Monday, May 21, 2012

From Grieving and Resting ... To Healing

I have only shared the following with a hand full of people... When I was at the Mayo Clinic in March, three doctors thought I had a rare disease that has a horrible prognosis. If the "still under research" medication didn't treat this disease, I would only have one year left to live.

I have almost lost my life before. This wasn't the first time for me to hear these type of words. But for some reason, I was very certain that I didn't have this disease, and refused to let this information and possible prognosis upset me.

I felt as if I was giving life to this disease if I told anyone about it.

Fast forward two months to the present. I received a phone call from one of my doctors at the Mayo Clinic; and praise God, I don't have this disease. (The test results take a long time to process.)

Not many days after hearing the good news, I emotionally crumbled.

Oh, how I cried and cried. Sobbing tears of relief. Something I thought that I had been "ignoring," had been more like denial.

I took a couple of weeks to just grieve. I grieved the fact that once again in my life, I was told I might have a bad health prognosis. I grieved for all the healthy years that sickness has taken away from me.

I hibernated a little bit. I needed a place to heal.

I read. I rested a little extra. I saw my counselor and shared all this information with her.

And a single tear or two will still occasionally fall.

Living with sickness is difficult enough, yet we still have to deal with the emotional part of it - which (to me) is sometimes harder than the physical.

Matthew 11:28 says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

I've been laying in my Father's arms, and resting a lot lately.

It's okay to grieve. It's okay to rest. There is not a right or a wrong way to live with an illness and all the baggage it brings along.

I will rest and heal some more. I hope that through this blog, you'll know that grieving and crying sometimes are part of the healing process. And it's okay. The Bible even says so. ;)

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

My Top Mayo Doctors

I've been a patient at the Mayo Clinic for 18 years, and have been seen by doctors in almost every department.

Through my experiences, I thought I'd share my favorite Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) doctors with you. As most spoonies know, it's hard to find a good doctor who can properly diagnose and treat our medical conditions.

Cardiology: Dr. Thomas Allison

Endocrinology: Dr. Paul Carpenter and Dr. John Morris

Gastroenterology: Dr. Lawrence Szarka and Dr. Michael Camilleri

Gynecology: Dr. Laughlin-Tommaso

Internal Medicine: Dr. Ann Vincent

Neurology:
Dr. Bruce Krueger

Autonomic Specialist, Neurology: Dr. Robert Fealey

Physical Therapy (for any type of pain): Lyndsey Vandenberg (not only is this girl a genius, but super compassionate!)

Rheumatology: Dr. Kevin Moder

I have seen other good doctors, but these receive a five-star rating from me.

I'll blog soon about making an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. What to expect, and all the do's/don'ts and tricks of the trade. ;)