Health News Update

Patience? Perseverance? Faith??

Many are asking how things are going with Denise’s health. With the risk of boring you, this is what we have done, been through, tried, and what’s next:

In November, while still in Haiti, literally overnight I woke up feeling very nauseous. At first we thought it was a medication I had recently started a few weeks earlier.  I stopped the medication per doctor’s instructions and nothing changed. We sought the counsel of our PA who works with us both in the states and Haiti. She suggested some blood work and testing of my stool. Based on the results of these tests she recommended we head to the states for further testing and to “get healthy”.

We arrived in the states in mid-December and quickly found a primary care doctor to work with. Since then I have had an abdominal ultrasound, Colonoscopy, Endoscopy, CT with contrast, tons of blood work, poop work ups, doctor appointments and have also been seeing a Chiropractor who was recommended to us through several people in this area. All of these tests have concluded that I had a polyp in my colon, biopsied and benign. Polyp on a kidney of no concern. Very small start of a hiatal hernia that should not be a problem at this point. No ulcers. The GI guy had me try Nexium for 6 days, 2 a day to see if that would make any difference even though my scopes showed no indication of acid or stomach erosion.

The chiropractor also works with nutrition and something called Contact Reflex Analysis (CRA). I am not 100% sure about this “treatment”. It is hard to not think it is crazy. It deals with a lot of the bodies “energy”. I have seen him five times. On my first visit, he has me taking 2 good pinches of sea salt daily because he thought I was dehydrated and lacking trace minerals that affected my level of hydration. He also recommended that I try eating only gluten-free foods. I started this four weeks ago and I have to say I have more energy, as well as my headaches for the most part have gone away. Nausea is still here. On my second visit he said that I need to continue both of those but thought that the absence of my gallbladder may be causing my bile to not be taken care of properly and that may cause nausea. He said we need to work through this in layers. He put me on a beet supplement taken with each meal to help the processing of the bile. He said if that was the problem it would help within a few days. Nope! I saw him the following week and have had many discussions about nutrition, intermittent fasting and leaky gut syndrome. L-Glutamine is what he prescribed this time as well as staying on the other supplements. I am taking this one tablet 4x a day. I saw him again and he recommended I take a supplement that has the top 8 trace minerals. No soy and MSG as well. Eat a natural and preservative free diet as possible. I can’t say that this is helping the nausea but am holding on to the “peeling the layers” and it takes time. At one point we thought about seeing an Infectious Disease doctor but could not get in because I was not sick enough. Not enough “proof” that I may have a disease, or infection. Because I no longer had a bloody stool or blood work to say I have an infection, they turned me away!

We feel there may be needs, or could be, something or someone we are not doing or seeing. We understand that some of it is a process of elimination but really, nothing in my nausea has changed. We don’t get it. Food does not change it. Sometimes Denise feels way more nauseous than others but it doesn’t seem to correlate to anything. She does understand that stress can be a huge factor in the whole of things and has started to keep a journal of day to day stuff, food etc. as recommended by the doctor to try and see trends.

During an early visit to the GI guy, he mentioned possibly trying a stomach emptying test to see if there’s something in the stomach causing issues. After ruling other things out, the doctor didn’t mention this test again, but a doctor that Randy met in Haiti mentioned this test as the last thing that would rule out any issues in the GI tract. After some challenges, this test has finally been scheduled.

Also, friends told us about a doctor in Nashville that has been helpful in diagnosing mysterious problems, so after looking into that doctor, I now have an appointment with him later in March.

We are praying for patience, perseverance and answers. Please join us in these prayers as we wait for His next steps.