Friday, February 24, 2012

Putting It All Out There

I finally had the courage and energy to update all my regular blogs with news of the stroke today. I don't know why I could tell the world of or infertility and losses, but this, so visible, seems more private and I long to protect my heart. I type today with one eye closed, the other eye watering, single-fingered, and my left hand crumpled against my chest. This is HARD, on marriage, our family, and my heart. I had no idea. But God is still good!

In case I have missed sharing any of this here, the bulk of what I posted to other blogs is as follows:
Last fall, Oct. 2011, I experienced multiple strokes with brain-stem involvement. I have vision loss, doubled vision, hearing loss, a partially paralized hand, and I cannot walk, so I have trouble reading or typing. I am posting updates at http://infertilitymom.blogspot.com/search/label/stroke if you wish to read news. I would be blessed by your prayers as I not only as I fight to recover from this near-fatal experience, but also as I prayerfully work on my next two books, first a devotional on The Fruit of the Spirit and then, if God allows, a Hannah's Hope-style-book on the Apostle Paul and living with chronic pain or illness.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Eye Update

I went to the neuro-ophthalmologist yesterday. We had a nearly 4-hour appointment and my case excited the doctor so much that he called his entire staff in to learn from my exam. Since my neurologist had said last month that I was a "great teaching case" I shouldn't have been surprised. But I am getting tired of presenting complications my doctors have mostly only read about it textbooks but rarely seen in real life. I left his office with several new diagnoses tied to the strokes including cerebellar disease. The good news is that my blurry vision is correctable with normal glasses. The bad new is that my double vision is not correctable even with prism glasses because my vision is "too bad". I might have surgery in a year or more if my vision stabilizes. I know we have much to be thankful for but today I am discouraged.