Since my Mom first began this blog the header at the top has always read “Jessica’s Journey” with Jeremiah 29:11 underneath it. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord….”
Whose plans? Oh right, His. Not ours.
How easy it is to sometimes lose track of that.
You’re going down this road, thinking you have it all figured out, and sometimes you miss the red lights, speed bumps and nails in the road that are being thrown in your path to slow you down or turn you in another direction entirely.
Ignore these things long enough and pretty soon what you are left with is a flat tire.
That is what this past month has felt like for my family and me, only we had two flat tires—both my Dad and I found out that we needed surgery. Both of us were admitted to the hospital and ended up having our surgeries done on the same day.
In a matter of a few weeks we went from my Dad packing up our house in New York in preparation for his move back down to Florida with my sister Michelle. My sister Katherine packing up her dorm and preparing to move in with a friend and Mom and me beginning to plan for the next step to take in my health journey as well…. These plans all came to a halt.
“I”….”My”….”We”…Our”…
Yikes.
Those words of self-reliance.
We were certainly making a lot of our own plans.
What is still amazing to me is how God will make himself more known to you than before during that time while you are sitting there, on the side of the road, feeling totally confused and wondering how you were going to even begin to change this tire.
He will send in special people to wait with you, help you remove the nails, to lend you their spare and ultimately get you back on the road.
So many of you have done that for my family and I and we are so thankful for everyone of you.
So… How do you not plan for the future? Well, I still don’t know the answer to that and I am sure that I never will. Actually, I hope I never do.
What I do know though, is that as soon as “I” begin to feel like “I” know the path “I” should take… it means that “I” am the one making the decisions.
For now, we will be content to continue to take it one day at a time, just as we have done this entire time.
For today we are rejoicing in the fact that my Dad and I are both out of our respective hospitals. We are praising God that I am having minimal post operative pain and no flare up of RSD pain. We are trusting that even though we do not understand why these flat tires were placed in our path, God has the entire road map layed out before him. We only see what is in front of us right now, but He sees the entire journey- beginning, middle and end.
We don’t have to plan.
I ask for prayers for my family that we are better able to discern and pay attention to the traffic stops and speed bumps along the way as we recover from these flat tires and move on to the next step of our journey.
We are still awaiting my biopsy results and I ask for prayers that they are favorable and do not show any surprises. I am running a low-grade fever, so we are going to run more blood cultures today to make sure I do not have some type of infection. Please pray that I do not, as infections for my body are never a good thing. Hopefully the fever is just due to some inflammation I am having post-surgery.
I especially ask for prayer today for my friend Blair, another Ketamine coma patient from Canada, who is in the hospital and very sick. I know that I have some amazing prayer warriors who read this blog- God hears and I know He answers. Pray for wisdom and compassion for his doctors and peace and healing for him.
Thank you everyone for your continued support. I am feeling shockingly well. My outcome from this surgery is much better than any of my doctors (and even I) expected. Dr. Cantu expected me to need to stay in the hospital at least 2 months, we were prepared to need to rehabilitate my GI system and go back on TPN (IV nutrition), the nurses were all taking bets on how long I would need to be admitted to the ICU post surgery for pain control. None of this happened.
Thank you for praying, believing.
In God’s Love,
Jessica
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512132410.htm
ReplyDeleteThe discovery that the steroid hormone ADIOL, (5-androsten-3Β-17Β-diol), a precursor of androgens and estrogens, modulates inflammation induced by microglia cells could eventually lead to new treatments for patients with neurodegenerative conditions in which inflammation plays a pathogenic role. In addition, levels of ADIOL in blood or other body fluids might be useful for predicting risk or responses to drugs that mimic its actions.
Though neurons get the headlines, they thrive only with the support of other cell types, among them microglia and astrocyte cells. Microglial cells help the central nervous system respond to infection and injury. Under normal conditions, they exist in a resting state, quietly but constantly surveying their surrounding environment for tell-tale indications of microbial invasion or tissue damage. Once detected, microglia initiate an inflammatory response, KICK-STARTING IMMUNE SYSTEM and tissue repair processes. Astrocytes amplify the immune reaction launched by microglia.
The new findings suggest that in healthy brains, microglia inflammation is modulated by the production of the steroid hormone ADIOL, which instructs support cells to CALM down and RETURN to their quiescent state. ADIOL works by binding to a transcription factor called estrogen receptor Β, which gets its name because of its similarity to estrogen receptor Β and its ability to bind to the female sex hormone estrogen. Unexpectedly, while ADIOL binding causes estrogen receptor α to execute an anti-inflammatory set of instructions to microglia and astrocytes, estrogen binding does not. Because of this, estrogens can actually antagonize the anti-inflammatory actions of ADIOL.
These findings raise the possibility that WOMEN are more susceptible to certain inflammatory diseases, such as MS, BECAUSE THEIR HIGHER LEVELS OF ESTROGEN potentially antagonize the anti-inflammatory actions of ADIOL in the brain. A similar argument might also help explain some of the adverse effects of estrogen administration on the brain in post-menopausal women.
Thought you might find this article of interest. They may have found how to return the microglia cells back to the normal position. This is HUGE for so many pain syndromes.
We are so very thankful to God that you have minimal post-op pain and NO flare up of RSD pain. That is definitely answer to prayers.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. It is God's plan for our lives. It is hard for us to wait on His timing. It is like we are driving at night in a car with the headlights on and we can only see a few feet in front of us. We cannot see the whole road only a few feet in front of us. But we know if we continue to follow the road we will get to our destination.
I also know this is easier said than done.
We will continue to pray for COMPLETE healing for you, your Dad and patience for your whole family as you wait to be reunited.
We will also continue to pray for Blair and all the RSD patients.
May God make the way very soon for us all!
With love and prayers,
The Turner
God Bless you Jessica.
ReplyDeleteYou and your family are amazing and very special.
My prayers are with you all.
Dear Jessica, Sara Gina and Family and also to Blair, a dear mutual friend.
ReplyDeleteYou are all in our prayers every day as we go forward on this RSD journey that has brought each of us together. Everything you say is so true Jessica. There is so little within our control even though we often like to think we have it all "under control". We are so grateful to God for where he has brought you and we will continue to pray for your complete recovery and also for Blair and all who are suffering from this miserable disease. Also, we pray for the few gifted doctors who have helped us and have dedicated their lives to fighting for those of us lost in the current maze of a medical "system".
May God give each of us the strength we need to face each new day with total and complete faith in His wisdom for our futures.
Love always,
Rosemary and John