Happy news πŸ’š

Kerissa Lee • October 31, 2026




Dear friends,


I just cannot believe it’s been more than 2 months since my last blog post! So much has happened, but most of it is very happy news!! ☺️


I saw my GI surgeon in September for my post-op appointment (check out my previous post if you missed what surgery I had in August). I’m all healed thankfully, although there is now a noticeable crater on my abdomen where my j-tube used to be. :( Scar tissue inside is what’s causing that, and she told me I need to be careful when carrying very heavy things because I could get a hernia in that spot. 😣 If that happened, she said she can easily repair it! I definitely don’t want another surgery, though!


Aside from the short 4-day hospital stay I had in August for that abdominal surgery, I’m soo happy to share that the middle of November 2026 marks 2 WHOLE YEARS since I was last admitted to the hospital for a “mito crash!” I could cry from tears of happiness, and all praise and glory truly goes to God!! πŸ₯Ή My previous stretch of stable health lasted about 17 months (from September 2021 to February 2023), so I surpassed that which is simply amazing!


Because my health has been doing so well, even more incredible news is that I got a part time job!! I found work through care.com since I LOVE babies and kids. I started occasionally taking care of a 6 month old baby girl—she’s so adorable!! I also sometimes take care of a 5 year old girl with her 3 year old brother. For both of those jobs, I’m just the backup (for example, when extended family can’t provide care). But, last week, another mom reached out on care.com asking if I could be her 2 daughters’ afternoon nanny every Monday—the oldest girl is 6 years old, and her little sister is almost 3 years old.


It’s been so wonderful and fulfilling to be able to work. I never want to take for granted how much of a gift it is to have a job! πŸ₯² I do still have to rest my body on the days I don’t work because my muscle spasticity gets soo intense and painful. 😞 It feels like my back muscles just continually clench up and spasm. Very thankful for the muscle relaxant Baclofen which helps the extreme tightness! The chronic pain also worsens in my legs/back, and my hand tremors do, too (called minipolymyoclonus). Regardless of these symptoms, it makes me so happy and thankful to God for the ability to work! πŸ’š


You might have noticed that I haven’t mentioned anything lately about my Pain With Purpose store. There are a bunch of reasons, but one of the biggest is that shipping has become more and more expensive which is a bummer. 😞 For the past year, whenever a customer places an order, I’ve been paying part of the shipping cost out of my own pocket because I wanted to keep the shipping fee low. I’ve also wanted to keep card prices low because I totally understand how expensive everything is in this economy. But in today’s digital world, a really nice card (at Papyrus, for example) could cost more than $9!! So charging only $2.75 for one of my cards on top of keeping the shipping fee low has been a challenge. After thinking about it a lot, I’ve made the decision to close my store—at least, for now! Next year, it’d be super cool to sell my items (cards, stickers, bookmarks, prints, and magnets) at something like a pop-up! 😊 So I will definitely be sure to keep you posted with any new shop updates! If you did place an order this past year, I wanted to say a big Thank You!! It meant so much to me, and I hope my cards were an encouragement. πŸ₯°


I don't know what God has planned for my future regarding my health and everything else, but I just want to have faith and keep leaning on him for strength, through any future highs or lows. The Lord truly is faithful! Thank you so much for praying for me these past 16+ years. ❀️

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! πŸ’š 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! πŸ₯Ή 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)! πŸ₯° 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.. ο»Ώ

August 6th Surgery Prayer Requests πŸ’š

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. πŸ’š 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. πŸ₯Ί 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