Thursday, October 30, 2008

..It's kind of depressing that I didn't get any comments yesterday after my banner 1st day, but I'll be o.k. I'll just copy the email that I sent out Wednesday concerning my daughter Paige so you will know what's going on with her and PLEASE keep her in your prayers. She has a disease called "Gastroparesis" which basically means stomach paralysis. Her stomach quit working a little over 3 years ago. That was the last time she had a "meal". She can only eat baby food now and even that is quite painful. She has 2 pacemakers inside of her. One is for her bladder which is working very well. The other one is for her stomach which isn't working very well. She has a section of ICC cells in her stomach that are completely dead which is why it isn't working like it should. Here is the update.

It's been a while since I gave an update on Paige. She went to Jackson and saw 2 Doctor's so I'll give a report from each.

Reproductive Specialist - things are improving in that area.

GI Doctor - about 6 months ago, we had her stomach pacemaker turned OFF. It was causing her so much pain. She said it felt like her insides were being ripped apart and like she was in surgery (cutting knife feeling) but she was awake. She said she would rather deal with worsening symptoms than with that kind of pain. We were constantly getting the settings on the pacemaker changed to try and make it better but it kept on shocking her and causing her all this pain. A couple of months ago, she had some tests done to see if there has been any improvement in her digestive system since it's been turned off. The Doctor informed us it has gotten much worse. Paige also said the pain is still there even though the pacemaker is turned off. So she agreed that since the pain is still there anyways and since things have gotten worse, she would would have it turned back ON. So as of now, the pacemaker is back ON at a very low setting. She will go back in December to have a lot of blood work done and also increase the voltage on the pacemaker if she does well. We were hoping and praying for a quick fix with this stomach pacemaker but the Doctor told us that in some cases it may take years before she feels any improvement. Even though she didn't FEEL any better with the pacemaker on, it did improve the motility of her stomach some.

So....please keep her on your prayer lists and continue to pray for her. She continues to have the 24/7 nausea, unable to eat, bloating, pain, migraines almost every day and unable to sleep at night.

Considering all these horrible things she has to deal with on a daily basis - she is going to Nursing School....making A's and B's....and I can't begin to tell you how proud we are of her. She is absolutely amazing and our hero!! She is such a fighter and isn't going to let this disease stop her from accomplishing her goals. Most of all we give God all the praise and glory for sustaining her and keeping her going. We can't explain it but are so thankful He is in control.

4 comments:

www.clairestrebeck.com said...

gosh, i hate that for yall. and for her. that's great that she's able to still go to school (much less make excellent grades) with all the problems that her body's been having. we continue to pray for her. also, where does she do her rounds and does she ever work with babies? i may be seeing her in a few weeks! :)

The Curry's said...

I'm glad Paige still has a positive spirit even in times of negativity. Maybe I could learn a few lessons from her. I know how hard it is to have a child suffering, gah, I know that feeling and I hate it. I hope and pray Paige gets better!

Anders Family said...

Still remembering Paige and will continue to keep her in our prayers. She is such an encouragement!

(By the way, I know how it feels about the comments...lol. I don't ever get any. So thank you for yours the other day! It really made my day!)

www.clairestrebeck.com said...

that's what i'm afraid of. people ask me if i'm ready to have this baby (being the last few weeks, and getting more and more uncomfortable), and i always say no b/c i'm just nervous about having 2 of them :) hopefully, if i end up having more than that, they'll start helping me out! :)