History & Update from B

This is Ben. I wanted to send an e-mail to say, "Thank you" and update you! Many of you know M was hospitalized this last week. Your prayers have meant so much and many of you have sent numerous emails expressing your thoughts and prayers and I cannot begin to tell you what encouragement your messages have provided to M. This past weekend in the hospital was met with some progress, but yet we are still in the dark on so much of what is going with her. We pray that we will continue to be on a good path that will lead to her healing. Please continue to pray for M as she still has very rough days with her "episodes" and desiring to find answers to all this.

A brief History:
Two years ago, she began having these "episodes" of dizziness, nausea, flushing, numbness in her extremities, etc. We saw many physicians and specialists, but we were not able to get many answers. In Jan 07, she went on short-term Disability through her work. After about two months, her episodes decreased (she went seven days without any). Within two days of being back at work, her episodes came back. She reached a point where she had to go back on disability in September. It was during this time that M's manager found an article on a syndrome called POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). After researching POTS, it seemed that we might be onto something. It is an orphan syndrome, no known cause or treatment. Please feel free to go to http://www.potsplace.com/ for more information. This has been a great resource for us and many of the doctors treating M.

After finding a leading national specialist on POTS in the area, we met with him and his team and she was officially diagnosed. She entered into a national study on POTS. The purpose of this study is to find a cause and, more importantly, a treatment for this orphan syndrome. While this seemed to be a good road, M has not had great success with the treatment. Once she started the treatment program, her episodes increased to upwards of 25 per day. So here we are now, having seen a myriad of physicians and specialists for answers and treatment, but not a lot of progress. While she was in the hospital, she was diagnosed with Diabetes Insipidus (water diabetes). It means that she is excessively thirsty, but her body doesn't absorb what she consumes and she typically excretes more than she consumes. This can lead to severe dehydration.

So, now we are back at home and M has more doctor appointments this week and one with a new doctor that is also a POTS specialists. We pray that he will have the answers. Again, thank y'all so much for checking in on M and please continue to pray!

Hopefully we are nearing the end of this journey and M can return to a normal life. She desperately misses her job, sleeping a full night, feeling good, and more importantly doing what she loves the most-serving others.

Thank you!

B