Thankful.

Kerissa • August 2, 2014

On Wednesday, I had a bilateral lumbar sympathetic nerve block, and the best news of all—it was a successful block. =)  I’m so so thankful to the Lord for this pain relief!  Within minutes, my pain went from 8 to 0 on a pain scale of one to ten!  My legs and feet still feel amazing.  Nerve blocks are temporary, but my pain dr. used a combination of meds to try and make the pain relief last as long as possible!

My neuro-ophthalmology and spine follow-ups this past week went well.  As I mentioned before, my left eye can’t move to the left at all, but the movement in my right eye is still intact which is great news since that can change quickly..  The spinal curvature is stable as well, so I only need to see my spine dr. on an as-needed basis!  The day of my J-tube surgery next Thursday, he wants his assistant to send him an email to remind him that I’m having surgery because he wants to try and visit me on Friday if he has a chunk of free time.  He’s so sweet!

I finally figured out why I’ve been dealing with bad insomnia at night.  The mito specialist started me on a high-dose antioxidant which I’m supposed to take twice a day.  And one of the side effects is insomnia!  So because of that, my sleep dr. is starting me on a “non-habit forming” sleep med.  I hope it helps—not getting enough sleep has been aggravating all my GI symptoms.

I’ve been losing more muscle in my legs, too.  It’s hard to see them getting smaller and smaller….my balance is more affected as well, so my physical therapist is having me start using Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) to try and slow the muscle atrophy.  I’m so blessed to have such dedicated therapists work with me every week.

This coming Tuesday is my pre-op appointment, and Wednesday we’ll receive the call when the J-tube surgery is on Thursday (8/7).  The surgery will be laparoscopic with many small incisions.  The surgeons are going to fill my abdomen with co2 to see better…sounds uncomfortable!

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support as I start another part of this journey!

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