Health News and Other Updates

I usually try to put up new blog posts every few weeks. This time it’s been almost two months but a lot has happened in those two months and a lot is coming up, so my blog posts may suffer a little. 

The second of my children, a son named Robert, has been diagnosed with a rare hereditary autoimmune disease called antisynthetase syndrome (ASS). It attacks muscles, joints, and lungs. We have all been on a roller coaster ride with this diagnosis. At first his doctor offered him a grave prognosis due to the interstitial lung disease (ILD) that is a part of this syndrome, telling him most people only have 3-5 years to live from diagnosis. Then when Robert saw the rheumatologist, he got a more encouraging but still pretty dire prognosis when told that though ILD in general does have only a 3-5 yr life expectancy, it’s a little better with ASS. He was told the 5-year survival rate w/ASS was 65%. That would have been hard news to take but compared to only 3-5 years to live, we were rejoicing. 

It got even better after seeing the pulmonologist and finding out that he had no lung scarring on the CT scan, normal lung function tests, and the type of ILD that does not cause fibrosis. After these good results, he is told his 5-year survival rate is 90%. What a huge praise! He is on meds and still in need of prayers, though, along with his wife and two precious children. 

In addition to this, I had hand surgery putting my right (dominant) hand in a cast for a total of two months, making writing difficult. It’s casted as I write this. And my 92 year old father got sick with a combination of thugs-tummy bug, blood sugar problems, and gout. He was hospitalized for a week and then moved to rehab. He is doing well in rehab and will likely be discharged mid-week next week. 

As if that is not enough, my daughter is getting married May 25 and there’s still so much to do for that, my husband and I will travel to Ridgecrest to attend the Selah Awards the weekend after the wedding, and I’ll teach a workshop at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in mid June. 

My life may be a lot of things but dull is not one of them.