I love Halloween. I love staying home to answer the door and see all the cute kids in costume. Highlights for me so far this year include:
1)Marcus just answered the door for trick-or-treaters, and the kid exclaimed, "You're big!!" in his chirpy voice.

2)There was one kid dressed in a scary mask, and a little ninja turtle was too frightened to choose his candy from the same bowl. His mom kept repeating, "He's just in a costume like you, honey." Poor little ninja turtle may be a fierce crime fighter--just not when someone's wearing a scary joker mask.

I'm continuing to improve since surgery. I'm taking drugs less often, and I even went to Zumba today. I was less than awesome in my hand motions during class, but I made it most of the way through. I'm down to ibuprofen during the day and one muscle relaxer at night. Overall, getting better.

Keep those prayers coming...
B

home and doing well

Hi All,
A brief update to let you know how surgery went:
It was quick and uncomplicated. The vascular surgeon reported that "everything went exactly as it should have."

I'm feeling pretty good considering they cut me open yesterday. Most of the pain is in my right shoulder. It feels like I did about 300 shoulder raises using 100 lb weights. Immediately following my pretend "workout", then Marcus punched me as hard as he could in my right shoulder.

Certainly, the pain is not unbearable (especially compared to abdominal surgery)--but I'm certainly not comfortable either.

The doc says that I should be pretty much back to normal in about a week. Until then, Marcus is opening and closing my car door for me, just as a proper gentleman would do all the time. :)

I consider any uncomplicated surgery a miracle. And I'd been kinda freaked out about surgery all week, and then woke up the morning of the procedure feeling a peace that transcends all understanding which could only come from God. Thank you all for your prayers.

Love,
b

Hi All!
Just a quick note to say that I'll be heading in for outpatient surgery tomorrow to get my port put in.
Please pray that the procedure goes smoothly and that I can heal quickly from it. :)
My doctor's name is Bryan Lange, and he is a vascular surgeon. We saw him on Monday, and are so pleased that he'll be doing the surgery. We liked him so much that Marcus and I did high 5's on the way out of his office. He came very highly recommended to me from my nurses, an contradicted several of the things the first doctor had told us were "truth."--just further confirmation from God that we are now in the right place.
The funny part of my story is this: I returned from my workout class yesterday morning to discover I had a voice mail message on my cell phone.
I called the woman back.
She explained that she was from Swedish Hospital patient registration, and she was calling to pre-register me for my procedure on 10/27.
I interrupted and said, "Wait! I that this coming Thursday? Like, in two days?" She replied, "Yes. It's two days from now."
Me: "Um, I'm sorry, ma'am, but what procedure am I having done on Thursday?!"
Her: "It looks like you're having a surgical procedure with Dr. Lange."
Me: "Oh, that's great! I just hadn't heard from the doctor's office yet." (I had been in and spoken to the doc about the procedure, but hadn't spoken to their scheduler yet.)
Just then, my home phone starts ringing. It was the doctor's office calling to let me know that they'd been able to squeeze me in and that I'd be receiving a call from the registration lady soon. I let her know that they'd already called.
The nurse and I broke out laughing, and she said, "My! Aren't they efficient?!"
I chuckled, and said, "Yes, it's the most interesting way I've found out about surgery so far!!"

Just another comical adventure in the land o' medicine.

Hugs to you all.
B
Sent from my iPhone

The past couple of weeks have been trying, to say the least. Immediately upon returning from California, I came down with the stomach flu. If you can imagine, it was awful. My normal days include puking and sometimes crying from cramping and pain. With the flu, I got dehydrated twice as fast, and went back to just puking my own stomach juices--without eating or drinking a thing. I was forced to pop pain pills one night, which I really don't like to do, and didn't really venture off the couch for a week.
Also, I am still in need of a port. A port is permanent access to your veins. Its a long, thin tube that goes in the lining of the vein, keeping it open, and then a small plastic part (about an inch long) gives access to the tube. The funny part of this story is that last week or maybe two weeks ago, I was sent to a Dr. F in the Vascular Surgery Dept of the hospital. After having a venous ultrasound, and a long consult visit, I was placed on his surgical schedule for 10-27--until yesterday afternoon when I received a phone call from him.

The gist of the conversation was that he thought I ultimately needed to get a port put in. He just didn't want to do it. His reasons varied from, "I don't think you really need one, even though it seems like it's medically indicated," to several alternative abdominal ideas--most of which included surgery or naso-gastric feeding. All of these things the GI docs have already tried, and I haven't tolerated--except for the one surgical procedure that he recalled being done "about 30 years ago"--which they have since stopped doing because it didn't work. I was irritated by his suggestions to say the least. Why does he think he's such a genius--able to solve my 14-year-old intestinal problems after talking with me for an hour?!? Sheesh.

So, I have an appointment with a new vascular surgeon. Although Dr F works in the vascular surgery department, he was only a general surgeon. Ugh. The silver lining of this story is that Dr F will not be touching my subclavian veins. Ever.

So, my next consult is on 10/24-with hopefully a surgery on 11/1. I'll be sure to keep you posted.:)

One of my great friends shared this lesson with me the other day...
"Try to stop yourself when your thoughts get too far into the future. When that happens, you are no longer thinking of the strength that God will give you to get through that difficult situation--and you don't factor in the provisions that He will make for you between now and then."

The lesson was amazing, and I'm doin' my best to stay in the moment, to live in the present with the grace, strength, and wisdom that God provides now.

Hugs and love,
B

For some reason the end of my blog post didn't post last night. So, here it is:

Medically, I am hanging in there. This past week, my GI doctor had to turn down my pacemaker because I was getting shocked too often. Basically, I got shocked every day, all day long for 5 days--until I was completely miserable. So, he turned it down.

I'm also getting two IV infusions a week to keep my dehydration at bay. It's working nicely, but each time they hook me up, my veins are blowing--which is as painful as it sounds. The nurses and doctors have suggested that I get a port put in sometime in October.

I think that's all for now.
Hugs, Brelin

This is the fortune cookie that I opened about a week ago. It was right!! We are in LA visiting some friends, Andy and Heather and their two kids.

We are having an amazing time so far!! We've enjoyed Knotts Berry Farm, Beach camping near Santa Barbara, and shopping in cute boutiques. Mostly, we are laughing our butts off with them.

This is a shot of Marcus on the coast, looking out over the water. We had a wonderful time with the Johnson clan (my dad & step-mom's family). We shared a house in Westport for the weekend, and enjoyed some nice days on the beach, throwing the frisbee, playing games, and lots of catching up. It was a great time.

16 days.

I just got an email from someone who reminded me that it's been 16 days since my last post... so here I am.

Here's a not-so-quick run-down of what I've been up to since August 22:

1. Marcus and I went on a backpacking trip to Rachel Lake. To get there, you take the Lake Kachess exit off of I-90 (near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass), and then you drive to the trailhead. From there, it was about a 4-ish mile hike, with all the elevation gain in the last mile. Ugh. I was tired, but I made it. About half-way through I asked Marcus, "Are you proud of me for still tackling adventures like this." He answered honestly, as always, and said,"I guess I'm a little proud, but mostly I just think you're crazy." Thanks for your support, honey. :) Tee hee!! I've included some photos for you.

This is a photo of Rachel Lake, itself. We hiked up a ridge, around the lake a little ways to take this one.

Another shot on the ridge, looking the other direction.

Some really weird flowering plants. Anyone know what it is?

And another shot of Rachel Lake.

2. Another fun activity that we did was... we went golfing at the Enumclaw Golf Course. It was really fun, and I even got par on one of the holes. By the end of our round of 9, I was hitting it much better, and had two amazing chips onto the green, just a couple of feet away from the hole. It was awesome, and sunny the whole round. Bonus!!

3. We also went to a wedding this past weekend for one of my past students from Sammamish Hills youth group. It was our second wedding of youth group kids this summer. Yikes. I'm not sure how I got old enough for them to be getting married. Alas, the wedding was beautiful, and I got to see lots of fun friends.

Flashback from the first middle school mission trip to Yakima: Barb, Kristin, Kate, and me.
From the second Yakima Mission Trip: Barb, Kate, me, & Lacey

My hottie husband & I.

4. My last big event happened yesterday evening. My sister-in-law, Tammy & I took her daughter Maya & a friend to see TAYLOR SWIFT!! Maya is in love with Taylor, and so we were all super excited to see her. The concert was amazing, it was the most beautiful show I've ever been to, with all of the costumes, sets, and lighting. It was great!

Here's a photo of the 4 of us

Maya and I

5. Besides all of the fun that I've been having, my health is slowly seeming to improve. I'm still needing to get IV fluids twice a week, but that has kept me from passing out and having a good time. (clearly.) I've had a low-grade fever for the past two weeks, and so was prompted to go to the GP (family doctor) to get checked out. After a significant work-up of blood and urine, there is still no answer as to why I'm running a mystery fever. The doctor thinks it may just run it's course, or perhaps it already has? I'll have to keep you posted on that.

Thank you for your continued love and support. And thank God for blessing us with amazing weather in the Seattle-area these past few weeks. We've been driving the Jeep with the top down, enjoying the car since my father-in-law broke his foot, and so has loaned it to us in Enumclaw until he can drive again. Poor Jim, but yay for us.

Hugs and love,

b

zumba, and other horrific tales.

I'll start the post with some more pictures from Kwajalein, our tiny island in the South Pacific that we visited in May.

Sophie & Uncle Marcus

Marcus & I on the empty beach
(we were the only ones there almost every day)

An amazing sunset.

Sea Glass collected from Glass Beach.
(this was just one bag we came home with. you can collect this same amount everyday.)
I found yellow, but Marcus found a large piece of red. Both are rare.

And now from our current life:
We've continued to have a lot of fun lately. I guess it's good that even though I'm not feeling any better, it's not impacting my ability to have a really good time--or at least try really hard at it. :)

I've been having to go in for weekly or bi-weekly IV therapy treatments lately. The nice part about this is that hospital in Issaquah is open now, so I can just drive there instead of having to go to downtown Seattle. The IV therapy has been staving off the fainting, kind of-- I haven't actually fainted again, but I do end up having to lay down in a lot of weird places...fitting rooms, in the locker room at the gym, walking to the park, etc. It's a little humbling (read: embarrassing), but something I can get over. The bizarre part is that I'm doing well on my electrolytes (better than ever, actually), and my weight is up a marginal amount, most likely from the twice a week fluids.

One other lesson that I'm learning is one of keeping my mouth shut. There is an interesting phenomenon that happens at public bathrooms after I've just puked. Normally I'm pretty quiet, but sometimes it's too painful and hard to muffle the noise, so I just vomit. There is nothing delicate or dainty about vomiting, and certainly in that moment, it's clear to everyone what just took place in my stall. When I emerge from my stall being the size 00 that I am, I get some pretty ugly looks from other women. It is in these moments where I want to scream, "Don't judge me! You don't know what horror I'm going through. I have a digestive disease!" Ugh. So, instead of yelling at these women, I'm doing my best not to judge others. I figure I'd like people to give me a break, and I'm sure others need one too. Lesson #359 learned. Thanks, God.

My gastric pacemaker seems to be causing problems, yet does seem to be helping on occasion. If I only drink liquids, I can sometimes keep them down now that I've got my device turned up to 2.6. Although now that it's at 2.6, it's been shocking me almost every day all day long. Just in the last day or two, I haven't been noticing it as much. Hopefully this means that I've gotten used to it. :) I'm thinking of having them turn it up again soon, so that I might feel incrementally better? I'm not sure if this is reasonable thinking, but if I'm getting shocked already, it might as well be for a good cause. :)

Marcus and I have decided to stay in Enumclaw for another year. We've been going around and around, dragging our feet about making a decision about whether we should continue to rent out our condo in Sammamish for another year, or if we should move back into it. We ended up deciding to stay out in the boonies for one more year. We're hoping that in a year we'll have a more clear vision of where we'd like to "settle down"--whether that's back in our condo in Sammamish, or somewhere else entirely, I've got no idea. It's nice to have that decision made though, and now we don't have to think about it for another year.

He and I are going to head out on a backpacking trip on Wednesday. We'll just be gone on one overnight, and mostly Marcus will be carrying all of the heavy things. I'm so excited to be going on a hike again, and I've been "training" so that I'm strong enough to go. I've been doing some light weight lifting and Zumba classes, and a little running. For those of you who have seen me dance, you can imagine me doing Zumba and laugh. It's hilarious. But, I break a sweat each time, and it's so much fun to do a cardio class that doesn't leave you bored. I've also been enjoying a "body pump" class, which is weight lifting in an hour. Super fun. Anyway, Marcus worked out with me the other day, and deemed me ready for the hike. I'm so excited.

I think that's all for us. We've been enjoying going out on the boat with friends, and it seems that summer has finally arrived in the Seattle area. It's not crazy hot, but sunny enough that we've been able to take the boat out with friends several times.

Marcus and I are doing really well. We seem to be falling in love more and more with each new day. This trial (my health) has been such a long, arduous battle--but Marcus encourages me to fight with such grace and tenacity. We have been having so much fun together lately, staying up late laughing, chasing each other around the house just being silly... it's so refreshing to be so much in love, even in the middle of our 6th year of marriage. I'm so blessed to have a hot fireman husband who loves me so much.

I am so thankful for all of your prayers, love, cards, and words of encouragement. Lately, I've been feeling God's peace so strongly in the midst of this battle, and I feel such strength to "keep going" even though things are disheartening and seemingly a little hopeless at the moment. I trust that God's got this part of my struggle in His story for my life too, and I continue to rely on the love and knowledge that, "He's gotten me this far, He's certainly not going to leave me now." And, isn't that so true?! He never does leave us. He will never forsake us. He's always right there, explaining away our pain, drying our tears, dusting us off, setting us on our feet again when we've fallen down...and when we turn to Him for comfort, He says, "I am with you always, to the end of the age. You are mine, and I love you."

I'm praying that YOU will feel that powerful love today and always.

b

better than last year! (phew.)

2010 Rismiller Family Vacation will forever remain etched in my memory, and in the memory of all the Rismiller's who watched me tumble down at the tennis courts. It was especially difficult for the nieces and nephews because they didn't understand what was going on. They simply thought that I was dying, as I went from cheering, "Go, Kids, Go!" during their tennis lesson to passed out on the ground at the park.

This year's family vacation went so much better. There were no medical malfunctions to speak about, except a minor hiccup at a Nike Outlet on the way home where I had to lay down in the fitting room. (but Marcus was there, and caught me in time.) I got fluids in the new Issaquah Highlands hospital the next day. :) I managed to enjoy biking, swimming, running, and even throwing a frisbee while at Sun River with the rest of the family. Marcus and I even rode a bicycle built for two, checking one of the items off my list of 33 things before I'm 33. We took a chairlift up to the top of Mt. Bachelor on a sunny day and hiked around, throwing snow balls, and playing on the big rocks. We even took a tour of a candy & ice cream factory in Bend (enjoying free samples, and then went on a white water rafting trip for a few hours!! I got to participate in all the activities without limitations! And I'm not feeling too terribly now, either. I just had to take a couple of naps along the way.

I didn't end up having the doc turn up the pacemaker before we left. There was a fiasco in communication, so I couldn't get there easily--and in the end, we thought it best to deal with what we know while we were away. I know that I can handle a week of puking. I don't know if I can deal with a week of rate 2.6 and puking. So, we thought it best to wait and have it turned up when we'd be around Seattle in case I can't handle the increased rate. So, I'm getting it turned up today at noon.

I think that's it for news. My puking seems to be a little better than before surgery. I think I keep food down longer, and so more is staying in (at least seemingly.) I haven't noticed an increase in weight, necessarily, but hopefully that will come in time. I still feel like I'm puking everything and all the time, so it's still just as frustrating as ever, but when I stop and reflect (like right now) I think things are staying down a bit longer then they were before. That's something, at least.

Please pray that I can not grow too frustrated with this thing. So far, I want to rip it out of my body on a daily basis. Mostly when it's shocking me. That's been more regularly recently (I think because I've been dehydrated. I'm still having to go in for weekly hydration, and if I miss even a couple days, I almost faint.) Anyway, I know that I can endure it for the 6 months of "trial" that I'm supposed to have. And then, beyond that... help me to know what God has for me in the future. I covet your prayers. All of them. :)

LOVE to All.
b

busy, with a chance of showers.

For some reason I can't write my blog entries from my iPhone. It won't let me type words into the informational area, and then it posts my empty entry. Clearly, it's user error--but I don't know what to do about it. I'm obviously just old, and to remedy the situation should just ask a 12 year old for help. :)

So, the latest on my health is this:
1. Overall, I am mostly unimpressed with the gastric pacemaker. I'm still vomiting all the time, I think just as much as I was before surgery--only now I have a huge lump in my abdomen where the stupid device sticks out, and I get shocked when near people's bluetooths.

2. However, I'm not getting shocked most days. I think I've gotten used to the sensation of it for the most part. I'm going to have Dr. Patterson turn it up again tomorrow, and see if that makes a difference in my digesting, now that I've gotten used to this current rate (2.0) I'm going to have him turn it up to the rate of 2.6, which is the rate that it was when they inititally put it in at, and was shocking me all the time. I'm hoping that it'll be okay now that I'm more used to the sensation of it all.

3. I'm still having a hard time keeping my potassium at a good level. My blood pressure also runs pretty low, and the combination of these two things lends itself to me fainting--not really stellar. I almost passed out again yesterday in Banana Republic with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. It always seems to happen when I'm shopping. Marcus says, "Maybe you should just quit shopping so much." Harumph. I think I'll just ask the doctor if I should increase my potassium supplements. :) I'm still having to get hydration therapy (2 bags of IV fluids) once a week. I'm also wondering if I should get a more permanent IV site (port) put in--especially if I need IV fluids each week. Last week they blew my vein getting my IV started... it swelled up as big as my wrist. (and I'm not exaggerating.)

4. We've been managing to have a great summer in spite of all these things, though. I've been camping twice now in eastern Washington with family. We just got back from a weekend with some good friends from college (& spouses) on Lake Chelan. We head out soon for a firefighter softball tournament in Wenatchee and then family vacation in Sun River, OR during the first week of August.

5. We've been out on the boat a ton in eastern WA, seeking the sun (as it's been FREEZING in SEATTLE!!)--and we're trying to make the most of the summer. Last weekend, I even went tubing behind the boat! It was awesome!! :)

6. My surgical stuff has healed completely. I'm no longer feeling pain from that, which is nice. I'm off the narcotics from that, and am just down to one pain patch to keep the edge off my abdominal pain. I've restarted a medication that seems to be helping me go the bathroom more regularly, which is good too. It's a little spendy, but the benefits far outweigh the cost--so we don't mind at all.

I think that's all. Sorry it's been so long in between posts. We've been busy, but are having a

written and failed

I've written and failed a couple of different blog entries since 6/24, but both of them have been so confusing when I read back over them before I went to publish them--I just clicked "close" and figured that you could be uninformed except by word of mouth, or an occasional facebook post. I've obviously been on too many drugs until now to say anything intelligent.

In my last post, I painted a rosy picture of how things were going. Immediately following that, the proverbial "poop hit the fan." The shocking, which I began to describe in my last post began to hit full boar. Most people, once they have the gastric pacer installed never feel an electrical pulse at all. However, because of my size and weight, and because I'm just "lucky" (please read my dripping sarcasm)I have abnormally thin abdominal walls--thus could feel the shocking constantly once I began to back off of my narcotic pain meds. It hurt HORRIBLY. Like, much worse than the vomiting ever did. Imagine the pain that you feel when you shock your friend from dragging your feet on the carpet. Now, think of that happening every 5 seconds in the same location directly under your rib cage. All day and all night, without a break of any kind. I was not pleasant to be around. ARGH. It was horrific. So, the doctor turned my pacemaker down after two days of that. ( I couldn't get there sooner because I was in Tri-Cities while Marcus was climbing Mt.Rainier--he made it to the top!!)

So, the doctor turned the pacer down, and I haven't been having as much pain since then. But, now I'm back to puking all the time--because it's turned down so far that it's like it's not even in there. Ugh. SO FRUSTRATING. So, I got really dehydrated and almost passed out again, and have had to get fluids weekly since then. But, before that I did get to go on a family camping trip, and hang with some friends in the Tri-Cities, so I've been having a good summer. Busy, full of sun, exhausting, full of puke, pain, and frustration.

I just went in to see the doctor again yesterday. He turned up the pacer again. I've only had one bout of shocking so far. Please pray that this trend continues.

Love.
b

the age of bionic brelin

I'm doing well overall since surgery. I've thrown up about 10-12 times total (which is a vast improvement), and I'm keeping down liquids regularly. The only "problem" comes when I progress past a full liquid diet. For those of you not well-versed in hospital lingo, "full liquid" means, low-fat, runny stuff that you can eat with a spoon. Like, things you could feed your 6 month old. I can tolerate cream of rice cereal sometimes, and frozen yogurt, but not ice cream. I haven't had a full glass of milk, but I've sipped a nonfat latte over a day, and that's stayed down. I don't really like Jell0, but I did have some yesterday and that worked out again. I also keep down some crackers, and once a low-fat string cheese. No success with any types of fruit so far.

The doctor has encouraged me to "be brave" and keep branching out, because I never know when something might work. And just because I throw up one time does not mean that I'm going to spiral out of control into vomit-palooza, where I've been residing for the past several years. The doctor has shared with me that it takes several months to feel the full benefit of the device, and so I should try to not be frustrated. So, I'm doing my best not to be afraid or frustrated.

Here are the answers to the most asked questions:
1. Can you see it?
Yes, you can see it. It's about 2"x 2"x.7" and sits in my lower right abdomen. (near my belly button.) Even if I gain weight, it will probably stick out more on this side.)
2. Can you feel it?
Up until yesterday, I would have answered "no"--but I think I can feel it now. I hope that I can get used it. It's hurting a little, but maybe it's just something else causing the pain.
3. How long is your scar?
They ended up not going laproscopically (making 4 small incisions) because of my extensive surgical history, so I have a now longer scar on my belly--they cut about 3-4" higher. It's healing well. I go see the doctor on Monday to make sure that everything is going okay, and that my labs look good.

Please pray for Marcus, as he is climbing Mt. Rainier this weekend. Pray for his safety, and the safety of those in his group. I'm over with my mom, soaking up the sun while he's away.

Thank you for your continued prayers, I have certainly gained my strength from them this past week and a half. It has been a long and arduous journey, and will remain so for a while, it seems. Please pray that the transition to solid food will be a smooth and easy one. And that I will know when and how to do that. Please give me boldness to try new foods and help me to know when to progress, and when to hold back.

this morning

I am headed off to surgery this morning, but wanted to post quickly before I list to say thank you for praying.

I had an interesting journey getting to "the table" this morning, which I'll have to catch you up on later, which included fainting on a main street in Seattle while shopping with my sister, an ER visit, and then fouled up numbers with my bloodwork leaving the surgery in the balance--but I'm thankful to be having surgery--and I'll be praying with you that this is the answer we've been waiting for.

Thank you for your love, support, and encouragement--and hopefully I'll be posting that I'm feeling great in a couple of days.

Much love.
b

home, and reasonably healthy

PICTURES FROM OUR TRAVELS,

and then a brief overview from our trip...

Gavin found a tiny Hermit Crab


Sophie & Auntie Brelin

Marcus & Brelin at the Kwajalein Yacht Club
(a building with a fridge of beer)

Sunset from Kim & Jon's Patio
(we ran outside from the dinner table one night to take the pic)

Brelin.
photo cred: Marcus
scenery cred: God

Sorry for that lame post the other day, I didn't mean to post it. But, I guess it's good that you knew we were alive. It was honestly all I could muster anyway.

Since we've been home, all I've really done is go to the hospital, get fluids, and then do laundry. I did see a friend for a couple of hours on one afternoon--and that was really fun!! But, I haven't even been down the street to catch up with my family. I've just been sleeping on the couch.

Our vacation was amazingly wonderful. It was paradise. Seriously paradise.

We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to get away together for such a long time, to rekindle our love for one another; to remember that our life is about more than just shiny silver bowls filled with puke. We were reminded that we can be about more than just surviving until the next IV therapy appointment; about more than just the monotony of each stormy day in Seattle, and even more we can thrive through the stormy moments that seems to compound in our lives.

We were separately so worried about my ability to "survive" the trip, but I made it, and had a really wonderful time. I only had to go to the ER once while on Kwajalein, and the trip only cost us $220 (which is normally about $1200-2550 here), so that was a real blessing. We think that our insurance company will reimburse us for this too.

While we were in Kwaj, we had the chance to snorkel, lay on the beach, Marcus surfed & scuba dived, we ate dinner on the beach several nights, we had a couple of bonfires on the beach, we had worship in the chapel, we traveled to different islands (one by boat- Bigi and one by plane, Roi). We stayed overnight on Roi. I was able to keep up with most of the activity, and even worked out most days with Kim! I had a lot of fun snorkeling, and we even got to see a sea turtle! We got to go golfing, and we rode our bikes everywhere. There are no cars on the island, so you either ride your bike, walk, or run to wherever you're going. It's an amazing place. I'd move there in a heartbeat...except there are no GI docs there, so they won't have me. :) We stayed with Kim and Jon, Sophie and Gavin the whole time we were there, and they were wonderful hosts. I'll tell you about some of our adventures in more detail next post.

We are so thankful for our time together, so blessed that we could be together, to enjoy our time with each other, with family, and be in the sunshine!! We loved it--and it's nice to know that even if I'm not healed completely by this surgery, I can still be fun. God has given me life, and He has given me grace. And I'm so thankful.

Blessings to you all.

Hugs and love,

brelin

We're back!!

a quick post to say goodbye

These past few weeks have been tough...but I've been hanging in there. I've been getting more fluids than normal in preparation for our big trip. I've been going in about once a week to the Infusion Therapy Clinic (I get 2 Liters of fluids over 2-4 hours), and then this past week I went in twice! My period had stopped again, and my weight had dropped a lot again; my pain levels had been worse off than normal, but in spite of all of this, we are sooooooooooo excited to go on vacation!! To say that we are giddy to fly to a tropical island is the understatement of the year.

Just to give you an idea of how miserable the weather has been here, I will present example one: it snowed at our house just 3 days ago. Yeah, actual snow. In the middle of the day. And it stuck, on my freshly potted flowers. I was less than thrilled.

Tomorrow at this time, we will be in Oahu. And then the day after that, we will be in Kwajalein--where the air temp is 90 and the water temp is 85. I'm not sure if I'm ever coming home. Except that the doctors have promised surgery when I get back. So, I guess I'll be home in time for the hospital :) When is that again? June 13? Done. So I guess I promise to be home by June 13. :) Haha!!

Really, we'll be back around the end of May. Please pray for safe travels for Marcus and I, and that our vacation is without incident!! Please pray that I am able to keep fluids down on my own, and that I won't need to go to the hospital there at all. Amen.

Thank you for your love and hugs.
brelin

they said yes, and.... here's the rest of the story.

Sorry for the radio silence, race fans. I've posted a couple of facebook messages, and sent out a couple of text messages. But if you haven't called me, I probably haven't called you either. Sorry. I do appreciate your prayers, warm wishes, and certainly your congratulations. We couldn't have fought this battle without you--and it's not over yet. :) Fortunately, the ugly part with the insurance company part is though. phew. So, here is the deal. About a week ago, I received a phone call from a nice lady from the insurance company and she asked me a bunch of questions. She was not making the actual decision, but she was summarizing my case, and then reporting to the MD at the insurance co who would be making the decision on the second appeal. At the end of her questions, she said, "Is there anything else that you'd like to add?" I said, "Yes." I told her about how difficult my past couple of weeks had been, how I'd almost crashed the cars, how I was not able to stay at home alone because I was having trouble with fainting again, my pain was too much to bear, I was crying all the time, and I felt like I burden to my friends and family...blah,blah,blah..." Anyway, I told her how I've been really feeling. And in the middle of the conversation I burst into tears. I talked about how we've tried every medication, and how I'd been through every procedure known to man: feeding tubes, picc lines, tp, ppn, alternative drug therapies, naturopaths, and how it was so frustrating because nothing ever works. And that despite my good lab results, my quality of life should be taken into account when they are considering my appeal. I also asked that the insurance MD speak directly to Dr. Patterson (my GI doctor.) He's been wanting to do this from the beginning....so I'm not sure why this didn't happen until now...? Anyway, it was Dr. Patterson's speech that pushed them over the edge. The insurance company approved the 2nd appeal, and I have 6 months to have the surgery done. Since our trip to the South Pacfic is already booked, we decided to go through with it, and I'll be having surgery when I get back sometime the first week of June. We'll be gone most of May. The doctor has cleared me for the trip, and has told me to have a great time!! I'm going to be getting fluids before I go just to be on the safe side, and then I think we're going to try and mail some there just in case I need them once I'm there. My sister-in-law is a nurse, and there is also a hospital on-site in case I do have a problem...so, here I come amazing, sunny beach!! Love and hugs, and thanks for the prayers!! Keep 'em coming, this time for COMPLETE HEALING BY MID JUNE-- brelin

they said...

YES!!

please be praying.

The decision is being made regarding my appeal sometime in the next 72 hours. Please pray that they will say "yes." And that we won't have to move onto standing in front of the City of Renton board, because it won't even come to that. The MD from the Insurance Company will simply realize that my quality of life is poor enough that it's worth it to try the surgery. And that I can get surgery when I get back from the South Pacific. And that we will have an amazing time without incident while we are there, and that we won't have any medical complications whatsoever. And when we arrive back in Seattle, the surgery will be flawlessly executed, and I will be feeling a million times better. And I won't need medications any longer, and I won't be in pain any more. And I won't struggle like I do now. And we'll be able to have beautiful, healthy babies. Amen.