One year ago today :)

Kerissa • September 13, 2012

Today is a special day.  One year ago, on September 13, 2011, I had my spinal cord stimulator implant surgery!  One of the best days of my life.  I’m so thankful to God that this neurostimulation has helped the CRPS pain in my feet all these past months.  It’s been such a blessing!

This is my pain dr. and me.  I’ve known him for one and a half years now!  He’s the best!  We’ve laughed together, joked together, and been through joyous times and tough times.  He has a real compassion for those in pain and tries to do all that he can to help others.  My case has been so crazy and challenging, but he has stuck with me all these months!

4 days till I see the spine surgeon!  You want to hear something funny?  Yesterday, I saw a physical medicine and rehabilitation dr.  With him was someone taking notes.  And guess what, that person told me he has EDS, too!!  That really surprised me, but it makes sense because he’s short like me!  You’re probably thinking, how does that make sense?  Well, I found out that people with EDS are short….no joke.  Pretty interesting!  At least I now have a real reason as to why I’m the shortest in my family.

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