Brief update:  I seem to be in what an airline pilot might call a “holding pattern” lately.  When I can break through the perpetual feeling of sickness and get myself out of the house, even if it is to our backyard, there’s always a backlash of noxious symptoms.  Recently my chiropractor recommended a heavy metals blood test and after a month of getting the paperwork and procedures right we have the results:  high potassium and very high mercury.  Yipes!  So my husband and I are investigating chelation therapy.  I have an appointment with a Doctor of Osteopathy who provides chelation and other medical, nutritional interventions.  In the meantime I’ll check with my family practice physician and see if there’s enough data to proceed with caution.  We will be covering this in prayer.  For most folks chelation is a difficult journey.  But hey, I’m familiar with that already, eh?

More details:  The daily 2 to 5 hour waking seizure attack episodes continue.  One day each week the episodes exceed 8 hours on and off during which I am largely bed bound.  If I have pushed myself to complete heavy gardening tasks or more than about 2 hours of appointments outside of our home then the episodes can increase to 12 hours.  The rest of those days is pretty worthless.  I have at least two “worthless” days at home each week anyways, regardless of my activity level.  These are days where I pretty much take advantage of the lovely “3 hots and a cot” afforded by our home.  I may see you here at the computer and mope through other very sedentary tasks.  Dinner may or may not get prepared.  Thank goodness for my homemade freezer meals and frozen burritos for Steve on days like these!

The normal sleep-wake cycle remains elusive for me.  When I do go to bed around midnight it is usually because Steve has carried me there in the neurological collapse-mode of a seizure attack.  This happens twice per week.  I’ll pass out at some point thereafter only to awaken in less than 4 hours, usually with another episode of tazoring.  Many days the tazoring wakes me up in the middle of the night.  Good grief!  That’s what happened last night prompting this blog.  When I do wake up in the middle of the night I have to find a way to yank myself out of bed or they will continue indefinitely!  This also happens twice per week on average.  The other nights I endure an episode sometime between sunset and midnight then I am wide awake until 4:00 a.m. or so.  If I can wait until I feel sleepy then the episodes falling asleep will usually be shorter and sometimes not at all.  I love it when the latter happens!  The best schedule for me then is to be up late, go to bed and sleep until noon-ish, endure a shorter waking tazoring then attempt to move forward with the day.  I love days when I do not have any appointments that disrupt this schedule!

The only “treatment” I can tolerate at the moment is a strict diet, coconut oil, colon hydrotherapy to detox, and extreme mold avoidance.  Occasionally I can take a short walk late in the afternoon or use our elliptical for 5 minutes, usually in the middle of the night before bed.  My diet is mold-free, gluten-free, sugar and sweetener-free, dairy-free, and low oxalate.  The latter has produced some detox reactions that appear to be beneficial; bone broth is incredibly nurturing to my digestive tract.  Most medications, pharm-grade supplements, and typical detox/immunity foods (such as lemon water, probiotics, ground flax seeds or oil) produce convulsions.  Not good.  This syndrome has a name:  Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.  The good news is that my gut health is better than it has been in a long time.  That tells me that the dietary strategies are working!  There are times when I feel more alert and my thinking is clearer.  At times my memory is better.  To my delight the creative juices are flowing again as reflected in my latest designs at Trinity Jewelry by Design.  And sometimes I am even able to make jewelry during the daytime instead of just with the crickets outside the window of my cute little studio area . . .

October 11th will mark the 3 year anniversary of becoming sick.  (For more on that story, see the About Julie page.)  I’ve been off from work for 2 1/2 years now, the longest since I started working in at the Penny Candy Place as a teenager.  No work or disability income is in sight.   The Lord has provided for my every need through my gracious husband and His grace.  Through it all Steve and I have been challenged to the ends of our human strength through unbelievable trials yet somehow feel closer to each other and to the Lord than ever before.  Steve is my hero!  We trust in Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 41:3, Psalm 71:14, Revelation 21:1-8 and more.  The Lord is faithful to His Word:  we have seen it, we hope in it, and His living Word carries us through it all.  Even in those split seconds when it feels like my heart, my breathing, and my brain waves have ceased to function and I do not know if life will continue for me, I am no longer afraid.  That’s how real the hope of heaven, the reality that my eternal life has already begun as a child of the King, the loose grip I have on the things of this earth are to me.  Oh Gentle Reader, can you say that too?

So many unknowns fill our days.  We can respond with woe and fear or we can respond with FAITH.  And our faith is only as strong as that to which we apply it.  I hope that you will join me or have put your faith in the omnipotent God over all.  Yes, I wrote all. 

Nothing less will do when faced with the next, er, bite in the shorts.  You know I had to say it didn’t you?!    :]