At the hospital...

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to give a quick update that I am here at the hospital and everything is going well so far. Yesterday morning our wonderful friend Elizabeth accompanied us to the hospital and I was admitted and got up into my room very quickly.

The amazing Dr. Green Shirt met me in my room and introduced me to Dr. Izquierdo, who will be assisting him with my treatment this week. In typical Jessica fashion, I had to give him a nickname as I have with all of my other doctors here! In spanish “Izquierdo” means “Left”… so he is now known as “Dr. Lefty” by me. :)

Yesterday afternoon my mexican grandma, Dr. Rainbow, came to visit and I was able to go and have a nice lunch outside by the pretty water fountain with her, which was great!

There is a gorgeous chapel here and today for the first time I was able to go downstairs for the 7:30 am mass- It was my first time being at a church service in over 5 years!!! It was so special to me! Somehow hearing a sermon, songs and the Lord’s prayer being said in spanish, made it that much more emotional and even more amazing.

God has been so good and so faithful! I am really just overwhelmed by the thought of it all sometimes. The mountains that I have seen moved, literally right before my eyes… It’s amazing, really.

As I sat there reflecting on all I have been carried through, two other fellow RSD patients were heavily on my mind- Irene Turner, who is always leaving lovely messages of hope and inspiration on my blog, had surgery to amputate her finger this morning, in hopes of alleviating her horrible pain, and Blair Webber, who has been in the hospital in Canada with RSD related complications for over 1 month now. I am praying that God will guide each of them to healing, as well as all who are suffering with RSD.

Last night I had an IV Calcium infusion and right now I am just sitting in my room visiting with some friends while waiting to start my first treatment… There was a little glitch in getting the medicine, but as always, Dr. Cantu is on top of it and hopefully it will be arriving within a few hours and we can start later tonight or early tomorrow.

Please pray for the medicine to get here, for the infusion to go smoothly and for the bad side effects that are common with this type of treatment will be minimal (or better yet- none at all!)

Thanks as always!

God bless!

Jessica

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It's RSD Awareness Month!

Hi everyone!

Happy belated Halloween :)

Before I was sick, my family used to go all out for Halloween. We were always the first house on our street to have our decorations up and my mom was notorious for her clever costume ideas she came up with for my sisters and I. I have many good memories!

So, even though it is not widely celebrated here in Mexico, Yesterday I celebrated my first Halloween in over 5 years!

We made a “Haunted” Gingerbread house…

And I carved a pumpkin!!!

My nurse who has become one of my close friends, Angeles, came over and made Halloween cupcakes with me!

It was her first time ever celebrating Halloween!

My crazy mom agreed to dress up with me and we went trick-or-treating (giving out the cupcakes) to the people we have gotten friendly with in our apartment building!

We were a doctor and a patient.

So original, I know…

(Thanks to Dr. Rainbow for letting my mom borrow her doctors coat! …My costume was obviously courtesy of Hospital San Jose. :)

Later last night a few friends came over to see our costumes, take pictures and eat candy with me!!

It was a great day and my most special Halloween yet!

...Which brings me to today. November 1^st.

November is RSD Awareness month, and as I continue to make great progress in my recovery and experience all of these new, happy memories in my life I continually find myself thinking about all of the people who are still suffering and fighting with the horrible pain this disorder causes every minute of every single day… Especially those I’ve come to know and love through my journey here.

Last November I posted this blog about RSD along with this video, which I think deserves to be re-posted and re-watched-

Much of what I wrote at this time last year remains the same...

RSD is still a horribly painful, complex, mysterious and very confusing disease. There are still more questions than there are answers for many RSD patients.

We still need more awareness. We still need more research on the causes, prevention and treatment options for RSD… We still desperately need a cure.

However, this year, I write with much more hope and confidence that we are getting closer.

I have seen firsthand how far the wisdom, compassion, knowledge and dedication of the right doctor can go to bring even a patient with one of the worst cases of RSD, like me, back to the level and quality of life that I am now blessed to enjoy.

My hope and my prayer is that there will continue to be more answers, for all of us, who are dealing with this illness and for continued perseverance and understanding for the doctors who I know are working so hard on our behalf to lead us back to better, less-painful lives- especially Dr. Cantu and his team here!

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Tomorrow I will be going back into the hospital for treatment to strengthen my bones. This is a new treatment for me (probably one of the only medications in the world that I have never had before!) so please pray that I tolerate the infusions well with no adverse effects so that my time in the hospital will be minimal and I will be strong enough to come home!!

Thank you for continuing to check my progress and keep me in your prayers. I will update again in a day or two from the hospital and be posting more information about RSD during awareness month.

God bless!

Jessica

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

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Exit plan delayed...

I am sorry for the delay in this update, but these past few weeks have been so crazy! My family- both here in Mexico and back in Florida, have been getting everything ready for my homecoming.

My incredible dad and uncle Vinnie oversaw a large construction project in our home and once it was complete, my amazing aunt Carol decorated the room and bathroom for me. Everything on their side is ready!

On this end we were busy packing up the apartment (which as you can imagine after 2 years here—is a huge undertaking!), and saying our good-byes to the people who have become my second Mexican family.

Last week my mom spent 3 hours on the phone with various airlines going over my special medical circumstances. The flights were booked—for today, October 4^th. Leaving Monterrey at 12pm.

We called everyone in our family and told them we would be coming home next week! Everyone was ecstatic, but my 88 year old Nanny was definitely the happiest of all! She screamed and laughed saying repeatedly, “My prayers have been answered!!!… My prayers have been answered!!!” It was so cute!

Anyway, on that same afternoon at 4pm I was scheduled to go for some final tests that needed to be done before I could leave.

I was very excited and kept telling everyone there that these were my “last Mexican medical tests”…

…Or not.

One of the tests I had is a Densitometry scan that checks your bone density. My results were not good at all. My scores show the highest fracture risk possible in both my spine and hips. It’s a miracle that I haven’t broken several bones already. We were told I will need to go back in the hospital and have some different types of treatment before it will be safe for me to travel.

Wow. Talk about a quick change of plans.

Needless to say, we were pretty bummed. We had to call back everyone in our family (not even 4 hours later!) and tell them this news—our exit plan has been delayed.

We expected everyone would be upset, like us, and they were… especially little Michelle. But once again, my Nanny’s response was the best and caught me totally off guard. “Its ok!" She said, "Honey, you have been sick for nearly 6 years… if you need to wait 6 more weeks, or however long, you just wait. My prayer HAS been answered- You are better!! Keep trusting in God, because he knows the right timing. You do not.”

Wow. I guess with age comes great wisdom.

For the past 2 years on my wall in my room I have this verse in both english and spanish-

Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

To be honest, I never really paid much attention to what the next part of that verse was though, until now…

Proverbs 3:7-8-“…Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. ….Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.”

Trust, healing and strength... Those are promises I can count on!

Thanks again everyone, for all of your continued support. My hope and prayer is to get to be home before Thanksgiving to celebrate with my family. Thank you for keeping my family and I in your prayers!

In God’s love, Jessica

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BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!

It is often said that a picture is worth 1,000 words....

"Salida", in Spanish, means exit!!

Today is Mexican Independence Day, and with the biggest smile on my face I am excited to tell everyone that I am celebrating my independence too!!

I AM FINALLY ABLE TO COME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our hope is to be able to leave in a few weeks! Please pray for us that everything goes smoothly and all things continue to come together to make this possible!

I can't believe this day is finally here.... Nothing is impossible with God!!

See you all soon! :)

In His awesome power and love, always,
Jessica


"God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always." (Ps. 121 7-8 MSG)

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On top of the world!

My sister Katherine is here in Monterrey with me!! We have been having the most amazing time together. I had not seen her since March and she was amazed with how much more progress I have made and how much more I am able to do with her now! We have been catching up, playing games, cooking and eating (a lot!) together. Just doing sister things. We're having a blast!

Yesterday our Mom surprised us and we went on a little day trip to Obispado! El Obispado is a museum of historical Mexican military artifacts (swords, guns, cannon balls, uniforms, etc) and some religious artwork as well.

We didn’t go there to see any of that though. We actually didn’t even go inside the museum at all! See, El Obispado is located high up in the hills of Monterrey and we have been told by our friends that the panoramic view of the entire city that you can see from up there was quite incredible.

Oh my gosh! They were right!!

Stunning.

Words will never do it justice.

We just sat there, smiling, speechless. Completely in awe of what we saw.

I looked around me- the Sierra Madre mountain range in front of me, the Cerro de la silla next to me, the glowing sky above me, my mom and sister, smiling behind me.

Surreal.

I tried to take a mental snapshot while praying I would never ever be able to forget this moment… of literally, being on top of the world!

I than decided to wheel closer to the ledge and look over- down at the city of Monterrey below.

My eyes found it immediately- the helicopter landing pad that signifies a hospital.

There it was. Hospital San Jose. Right beneath my feet!

I counted up to the 8th floor and found my room.

At first I got very, very excited, “Oh my god!!! Look mom!! Look!! That’s my room!! How cool is that?! Take a picture of me!!!”

I may have even started waving, rapidly while screaming (very) loudly “Hiiiiii Dr. Cantuuuu!!!!!!” …As if he could see, or hear me from the hospital or something.

Oh boy. I guess that is what 5 years of isolation, trapped sick indoors can do to a person?? Wow. How embarrassing. :)

However once I got over my initial excitement (and took a few dozen pictures) I was quickly brought right back into that room. The memories of the very long year of laying in there staring out of that very window up at this very hill… not knowing when, how, or if, I would ever get on the outside again…

I never thought I’d ever be seeing this view of the hospital. From up high, looking down. From the outside, looking in.

So many emotions became very real and overwhelming.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“What’s wrong?” Katherine asked. “Are you crying because you’re happy, or sad?”

“I don’t know! I don’t think either… I’m just so thankful.”

I was feeling a lot of things in that special moment with my mom and sister yesterday, but the feeling of thankfulness was definitely felt the strongest.

Thankful for this moment, this family, this time, this place, these doctors, this experience, this life, this God… all of it.

I never could have visualized or imagined this day, my first time out with my sister Katherine in over 5 years! It was perfect and I hope we never forget this feeling of literally being “on top of the world”!

We made it through the valley to stand upon the mountain! Thank you Jesus!

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!" Psalm 121

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