Vacation and Cleveland

I have big, big news to share that i will get to in a minute... But first, Harrison and I are on our first vacation(besides our honeymoon) as husband and wife. I am writing from Hilton head island in South Carolina. I have only been here once in my life and that was when i was in 5th or 6th grade with my family and the family of my best friend, Megan. Harrison's family owns a house down here so he has been vacationing down here his whole life. In college, he brought some of his fraternity brothers down for spring break 2 years in a row. Growing up, his family and 3 others would come. They called themselves the Sla-den-has-bows (the first 3 letters of each family's name. They came together for 14 years!! So needless to say this place and Hilton Head itself holds a lot of sentimental value. He can point to pretty much each place on the island tell a story. We left early Friday morning and our close friends Hannah and Rusty came up just for the weekend and left about an hour ago. Harrison and I are staying till Thursday. This vacation has been planned for awhile but it couldn't have come at a better time. We found out on Monday that I was accepted as a patient into Cleveland Clinic and I have an appointment August 31 at 9 30 in the morning. My mom and Harrison will drive up to Cleveland, Ohio on Monday the 30th (its about a 7 hr drive) and stay in a hotel. As of right now (this could change) I am going in under the care of a spine specialist. I'm nervous but ready for this step. I have no idea what the process will be. I have no idea how long I will be there. My first visit could last a few days or a week....i don't know. I could only have to go up there one time or I could have to make return visits to Ohio every month. I just don't know what to expect. So I will just find out when we get there i guess. Please be praying for me. I will update as I know more. I will find out more this week. Please be praying as I deal with the phone calls to insurance and doctors offices to get medical records and things like that. It can be a very frustrating process but I know it will be worth it. I am just praying that these doctors in Ohio will put the pieces together and figure out my health problems and hopefully find a solution. If they can't cure it completely I am at least praying for answers which would lead to pain relief and getting back to some of the activities in my life i used to love. I can't thank you all enough for your prayers....you all made this happen so keep he prayers coming. I love you all. I'll post again with updates probably this week.

Cleveland Clinic

Dear friends,

After months of nothing really to report except going to see doctors and having tests run, I do have something to report that I am hopeful maybe the answer to finally finding out what is going on with my health. My wonderful mother-in-law Cary has a connection with a doctor at Cleveland Clinic and talked with him at length at Bill Haslam's party for the republican nomination. He told her to send him a brief synopsis of my history which we did. After that Cary was given a 2 page patient registration form to fill out which we also completed. We are now at the point of gathering my patient records from my doctors here in Knoxville. We are not sure how long the process will take for me to actually take to become a patient there. Cleveland clinic has a very good reputation. My aunt was having some medical problems and saw some of the best doctors in Richmond, Va over the course of many months. She ended up going to Cleveland clinic and was diagnosed in 3 days!! I can only pray that I will be so lucky. I don't like thinking about being hospitalized and having a multitude of tests run on me, but if it is a means to an end, I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get my life back. My biggest fear is that even the most advanced diagnostic center won't be able to put the puzzle pieces of all my health concerns together to come up with one treatable diagnosis. The least I can hope for is less pain, more days where the pain is tolerable without heavy pain medication, and the possibility of returning to my job part time. If I could even spend one day a week or one day every other week taking care of those sweet, innocent little neonates, it would bring so much joy and meaning back into my life. That would be the most amazing gift of all after these difficult 18 months.

I know I say this with each post but I want to thank all my wonderful supportive, loving friends who read this and pray for me. I cant thank you enough. You are all wonderful blessings from God.

Nothing new to report

Well friends, I wish i had something new or any good news to report but i don't. Things are still pretty much the same. Still in pain, still on a million medications. I guess my only new symptom to report is that i am getting several low grade (99-100) fevers multiple times a week. Even though they are low, add in the neck pain and joint pain and most days i feel like i have the flu. I had an Electromyography(EMG) test...a test I have had before which was incredibly painful and traumatizing. Luckily, the second test wasn't as bad. Test results showed no nerve damage which is good I guess but I'm to the point where I just want some test to show something. I am probably going to start seeing a spine specialist just to have someone medically understands everything that has happened to my neck. I just dont know what to do anymore. I'm loosing hope fairly quickly these days. Just thought I'd update to say nothing new to report.