My illness returns

I should have known after a glorious summer spending hours in my Beth Moore bible study, Believing God, that I was about to begin the second phase of this intense test of faith. God in his goodness was preparing me for a literal fight for my life.

I began to have those same strange weak feelings in my legs. I phoned my neurologist, John Riser, to schedule an appointment. Upon seeing me he agreed that something just wasn't right and he ordered some blood work. About a week later he phoned me to tell me that he had discovered an immune deficiency that would need to be treated with infusion treatments once a month - probably for the rest of my life. I was overwhelmed but was glad that he had discovered the root of the problem - so I thought. He referred me on to a hemotologist/oncologist, Luis Pineda, to follow the immune deficiency. When I went to see Dr. Pineda he agreed with Dr. Riser's findings but felt that he needed to do additional testing. When these test results came in he floored me with the results. His words to me were, "My dear you are going to need a bone marrow transplant." My head started reeling and I just couldn't imagine how a relatively healthy 42 year old could be this sick. I cannot explain how I felt at that moment but complete terror would probably suffice. I was now referred to Kirklin Clinic where I would see a team member of the transplant clinic.