A Bump in the Road

Kerissa • June 15, 2012

Today I went through my first session of biofeedback!  I’m so thankful the pain psychologist that I saw today is down-to-earth and a “bread and butter, meat and potatoes kind of guy” as my pain dr. puts it.  He explained biofeedback and diaphragmatic breathing so well that we went right into trying the machine on me.  It didn’t hurt at all!  He stuck three electrodes on my left trapezius muscle and on my right because that is where the most muscle tension develops.  Sitting down and using different relaxation techniques, I looked at a moving computer graph that recorded my muscle tension and temperature of my left pinkie finger.

Normal range of muscle tension: below 5 points
My muscle tension: over 22 points  (this surprised all of us!!)

Normal hand temperature range: in the 90s
My hand temperature: around 77 degrees! :O

So for the next 45 minutes, I tried lowering those really high numbers in all kinds of different ways!  My temperature went up to about 83 degrees, but my muscle tension number barely lowered one bit!  I didn’t feel that tense, but from those biofeedback numbers, it gave all of us the picture that I have a lot of work to do about this!

Near the end of my appointment, I thought I’d turn off my spinal cord stimulator to see if that would change any of the numbers.  Right when I brushed my magnet near the battery in my back to turn it off, the muscle tension numbers dropped DRAMATICALLY to a range of 3!!!  I laughed out loud!  This is what was causing the high numbers!  I felt so relieved.  With a chuckle, the dr. explained that the electrodes must have been taking in all the stimulation from the SCS device, thus causing the high numbers!

At home, I will still be working on these techniques that he taught me.  He is SO booked up right now, that my next scheduled appointment with him is on August 15th!!

Right after seeing him, I rushed down to the first floor for my weekly session of physical therapy.  It was SO painful!  For some reason, my neck hasn’t been turning left or right very well at all, so my therapist has been trying everything he knows to fix this new problem.  It’s hard work!

And this past Friday, I banged/nicked my left index finger on the sharp edge of a shelf while putting something away, so now it’s been hurting more.  It had to be the left index finger of all places..  My finger joints are stiff again and a little swollen, so next week, my physical therapist will probably take me to the hand therapy department so that I can again stick my arm in the “ground corn husks” machine to warm my hand up and try to loosen the stiff joints.  Praying this will help!  This new “injury” is just another reminder to me that I need to totally depend on Christ whether I’m doing well one day or back to “square one” the next day.  He is sovereign!  And I need to do my part by surrendering to His will and letting Him guide my circumstances.  This is a learning process for sure.  But God is faithful!  And He will help me through this small bump in the road!

Have a blessed weekend, my friends!

Surgery Update 😊

By Kerissa Lee • August 21, 2026
Dear friends, I just wanted to thank you all so much for praying for me during my abdominal surgery on August 6th! 💚 All of your messages/emails really encouraged my heart! If you missed my previous post, I had to have an unexpected surgery to take down the jejunostomy tract and repair an enterocutaneous fistula (a rare complication from having a j-tube for 12 years). I truly felt your prayers, and the Lord answered so many of them as well! 🥹 My surgeon only had to remove about 1 1/2 inches of my small intestine which is great news! I was in the hospital for 4 days because my blood pressure was low and pain control was rough (it’s a long story, but pain management is complex due to a specific medication I take daily at home..). But aside from that and having an allergic reaction to the surgical glue, I’ve been healing well. Thank you again for praying!! God has been so faithful throughout this journey. I got a visit from my sweet foster nephew when I was in the hospital (2nd picture)! 🥰 I can’t wait until I can show you his face—he’s so adorable. 🩵 I’ve mentioned this before, but an important medication I take causes severe insomnia (still not falling asleep until anywhere between 3 AM-9 AM). 😞 But I saw my naturopath this past Monday, and she’s going to treat me for suspected cortisol spiking up during the night (which disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm). I’m thankful for the wisdom God gives her, and I’m excited to see if this treatment will help! It will take 6 weeks to see if there’s any benefit, but I first have to specially order it.. 

August 6th Surgery Prayer Requests 💚

By Kerissa Lee • August 6, 2026
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." -Psalm 46:1

Another surgery 😞

By Kerissa Lee • July 25, 2026
Hi, friends, I thought I wouldn’t be posting for a while since I’ve been doing really well, but I’ve hit a bump in the road again and would appreciate your prayers. 💚 This past Tuesday the 21st, after nearly 12 years living with it, I had my jejunostomy tube removed completely. I thought it was going to be a simple process and that the stoma (hole) would close quickly within 30 minutes like they said. That didn’t happen, though, as the stoma started draining a ton! I couldn’t even leave the lobby and had to go back up to the clinic on the 8th floor to have an ostomy bag placed to collect all the small intestinal digestive juices that continually drained. Unfortunately, I’m experiencing a very rare complication called an enterocutaneous fistula. 🥺 I’m disappointed this is happening, but I’m not exactly surprised since my whole medical case with Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome has been rare from the very beginning.. I also don’t heal well due to connective tissue problems from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (case in point: my port site issues back in May when I had to have a new one surgically placed on the other side of my chest).. 😞 The clinic told me to keep emptying the ostomy bag and monitor the output. It wasn’t a fun 2 days. This whole process has definitely made me so grateful to God that I’ve never needed something like an ileostomy! TMI, but I lost almost a whole pound of fluid because so much was gushing/spurting out of the stoma every time I ate or drank. Losing so many electrolytes, I started experiencing symptoms of dehydration—weakness, high heart rate, and headaches. So yesterday, I had to go back and see the surgery resident who basically placed another j-tube (it was so painful again!). 😭 This is a temporary “plug,” and I’m bummed to say that I have to go to the operating room to have the jejunostomy tract taken down and the fistula repaired. This surgery will be happening as early as next week (it depends on my surgeon’s schedule).. She said it will be complex, especially because adhesions (scar tissue) form when a person has multiple abdominal surgeries.. I lost count what number this surgery/procedure will be, but I do know I’ve had more than 20! 😞 I know God is with me wherever I go and will supply me with the strength to endure yet another surgery like he always does. But, I’m still sad that I have to have more incisions added to my body. I shared the lyrics to this song before on an old blog post (the song is called It Is Well With My Soul by Matt Redman), but it immediately came to mind again when I was thinking of scars. As the song below said, it’s a reminder to me that my scars can be a testimony to others of God’s grace in my life and how he has brought me through every single pain and sorrow. In the Bible, I’ve always thought it’s so neat that Jesus still had his scars after he rose from the dead—he had a new body, and yet, his scars were still visible. ❤️ Our scars are a sign of grace in our lives Oh Father, how You brought us through When deep were the wounds And dark was the night The promise of Your love, You proved Now every battle still to come Let this be our song It is well (it is well) With my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well with my soul