Increasing faith.

What a week this has been! I planned on updating everyone as soon as I returned from Cleveland, but after coming down with the flu (more on that later) I have been bedridden for the last week. I've only ventured out twice and both times I immediately regretted leaving my bed. Wanting to share updates, ideas, and prayer requests with you all, here I sit in bed typing away and finally sharing the turn of events from the last seven days. Here goes.

On day two of Cleveland, I had an MRI, saw the Neurologist, and had some blood work done. I was unable to pick up the heart monitor because they were out of stock. But I guess since Cleveland Clinic is number one in the nation for their heart institute, they get a lot of defective heart customers who need the monitors. One will be mailed to me soon so that we can begin monitoring my heart and hopefully catch some excitement for  the doctors to see.

The MRI went as well as one could go. I was privileged to wear a lovely Cleveland Clinic hospital gown and pants that were both about five sizes too large. I looked lovely. When it was time to put the IV in, the nurses tried to make my mom stand back behind a curtain. I guess when the IV came out so did my inner five year old because I quickly called for mom and the nurses let her come stand by me and hold my hand. I made it through the two hour MRI very well and I even fell asleep at the end. I was very thankful and relieved to be done and finally get the IV taken out of my arm.

As soon as the MRI was finished we rushed to another floor in another building to see the Neurologist. He was a very nice man who had the BEST accent since he was from South Africa. I could understand most of what he said, but he did have to repeat himself a few times. I'm not sure if this was because I couldn't understand what he said or because I was just listening to his accent instead of what he was saying. The Neurologists performed a few simple tests like having me walk different ways, balance, and do some hand eye coordination tasks. Apparently from that I seem to be pretty normal, but based on my symptoms the doctor wants to perform a few more tests that have been scheduled for early March. We are praying for a cancellation so that we can get them done sooner. What impressed me most about this visit is that the doctor was only seeing me as a favor to the Cardiologist and that we were actually in his office on his lunch break. I felt pretty special to be fit in like that, but a little bad that maybe the doctor didn't eat lunch that day.

Five tubes of blood were taken to be sent off to a few different labs for genetic testing as well as some tests from the Neurologist and Cardiologist. So far the blood work is all normal, but we are still waiting on the results from the genetic testing. The MRI showed my aneurysm is steady and is right around the same 4.2 centimeters. The MRA showed no concerns or issues that the geneticist was looking for.

So same old tests, new doctors, and new results. God answers prayers.