Approximately 4 weeks ago my ankles suddenly began retaining fluid. Not just any fluid but lymphatic fluid. Nothing had changed in my diet, nothing had changed in life. I tried all the usual remedies for helping my poor feet. At first I assumed I had sprained my ankles, so I used ice packs…. which did not help. I tried using heat…. didn’t help either. I tried new insoles for my shoes…. big mistake. The insoles only made my feet hurt worse. I tried elevating my feet… still didn’t help any. My ankles and feet were the same size when I woke up in the morning, as they were in the evening….. something was seriously wrong. I had also developed a dry hacking cough.

After a week of swollen ankles I sought out the help of the medical field. I went to see my Primary Care Physician (PCP). After looking at my ankles he determined I must have thyroid issues, especially due to the family history of thyroid issues. They drew blood to run tests and would call me with the results the next day. The test results came back negative for any thyroid conditions…. the diagnosis was to take 3 ibuprofen 3 times a day……. I doubted ibuprofen was the answer to the problem.

I consulted others in the medical profession who also had their doubts about the ibuprofen remedy. I stopped taking the ibuprofen shortly there after. Especially after noticing the warning on the bottle advising against pregnant and breast feeding mothers from taking the medication.

My condition continued to deteriorate for the next two weeks. With each passing day my feet were becoming more enlarged from the fluid retention. It became so bad I was no longer able to wear my tennis shoes…. eventually my sandals were unable to fit on my feet. My women’s size 8 1/2 feet were so large I could only fit into a men’s size 12 flip flop…. even then the straps cut into the top of my feet causing pain. Around the same time the swelling was moving up my legs toward my knees. My knees became sore and I was unable to bend them without excruciating pain.

At the three week mark I sought the help of an Internal Medicine Doctor. Dr. Behrend initially thought based on the edema in my legs and ankles I had a heart condition. Post Partum Mycopathy was the diagnosis, but in order to know for sure he scheduled an Echo cardiogram for the next day. The dry cough was still a mystery, a chest x-ray was taken to get a better look at the lungs.

Shortly after the echo cardiogram was completed I received a call from the doctors office with the results of the chest x-ray. The x-ray revealed “enlarged” lymph nodes between my lungs. On the x-ray the heart was not enlarged, and looked normal. Due to the enlarged lymph nodes a CT scan was scheduled, and more blood work was ordered. 

I had the CT scan and it confirmed what the chest x-ray had already shown. There were enlarged lymph nodes between my lungs. The doctor diagnosed me with Sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis is an autoimmune disease which happens when immune cells produce antibodies that attack your own body’s cells. It results in inflammation of different tissues and organs in the body. In my case it appears in the lymph nodes.

After being diagnosed with Sarcoidosis the doctor prescribed a steroid, Prednisone, to reduce the swelling in the lymph nodes. He said it would also allow the lymph nodes to recover and drain the fluid that had built up in my legs.

There was a concern that it could also be Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. In order to 100% rule out lymphoma, a biopsy would need to take place. The best place to remove a portion of the lymph node was do have a medianstinoscopy. With the medianstinoscopy they placed an incision at the top of my breast bone, and went down along side the windpipe and removed a lymph node. The surgery was performed the next day. The surgery went very well, but my body did not like the anesthesia. After being woken up I proceed to throw up….. twice……

After being in the hospital for 8 hours, I was finally allowed to go home. I’m recovering nicely. The incision rarely hurts, but where they put the 3 IVs in…. that’s another story. I have enormous bruises on both hand and wrists.

I see a pulmonologist on Monday to do a breath test and consult with the doctor.

 

Right now the incision is starting to itch…. which means it must be healing.

Good night all…..

Rick Pino, Your Love is like …..

This songs pretty much sums it all up…

Ultra Quick Reload

I have never seen anyone reload a weapon this fast!

hmmm… maybe they should make it an Olympic sport

“Always” Hillsong United Worship with lyrics

We sang this song at Church on Sunday. it moved me, my spirit has been crying out in worship. The desire to worship has been on me 24/7 for the past few weeks.

Lord, draw me close. All I want is YOU! You’re everything I need. Deepen my desire for you.

If global warming is really true…..

Why is it snowing right now????

Why did the South Dakota Highway Patrol close Interstate 29 from Brookings to the North Dakota border, due to the snow?

Why are countless schools closing early today due to poor weather conditions?

Why are drivers stranded at truck stops?

Where is the heat????

 

all I see is cold wet snow…..

 

 

 

“With all creation I sing, Praise to the King of Kings!”

 

This is one of my favorite songs. It’s on my top 10 on my youtube.com playlist. This is such a beautiful and powerful song. After I heard this song the first time, I listened to it over and over again. I think I drove my husband bonkers at times, but there is/was such a longing in my soul to worship. Sometimes I don’t know how to contain it all.

I pray your blessed by this.

This video touched me, hope it touches you

Lately I’ve been contemplating the whole “evolution vs creation” debate. I’ve always believed in creation. I’ve also studied evolution. In my high school and college biology classes, we spent extensive amounts of time, studying the theory of evolution. All the “evidence” the teachers presented were so weak it was pathetic.

To further debunk evolution, in my chemistry and physic classes we learned about entropy. Entropy basically says everything is going from order to disorder. This law is proved on a daily basis in my household.  Every morning everything is put away, the toys are all picked up and put in their place, the dishes are all done, and there is not muddy foot prints on the floor. Needless to say, by the end of the day disorder has taken over. Toys are strewn all over the house, dishes are dirty and sitting in the sink waiting to be cleaned, and there is at least one set of foot prints somewhere in the house.

With the law of entropy, saying that everything goes from order to disorder, I don’t see how evolution is even possible. That disorder would slowly turn into order. No matter how long the toys sit on the floor, they never seem to put themselves away. I’ve even tried evolution on my dirty dishes, yet they never seem to clean themselves, they only get worse.

 

As I was contemplating evolution and creation, I was watching the snail we have in our fish tank. An bad case of algae tried to take over the sides of our fish tank, we purchased a snail, and it’s been amazing to watch him. He slowly crawls around the glass and eats the algae. As I watched him eating, there is no way he happened “by chance”. There is no way he slowly “evolved” over millions and millions of years. There is no way it’s just a “coincidence” that he eats algae and the such. This snail, and all of creation screams out intelligent design. They scream they had a creator. A creator who loves them and created everything for a specific purpose and plan.

 

I thank my creator for creating me!

Last week we had a team from the “Global school of Supernatural Ministry” at our church. It was an amazing time. On Monday night, there was a time for the team to operate in the prophetic. It was encouraging to hear confirmation as to what God is already speaking to me.

At the same time, it opened up a longing in my soul. A longing to go deeper….. deeper than I have ever gone. It’s also pushing me out of my comfort zone. God is calling me to use my spiritual gifts more. A few years back I was using my gift of the prophetic on a constant basis, but…… I haven’t use the gift in a while. Not exactly sure why I haven’t used my gift. I’m sure I can come up with plenty of excuses:

“I’m shy”

“Don’t want to misinterpret what God is saying”

and the ever popular “I don’t have time”

But all excuses aside, God is calling me to use it.

And he’s asking, “Are you willing to jump?”

 

I’m willing,…. are you?

 

What has God been calling/asking you to do, but just haven’t yet?

 

Let’s dive in together

 

 

 

Longing of our hearts….
What is the longing of our hearts?

What is our passion?

What is our number one priority?

Are we putting God first in life, or are we allowing things of this world to distract us? Have we put God on the back burner, or are we still as passionately in love with him as we originally were?

Where are we focusing our time?

Are we building up earthly treasures or earthly ones which will dissapear in an instant?

Lately God’s been asking me some difficult questions. My answer was fairly simple, and summed up in this song.