IT'S BEEN A WHILE.....

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog and am hoping to get back to it again soon! I've been having some "personal/medical stuff" that I've been dealing with lately and haven't felt like doing much other than going to work, going home and playing with Will some, hanging out with Rick, taking care of the house, and getting to bed so I can go to work again the next day! :) We were just on vacation last week and hope to "blog" about that some but in the meantime you can check out our family website (Will's page) to see some beach pictures at www.rickandmarypapp.org!

Wanted to give everyone an update on everything that I've been seeing so many doctors about lately:

I've had a great deal of fatigue and problems with my eyes (drooping eyelids) - we have seemed to have traced the start back to b/n 1997 to 1999 - the fatigue has worsened over the past year or so and the eyelids have become progressively worse over time. I started seeing an eye doctor in 2002 about the drooping eyelids but never really came to a conclusion at that point as to what the problem was so just stopped seeing the doctor. Last year or maybe the year before that...can't remember...it's all running together now :), my vision became a little harder to deal with, especially since I work on a computer all day long, so I went to Lens Crafters just to see if I needed glasses. He couldn't get a read on my eyes and said that there looked like there was something wrong with the retina so he sent me on to Palmetto Retina Center in Columbia, SC. I saw the doctor there a few times and did some testing and they sent me on to another doctor in Columbia and after she looked at me, she determined that she wanted to send me to a specialist that she recommended in Augusta, GA at the Medical College of GA. So...I started seeing a doctor there and did some more tests (some very painful ones and some not so bad), had blood work drawn, had a muscle biopsy, etc. and have been put on many different medications trying to help what they thought was some type of mitochondrial myopathy. A couple of weeks ago I went back to my doctor in Columbia to do some more extensive visual field tests and she took pictures of my eyes to send to insurance in hopes of them covering me for surgery on my eyelids. After looking at all of the "data" that has been collected she has determined that I have what is called Kearns Sayre Syndrome. I don't really have any details yet other than what I have read on the internet....hope to find out soon from her what I'm really dealing with. The good news is is that's it's not heriditary and the doctors in GA feel like it's become "benign." So....keep praying that things keep "looking up" and that I can keep hanging in there through all of this! All of the doctors appointments have become quite tiring and of course dealing with a little one year old .... who's about to turn 2 doesn't help! Thankfully, by the grace of God I'm making it through all of this! :)

As long as insurance decides to cooperate, I'll probably be having surgery on my eyelids towards the end of the summer/early fall! Waiting to hear back from the doctor about this so I'll keep everyone posted on when things are going to happen!

Thanks again for all the prayers....I appreciate them so much and they are very much felt and needed!