Counting down the days!

Hi everyone!

We have officially begun the final countdown until my homecoming! My sister Michelle has calculated the exact days, hours, minutes and even seconds until I will be home with her. I am smiling now just thinking about my family, finally all together again. I can’t wait!

I can honestly say though, that only a few times in my life have I ever felt so overwhelmed with emotions that I feel almost speechless, (ask anyone- when I am well, I rarely shut up!)

Right now I feel like I am a baby bird who is about to leave the “nest” for the first time in her life. Excited, yet scared, happy, yet nervous, optimistic, yet cautiously…

I guess the good news is that more than 90 percent of the time, the baby bird DOES eventually fly. :)

When I came to Monterrey, I never saw the day I would fly out of the nest ever coming. My parents were told that at the rate I was deteriorating, I could maybe live just a few more months in that condition. I was just hoping to live.

We certainly never intended on having to stay in the hospital for 14 months, or in Mexico for 2.5 years! I never could have anticipated the complications, or how slow and difficult my recovery would be.

But I also never imagined that I would come to know, adore and truly love my doctors and so many people here.

They have been the ones physically with me these past 2 years, through hell and back, and I know my mom and I never would have made it through without them.

I may have come to Mexico just hoping to re-gain my life and health, but in the process I have been so blessed to have also gained a second “mexican” family!

I don't think I fully realized, until now, just how emotionally difficult of a trip this would be. I am just so... ? everything. It’s crazy! I’m so excited to be well enough to go back home!... but at the same time, I know I am really going to miss what has become my “mexican home” too. It’s bittersweet. I know that sounds weird.

So while we spend the days packing, and cleaning, and packing some more... I spend my nights remembering their smiles, kindness and love, memorizing the incredible view of the mountains, thinking about the many miracles that have taken place, and envisioning the looks of pure amazement on everyone’s faces at home when they see me!!!

Heck, I came to Monterrey as someone that even I wouldn’t recognize now!!

My health has not been the only thing that has improved. My life as a whole has as well. My dreams are bigger, my goals may be harder to reach, but I want them more, my memories are sweeter, my heart is happier and fuller and my God, he is greater.

How will these people ever know exactly how much I love them, or how they have changed me?!?

I have a different appreciation and understanding of life now... It always goes on. There will be no ‘goodbyes’ because I know these bonds are lifelong.

Everything is how it should be.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)

....I know I have.

So, for now, see you soon, hasta manana & thank you, for everything.

Love, Jessica

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I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

…and NOT only in my dreams!!!!!

We have booked our flights home!! (Again!)

It had been a bit crazy here with a rough week after I had my bisphosphonate infusion. I had a rare reaction that caused my white blood count to drop very low and I was pretty sick with a fever for 10 days. Thank God I am much better this week and feeling back to my normal (or abnormal?) self again.

Dr. Cantu came over to check in on me and told us that my white count has now recovered- to a more normal level- all on it’s own!! Which is really great news!

We all decided that I will not be having another dose of that medication again. We will figure out something else at a later date.

For now, the most important thing is that I will be able to come home for Christmas!!!

The other day, our great friend Rosemary offered to help us book our trip to save my mom some aggravation.

It was so nice of her. We knew that this was not a small undertaking!

She proceeded to call Delta airlines from her home in Pennsylvania, with us watching her via video skype chat from Mexico (isn’t technology great?!)

A guy named Mike picked up the phone and she spent the next 10 minutes explaining RSD and all of my special medical requirements for the flight.

“I know this is a lot… and there are going to be some problems… ” Rosemary said.

Mike’s response back was quick and in a cheerful voice he said, “No! Don’t worry! On my line, I don’t have problems...I only have solutions!”

He wasn’t kidding!- Within about 30 minutes we had our new flights booked and Mike had spoken with his supervisor about all of the medical details.

Everything worked out- perfectly! Not one problem!

Even better yet, after hearing our story, Mike said he was honored to be a part of my homecoming and completely waved the fee’s that we owed the airline for canceling our previous flights! We would also be able to sit in the 1^st row of first class on both flights! Awesome!

We thanked him for all of his help and gave him the link to this blog, so he could follow my progress and journey home.

Mom and I are still kind of in shock at how easily it all seems to be coming together this time around! We are so thankful, so happy and soooo excited to be coming home! Finally!!!

Please join us in praying that God continues to clear the path before us and for everything to continue to go this smoothly as we make our way home… for Christmas!!! ahhhh! I still can’t believe it!!

See you all very soon!

In God’s Love,

Jessica

"This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses---“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!" (Isaiah 43:16-21)

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Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends!

We want to wish a blessed Thanksgiving to all!

I don’t know of anyone who has more to be Thankful for this year than our family does.

We have been overwhelmed by the amazing mountains God has moved to allow Jessica to be able to receive the treatments that have been so successful for her and to be cared for by Dr. Cantu, who is dedicated to her complete healing.

What I have come to know and believe is that we have been truly surrounded by very compassionate people. Truly compassionate people are often hard to understand. They take risks most people would never take. They give away what most people would cling to. They reach out and touch when most would hold back with folded arms. Their caring brings them up close where they feel the other persons pain and do whatever is necessary to demonstrate true concern.

Through this journey, God has been our strength—but YOU have all served as his body, his hands and his feet!

Today (and everyday) we thank Him for the truly compassionate people in our lives- our amazing family, friends, church family and community- and all of what you have done for us- I don’t know how we will ever to be able to thank each person who has helped to make Jessica’s recovery possible, but we will find a way! We know we have been so blessed!

So, this Thanksgiving, we want to personally thank you all for being those “compassionate” people and may God bless you all today with a bountiful feast and a truly blessed day!

In God’s love, always,

A most thankful Mom,

Sarah

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy, and with many songs of thanksgiving, I praise him. (Psalm 28:7)

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100,000 views of the blog!!! & Out of the hospital!

Hi everyone!

Well, I am home from the hospital! Our small glitch in getting the medication turned into a little bit of a big glitch and it took a few days to locate and get it.

Right now I’m running a fever and feeling completely worn out, fatigued and achy as side effects from the infusion, which was expected. Overall, I am doing alright and I’m sure I will be feeling better and have my energy back in a few days once the medicine is out of my system.

I was so surprised to log online today to realize that while I was in the hospital this blog has reached 100,000 views!!!!!!

That’s amazing!!! Thank you to everyone who continues to follow my recovery and keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I will never have words to express my gratitude!

As you know, Friday was Veteran’s Day in the US. What most people probably don’t know is that RSD actually started with our soldiers! The first descriptions of it were documented about 125 years ago during the Civil War (1861-65) by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, a young US Army physician, who treated soldiers with gunshot wounds.

He described pain that persisted long after the bullets were removed the soldiers. He noted that the pain was characteristically of a burning nature, and named it "causalgia" (Greek for burning pain) which he attributed to the aftermath of their injuries.

Dr. Weir Mitchell, a neurologist, was very perplexed by what he was observing. He carefully documented how his patients, who were formerly otherwise healthy men, lives had been forever changed by this peculiar, burning pain, that he described it in one article as,

"the most terrible of all the tortures which a nerve wound may inflict."

He finished the same article by stating:

"Of the special cause which provokes it, we know nothing.”

Over the past hundred or so years, a lot of different names have been used to describe this bizarre syndrome- causalgia, algodystrophy, postraumatic dystrophy, Sudeck's atrophy, shoulder-hand syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) and more recently, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

No matter what you decide to call it, RSD/CRPS is now known as a chronic, incurable neurological disorder in which the autonomic nervous system—the system that transfers signals from the central nervous system to various organs throughout the body—malfunctions, causing nerves to misfire and send constant pain signals back to the brain.

Today, research has brought us far from when RSD was first observed during the Civil War. It’s now known that RSD is not thought to have a single cause, but rather multiple causes producing a similar syndrome.

RSD most commonly develops in response to physical trauma-- About 65% of cases of are triggered by minor trauma (soft tissue injury, sprain, twisted ankle, venipuncture, etc). The next most common triggers are the result of bone fractures and surgery.

Current research suggests that an excessive immune response, possibly due to latent infection, may be the culprit, at least in some cases. It can also be brought on by spinal cord disorders, stroke or heart attack.

However, no matter what the underlying cause, the result is the same: horrible, excruciating nerve pain.

On the medically accepted McGill Pain Scale (0=no pain -to- 50=worst pain) RSD (causalgia) is ranked as the most intense and extreme type of pain you can possibly experience… above a bone fracture, cancer pain, childbirth and even above amputation!

McGill pain scale

Tom Haederle of Johns Hopkins University has described RSD like this: "If Hell were a clinical medical condition, it might look something like reflex sympathetic dystrophy."

I think anyone who has suffered with, or watched someone suffer from RSD would have to agree.… It’s that bad.

Dr. Schwartzman, who is internationally known for his extensive work and research in RSD/CRPS over the past 30+ years has said he doesn’t think there is a worse pain problem than RSD. I think he is right.

The bottom line is diagnosis is difficult, prompt treatment is critical and more research is needed.

When I got home from the hospital this afternoon as I was laying in my bed I saw a para-glider fly right by my window!!

His parachute was orange- which is the color of RSD awareness! I think it is a sign of hope... that one day all who suffer with this pain will have the freedom to soar above the mountains created in their lives by this illness.

It definitely looks like a LOT of fun!

Again, thank you to everyone who has helped me to gain my freedom from the pain of RSD, please continue to pray for all of those who are suffering and for a cure to be found, soon. ...100,000 views of this blog-- that is a lot of people! Imagine the awareness we could all raise, together?!

In God's love,

Jessica

"...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

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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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