that He NEVER changes.
These last couple of weeks I have absorbed, wrestled with, encountered, and am at peace with the truth of this quote:
While I may see this setback or delay as a "waste" my life is in God's hands and He is free to "waste" it in anyway He chooses. This is not a depressing thought as I once imagined or one that I thought was "mean" as I cried through it in the last couple of weeks. Instead there is a joy to surrendering in a deeper ways than we could ever have imagined and a peace that comes with the knowledge that I am in the palm of His hands... the palm of a God who has never done anything wrong, loves me completely, and has sacrificed everything for me.
Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers friends. What a blessing you are on this journey!
With lots of love,
Rebecca
4 comments
Your faith is amazing despite the storm you are in!!! This might be a nosy question, but curious to hear how diet plays into all of this? I'm a huge believer that our diets can help heal us :) Hope you have a great day friend!!
ReplyDeleteThank you lady... truly the Lord is faithful to carry us each day (psalms 68:19)... I DEFINITELY believe that diet plays a HUGE role in the healing process of any disease and in our lives. Growing up we hardly ever ate out (and still don't) and my family ate a very organic diet (before it was even "the cool thing to do") *smiles* When I was in grad school and fighting endometriosis (you can click HERE to read more: http://www.caravansonnet.com/2013/03/chronicittles-my-endometriosis-story.html) I delved even more into the role that food plays into illness and became a huge follower of Kris Carr and her amazing recovery and stabilization of terminal cancer. I continued to eat about 80% raw food and 20%cooked food until my system (due to Lyme) literally started to shut down and last fall I was unable to eat more than 500 calories and had to have iv nutrients. Unfortunately Lyme affects everyone differently and for me it has been my entire digestive system. I have also been diagnosed with IBS, IBD, Sojourn's, and Leaky Gut all of which have just worked to inflame and destroy my system. Lyme is just awful unfortunately. SO at this present time the goal is to get any nutrients that I can into my system (without having a reaction that lands me in the hospital or bedridden due to pain) and to get all of the healing products that I can into. I sought wisdom from doctors around the world (literally), have paid for phone consultations by doctors who not only deal with Lyme but extreme digestive issues and have after 14 months come up with a "plan" that is a little insane but seems to be SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY helping. I follow a mixture of a Lyme Diet, IBD Diet, Auto-immune diet, Whole Food Diet, Protein rich and anti-oxidant rich diet and rotate every single day what I eat (due to the Leaky gut). ALL of my food is organic and anything that goes into my body has to have nutritional value. I am also gluten free (I have celiac) am dairy free, shellfish free, (avoid certain types of fish due to mercury poisoning) avoid certain fruits (due to Lyme) avoid certain veggies (due to their high estrogen count) and eat tons of anti-inflammatory foods. I can't eat certain parts of certain veggies (for example the stems of the chard due to the difficulty in digestion) so I cut off those parts and boil them in water and drink the water to get the nutrients...It's a ton of work and the diet doesn't even include parts of the supplements, the oils, the detoxing, the different amounts of water, the aloe vera, the apple cider vinegar, etc. etc. etc. hahaha that is more of my natural side of healing Lyme. Its a CRAZY diet and its a crazy thing to even explain but hopefully this gives you a little bit of an idea! Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers for healing!
DeleteHugs! :) Rebecca
Continued prayers Rebecca!!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU so much Sheryl!!! SUCH a blessing to me!!!
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