Miracle in Progress-Part 1-Diagnosis

On June 8, 2013, I had been having a great time with my children playing outside all morning, eating popsicles for breakfast, doing yard work with their Daddy.  It started out like the perfect day, but shortly after lunch, I got really sick to my stomach all of a sudden.  Then came the headaches and nausea.  I have not felt that bad in so long and even got to the point of wondering if I was somehow pregnant even though Mike and I had really actively been using protection for once in our lives!!! But thankfully the Lord decided not to give us such a wonderful blessing at this point in our lives and I just chopped it up to not feeling so great that day.  I asked some of my closest friends to please pray for me because I was completely miserable.  The next day, I woke up feeling better but by the time I made it to church the nausea had came back with a vengeance!!  While sitting in church I noticed my right eye was acting a little off and was blurry.  I had been having a little blurriness 2 days prior to getting sick but didn’t think anything of it but it seemed to be worse now.  So I figured I must have gotten food poisoning because Mike said he had been sick on his stomach too and my eyes were just acting funny and left it at that.  About midway through the week I finally got passed the nausea and upset stomach and was finally able to eat but the headaches and blurry vision remained, it was like looking through cloudy milk and I could see black stringy spots floating around when I tried focusing to look out of it.  By Friday, I was asking for prayers once again.  I really don’t like having to ask people to pray for me, even those closest to me.  I would much rather be praying for other people and pouring out on them than to have to ask for it for myself.  Mike left to go spear fishing for his Father’s Day weekend Saturday morning, the 15^th, at about 5 am. And I got up with the kids at about 7.  When I walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror, the entire white in my eye ball was completely red.  I knew it wasn’t pink eye or a normal type infection you would typically get in your eye.  So I called the doctor’s office and they scheduled me an appointment for Monday afternoon.  Monday rolls around and I go to our family optometrist and he checks out my eye and noticed that my cornea is inflamed.  He dilates my eyes so he can see all behind them and informs me that the jelly behind my cornea is also inflamed and tells me he wants me to go see a specialist.  He can treat the inflamed cornea but not the further extent of the problem.  I honestly believe he wanted to get a second opinion because of what he saw.  So I get sent straight over to the specialist who sees me right when their office is closing.  They do a retina scan of both of my eyes, a pressure check, and then the doctor comes and examines my right eye very thoroughly.  He types on his computer and then turns around to talk to me. He was very straight forward, which is what I like.  Don’t sugar coat it, please just tell me like it is.  He said that I have iritis, a very bad inflammation in my eye, and it is a pretty bad case but treatable.  We are going to try to treat it with steroid drops but if that doesn’t work, then we will try an oral steroid and if that doesn’t work then I will have to have the steroids injected straight into my eye ball. He told me that it will take a good long while to completely get over this and that I will have to come in and see him several times before we are finished.  Then he turned and looked at me and said, “ I see you have no insurance.”  “I don’t and that is the most intimidating part about all of this!!”  Then he said, “ I have been exactly where you are.  I am not about to rake you over the coals or take advantage of you.  I do expect to get paid for my services but I won’t take advantage of your situation because you are going to have to keep coming back.”  I almost started crying right there.  This Doctor who took extra time out of his day to see me after hours, had so much compassion for me and the situation I was in with my eye.  

The entire time while I had been hearing all of the good, bad and ugly that came along with my diagnosis, I just had complete peace and kept singing inside myself the lyrics to a Rick Pino song, “I’m leaning on my Beloved.  Leaning on my Beloved.”  And throughout it, I was leaning on God and the testimony that will arise out of this and bring Him so much glory and honor and praise…but I felt like He was just wrapping me up in His arms and letting me see and feel that no matter what comes, what I am faced with, what Satan tries to hinder or throw at me, that He is there…He IS FAITHFUL…HE IS A COMPASSIONATE AND LOVING FATHER WHO HAS THE MOST DEVOTED HEART FOR HIS CHILDREN!!!

When I was leaving, the Doctor went over the billing with me and charged me half of what I should have been charged!!  What a blessing!!  So I scheduled my appointment for Thursday and left.  I was in so much shock, honestly.  I kinda thought I was going to get told that I had three babies really quickly, I’m getting older, my body isn’t what it use to be and my eyes are taking the brunt of it so I needed glasses.  But no, it wasn’t anything like that at all!!  It was my immune system is attacking itself for some unknown reason and it just took it out and manifested on my right eye!  This was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum!!!  I was confused for about five minutes…I had a moment of “really?! Why me?” and then got my focus on The One back and was able to look at the bigger picture a little.  There will come good out of this!!  There will come a victorious testimony!!  Spiritual growth and reliance on Him will happen through this healing process!!  A miracle will arise!!!  I am more than confident in who He is and what He is going to do !!!  My heart and lips will praise Him through every day of this attack and trial that I am walking through.  My faith will not waiver for my trust is in Him!!