I’m on a high and can’t deny the power of PRAYER as I received the most BLESSED news today! Now that I really know what is going on I’ll fill you in.
On Friday I received a phone call from my general MD’s nurse who told me I tested ‘positive’ for a disease called Scleroderma-CREST. This disease is a ‘by-product’ of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Because I was diagnosed and treated for RA from when I was 23-28 I was nervous that this diagnosis could be ‘true’. And then getting into my Rheumatologist so quickly was a bit discomforting. Scleroderma is a disease of the skin, in essence it’s a hardening of the skin. What they told me that my test was focused on was the CREST aspect of Scleroderma which is a hardening of the organs, specifically the lungs and heart. So I’m sure you can imagine why I was so distraught by this sudden news!
This morning when I sat with my spiritual adviser I cried as I told him about all the things that had happened this summer (I hadn’t seen him since May!) and then ended it with this ‘proposed’ diagnosis. I confided that it caused me to struggle with my trust in God but that ultimately on Sunday I had a ‘heart to heart’ with God and told Him that I trusted in what His plan was, if He wanted to be seen in my healing or in my suffering, I was willing… but then I cried, I just don’t want to go through the pain! 🙁
Msgr. Elmer told me to pray to God and tell him “If you have all of these great opportunities coming my way to spread your message then you have to make me well to follow them through.”
On my way to the doctor’s office I had so many friends and family calling and leaving texts telling me they were praying for me, and I knew that the 1000+ prayer warriors were praying as well. I was nervous and quiet but felt confident that whatever the case may be, I could and would manage.
It was good to see Dr. Sessoms, my RA doctor again after 10 years. She said she remembered me and wasn’t sure if I remembered her! I told her I even mentioned her in a book I’d written. 😉 I didn’t have any books to give to her (though my shipment showed up when I got home!!) To make a long story short, she was with me for literally over an hour, going through all of my lab work, all of the paperwork I had sent in from the other ‘issues’ I’ve had over the years and she asked question upon question upon question, even repeating herself (I’m sure to make sure my answered remained the same). I won’t go into great detail of the entire explanation but basically I was tested positive for a Lupus Antibody and off of that Lupus antibody is the CREST portion of the scleroderma. She explained what every letter of CREST stood for and went over the symptoms in detail, checking and rechecking, etc. Basically, she said I DO NOT show to have CREST (or scleroderma) and most likely it was a false positive! She still wants to see the entire medical records that are being mailed to her but she seemed pretty positive after over an hour of going over everything triple times over. AND (this is the BEST part!) she was checking me for RA symptoms and signs and I have NONE. In fact, she said, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see that you are one of the 20% that never have a reoccurance of the disease.”
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT???? 🙂
My aches and pains are, well, me getting older, stiffer, I need to watch how much spin I do and change things up a bit, etc.
HA! So, basically we will keep checking my blood work to watch the Lupus positive (possible false positive) and just keep an eye on things but really, I’m GOOD.
WHEW. 😉 I do believe that it is because of all the PRAYERS that were said on my behalf. I have no doubt! And, I suppose I might have passed a ‘test’ too. I’m just so GRATEFUL!!!
She truly is a great doctor as well. Not just because of the good news, but she never made me feel rushed, she sat there the entire time and was truly concerned and very thorough and in the end she asked me about the book, what I speak about and we got on this great faith conversation. We agreed that even though it isn’t scientifically tested, our ‘attitude’ has so much to do with our healing. I believe that 100%.
Okay, so as my friend said, “Now, back to work!” 🙂
Blessings
Shannon