Explant Surgery 12/4

Kerissa • December 5, 2012

Surgery is all over!  Thank you, God, for being with me through it all.  Although my pain dr. said the post-op pain is nothing like an implant surgery, I’m experiencing the opposite (probably because of my EDS condition and everything else). lol  This pain is so bad, much worse than last year’s.  I bled so much during the surgery, the most my pain dr.’s ever seen for this type of surgery.  My incisions kept oozing.  I actually had to change gowns on the operating table because of all the blood!  My IPG and leads were scarred in so well that it was pretty difficult for my pain dr. to remove them.  Thankfully, he was in the end able to remove everything, but he had to do a lot of yanking, tugging, and pulling.  Which is why I am now having so much pain.  Plus, I felt them suture me back up which was quite an experience!  My back is now a hump from the swelling.  And each incision is very dark and red.  It feels like I got shot twice in the back! x[  Oxycodone isn’t helping much at all.

Anyway, I hope to get those MRIs this week, but that’s probably not gonna happen cuz insurance has to authorize it which takes a couple of days.

 

After surgery.  The first time I saw my spinal cord stimulator outside of my body!  Once I have it all cleaned up and stuff, I’ll post a better picture of it.

October prayer request

By Kerissa Lee • October 19, 2025
Dear friends, At the beginning of October, I started taking a new medication for the autoimmune disease. I thought I was tolerating it just fine, but after several days passed, I began experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, weakness all over, and increased pain. 🙁 It’s like I’m experiencing another “mito crash.” I found out that this specific lupus medication affects mitochondria. That is, it causes an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This, in turn, causes cell damage and oxidative stress. I sure wish the rheumatologists would have known about this before prescribing. But I have to remember that Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome is rare, and they’re not “mito experts.” Anyways, the last time I felt like this was back in May.. I’m so grateful to God that I haven’t needed to be hospitalized from this, but at the same time, I’m also sad that this happened at all, especially because I had such a nice stretch of stable health. I’d really appreciate your prayers, that this muscle weakness can resolve soon, and that this increased pain all over will get back to my baseline. Every time I have a “mito crash,” it feels like I’m fighting the flu which always sucks. The pain has been hard to bear. And whenever I’m in the thick of it, it’s difficult to remember that this too will eventually pass. 😢 Pray that I will endure and follow Jesus’ example like this passage from Hebrews 12:1-2– “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...” Thank you all so much for praying for me. ❤️

Thank you! (+ a prayer request)

By Kerissa Lee • October 4, 2025
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3

Praises & Prayer Requests

By Kerissa Lee • September 3, 2025
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23