My Dearest Friends & Family,
I just wanted to send a quick update to you all to let you know how I am
doing. I think most of you know that I have been bed ridden with my Epstein
Barr/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since February 1st. It has been a month
today and I am not doing a whole lot better. In the last two days I have had
a bit more energy and my legs have been a little more stable on my walks
back and forth to the bathroom (the most exciting thing I do all day!!).
I spent last week at my Mom's with Kai and she took incredible care of us.
Dan was left home with the older two and was relieved to have a little break
from taking care of all of us. Unfortunately my Mom took a bad fall in the
house the last day we were there and is still recovering. Fortunately
nothing was broken and she is beginning to feel better.
I have had some very bad days where nothing works (legs, arms, hands,
fingers) and everything is very week and days with a lot of pain in
different parts of my body. I have not been able to walk normally since Feb
1st and have hobbled around, crawled or been carried. None of my symptoms
are new. My doctor has run blood work and we are waiting on those results.
He is fairly secure that nothing else is going on but this is an extreme
response to the last 9 mths of my life that have been totally exhausting due
to stress, busy schedule w/ work and kids, new baby, nursing, sleepless
nights and no time to focus on my diet and health.
I have struggled with this illness for 17 years now. The last time I was
bedridden for this length of time was before I had children. I have minor
relapses monthly and most of the time try to ignore the seriousness of the
illness. This relapse is truly a wake-up call that I have to make my main
concern my health and my diet which has proven to be the only long term
answer to this illness. When I am strictly on my diet which includes healthy
eating, regular exercise, sunlight, sleep, stress management and a
controlled schedule I am at 100%... but when I ignore these things (as I
have since I got pregnant with Kai) I am setting myself up for relapse.
Before my pregnancy I was strict with my diet and health for 6mths without
exception and I had more energy than I have had in my entire life along with
being symptom free. Once I got into a rhythm it was not hard to manage and
getting back to that is my current goal.
I would appreciate everyone's prayers during this time. Dan is working full
time just to take care of us all(doing an amazing job). Having a baby and
two young children while having your wife confined to bed and keeping up
with her very demanding diet is not easy. He is also handling all our work
concerns by phone with our team in Indiana. We had to cancel our three week
trip out to meet the team due to my illness. They return on Monday and we
will then have to figure out how to juggle work in with everything else.
I am hopeful to be back on my feet sometime in March but expect that it
will be some time before I am back to a regular schedule. I will be cutting
back on work considerably as this relapse has proven what I did not want to
recognize and that is that I am not superwoman and something has to give.
Please pray for me as I set out a new path for myself and set my priorities
as a wife, mom and missionary.
I miss you all. I know I had promised some of my girlfriends here on Long
Island play dates with the kids and time to get together over the last two
months. I am sorry that has not happened but I promise it is one of my
priorities upon recovery. I have not been able to call or email very many as
even phone conversations and typing has been exhausting. Please feel free
however to give me a call or send an email as I would be happy to hear from
everyone.
I will send another update when there is some change (we will hopefully get
a news letter out this month about my condition). Love you all and thank you
for your love and prayers!
Love,
Rebecca
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