Larissa goes to school

Larissa met me at the bottom of the stairs on Tuesday. She's having another bout of not being able to sleep at night and since she couldn't sleep she wanted to go to school with me. She did really well although the walk between my two classrooms was really hard for her. Last year she was able to walk that distance fine but now I have to support her and she was shaking when she gets there. It's always a blessing to have her share with my students about Cambodia. Most of my classes were finished up a "getting to know you" exercise but my 7th period class was done so they asked Larissa a bunch of questions about Cambodia. I think it's so healthy for them to realize that so much of the world has so little. Larissa also wrote "rain" in Khmei on my whiteboard and told all the classes about her special "God" times worshipping in the rain.
 Larissa is having a hard time right now, feeling the weigh of passing time and having nothing to do but stay at home. She will be sick for days in payment for going to school with me but there are times she just has to, for her emotion/mental health, get out. I was so grateful to have her with me.

Aug.25th Same old, same old

The weeks following the wedding have been hard. Larissa has not been out of the house in quite some time. She said yesterday that she is having trouble just getting herself from the couch/bed to the restroom. However last night she joined us at the table for dinner and had her Larissa sense of humor with her. We are still working on Doctors number 23 and 24 but there are lab test to be done, lot of lab tests first. We are still waiting on our PCP for when and where to go for the appointments and labs.

Weekend wedding Aug.14th

We had a family wedding this weekend. Larissa was excited to get out and be with people. She made it to church in the morning. The wedding was at 6:00pm that night and Larissa was determined to go and have fun. The wedding was at Oso so it was a bit of a walk from where we parked to the where the wedding was taking place. Larissa rode in a van to get to there. Larissa did fine during the ceremony and reception but when the dancing started she wanted to dance. She managed to go out on the dance floor and shuffle her feet a bit but when it was time to go we had some trouble. The guests formed a sparkler arch for the bride and groom to walk through. Larissa was part of it so she was part way to the car. I thought we could make it walking the rest of the way...wrong. We were only half way to the car when Larissa's legs buckled and she couldn't walk any farther. Fortunately a young man, that went to school with Larissa, came by and carried her the rest of the way. I thought it was rather romantic, Larissa thought it was rather embarrasing.

More confusion: August 9th

Today we went to see Larissa's PCP (primary care physician) He is referring her to a couple more Doctors but said he wasn't too hopeful that they would help.
He also told Larissa that she shouldn't try to do much activity because it will just make her sicker, which was the exact opposite thing the neurologist told her. The neurologist made Larissa feel like her in-activity was just laziness and if she just did things she's be okay. We know that any activity Larissa does results in more pain and weakness but sometime she just ignores her pain because she so desperately wants to be with people. She knows she'll be sick after but it's worth the pain to feel like, if just for a few hours, she's got a life.
Larissa had a good week last week, but this week she is very sick. Usually she doesn't feel nausea but this week she is. I long for the day when we can have our happy, health Larissa back.

Quick appointment August 1st

Virginia Mason just called to make an appointment for Larissa to see a neurologist. We are going TODAY at 1:30, prayers appreciated. This will be the second round of seeing an Infectious disease Doc followed by a Neurologist (the first time was 2 yrs ago in Bangkok)

This appointment was incredibly discouraging for Larissa. The Neurologist found a small spot in the middle of Larissa's brain but felt it couldn't be causing the pain and fatigue. The Doctor presented a pretty strong case for this being Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Since CFS is long lasting and has no cure this was hard to take. Larissa's quality of life is so low that thinking of her being in this condition for years is not something any of us wants to face. However the Doctor told Larissa she could improve her quality of life by trying to be more active. 
Here's the problem...Larissa spent the next week trying to be more active and the result was an increase in fatigue, more severe headaches, weigh loss and nauseousness. We need to find a way to improve her health without her just getting sicker.

The church prays August 1st

Just tearfully read through my emails. There are so many people praying for our dear Larissa. I'm blessed by your concern for her. Northlake is making Wednesday a day of fasting and prayer on her behalf. I'm blessed to be part of such a caring church family.

Test results back July 29th

Super discouraged, test results back on Larissa. They found nothing, the appointment on the 2nd is cancelled. How can we win this battle if NO ONE can tell us why she's so sick?

Prayer needed for Larissa---July 6th

Please pray for Larissa. She has an appointment Friday, July 8th at 3:00 with an infectious/tropical disease specialist. It’s been a long journey getting here. Because our General diagnosed Larissa with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, no specialist will see her. The only reason we were able to get this appointment was because Barry got rather forceful with the Doctors, and praise God they finally responded.
I have been reading about parasites and discovered that all the conditions Larissa has been diagnosed with in the last 2 years: chronic fatigue, allergies, headaches, sleeplessness, weakness, dizziness, are all symptoms of parasites. Although she’s been tested, the usual test only covers 50 strains of parasites when 1000 strains exist. We really need this appointment to result in a doctor that will test for the unusual.
Please pray that the Doctor will get an accurate picture of how sick Larissa is and that they will be aggressive in finding the correct diagnosis.
I want to thank all of you that have been praying for Larissa on an on-going basis. We so appreciate your concern. We are in a battle for Larissa’s health and possibly her life. Thank you, in advance, for lifting up our dear little Larissa. ----Ruth