Hard days

Kerissa • September 1, 2020

Dear friends,

Thank you soo much for your texts, prayers, comments, and messages on my last post.  I’m sorry I haven’t been able to respond to them, but please know that I am so encouraged and blessed by you. ❤   It has been a very hard past 6 days here in the hospital.  Wednesday night around 1:30 AM was so scary…..after I received my first bag of IV N-Acetyl Cysteine (and the nurse was starting the second dose), my heart rate suddenly started pounding/beating super fast, I got very hot/feverish, I felt like I was going to vomit, my chest was really tight, and I couldn’t breathe well.  At first, I thought I was getting sepsis again, but my nurse thought I was having anxiety..  I told her that I don’t have anxiety.  She then noticed that my ears were super red, she checked my skin and saw that I was very blotchy all over….it turns out that I was having a severe anaphylactic reaction to the NAC!   I was really disappointed that I couldn’t keep receiving this antioxidant but also thankful to the Lord and His amazing providence.  Before making the decision to get admitted, my doctor was initially going to have me try the IV NAC at home, but God knew I needed to be in the hospital.  He truly knows what we can’t see. ❤

Since that allergic reaction, it took so much out of me physically, and I’m feeling even worse than when I got admitted.   So very weak and shaky all over (it’s taking me many breaks to type this), the pain has been horrible (it was a 9 more than once and I cried so much ), and more.

But, my doctors have adjusted my pain regimen, and I can now receive IV pain meds every 2 hours, my lab work is looking better than before, and my right eye is not as droopy as it used to be (my left eye is not doing too well—I can’t look to the left and that’s causing double vision, but we’re praying it will get better with time..).

So much waiting going on over here…waiting for the pain to resolve…waiting for my strength to come back…waiting for my eyes to track better…waiting to go home…  And it’s hard not to get discouraged. But all of this has been a huge reminder to fully “wait for the Lord” in every single circumstance.

“I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” – Psalm 40:1

“Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” – Psalm 33:20

“O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.” – Isaiah 33:2

Thank you all for continually lifting me up in prayer during this bump in the road!   I am so grateful to God for you. ❤❤

P.S. Just an FYI, I lettered the verse above a while back, not recently…  Too weak now to even write my name with a pen (I had to sign my name yesterday for some paperwork that my mom fills out weekly, and it was so hard!).  This means no writing Punkpost cards for a while or hand lettering new pieces.

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