It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that Misti is, again, in the hospital.  Although I am thankful that it is a Calgary hospital and not the one in Olds or Didsbury.  She was diagnosed, back in September, with Gastroparesis.  That is when the stomach no longer digests the food so it will pass into the bowel.  In order to gain any nutritional value for the food we eat, it must be processed through the bowel.  Instead, her stomach is like a bowl is sitting there, catching anything that she swallows, including water, and whatever goes down, including the water, is vomited back up again, almost immediately.  The nerves are paralyzed.  So, for the past year she has been literally starving to death.  Her doctor and specialists have told her she is dying.  In fact, they are surprised that she is still with us.  I refused to believe it – she’s too young.  I still have great faith that her role, here on earth, is not fulfilled yet.  She has been going to her doctor, sometimes on a daily basis, because she is in such pain.  She came into Calgary, last September, and saw some specialists.  The damage caused from the diabetes is irreversible – and that’s quite extensive.  She has nerve damage to her legs and one specialist told her that she would have to have a foot amputated.  She wants a second opinion before having that done.  Her kidneys and bladder are shutting down.  She has so much toxins running through her body that her feet and legs balloon up and are very hard to touch.  It’s like the skin cannot possible stretch anymore.  Her circulation is very poor.

On Wednesday, she was brought – by ambulance from Olds hospital to Peter Lougheed Centre hospital.  Thank God for that; otherwise, she may not be here today.  They do not have the equipment, training or specialists there.   On Thursday, she was given 2 options:  1)  having her whole stomach removed; or 2)  having a feeding tube (j-tube) inserted directly into her bowel and out through her abdomen.  She called her father and I to the hospital and wanted to discuss the options she had been given and we all agree with the j-tube.  It is not a cure, just a way for her to get some much-needed nutrition into her body.  She will receive 85% of her nutrition through this j-tube and she can have 15% of her own food or juices.  She weighs little more than 100 lbs and for a 5’4” height, she looks very thin. 

Her doctor told her, on Thursday, that he needed an answer regarding her decision by next Monday.  Yesterday, him and his team of doctors had their usual weekly meeting.  It started mid-morning and when I left the hospital at 3 pm, they were still in the meeting, so I didn’t get a chance to talk with him.  Apparently, they finished up their meeting around 5.  He said a great deal of the time was spent discussing Misti.  He told her that he doesn’t think they should wait until Monday for an answer, so she told him that we all had discussed it and decided on the j-tube.  He is trying to book surgery time for Monday or Tuesday.  As of tonight, they still didn’t have a definite surgery time.

I feel so helpless and there’s not much I can do except keep her spirits up and alleviate any stress that might set her back.  I pray a lot and have finally convinced her to not give up on her faith in God.  That’s all we have to help us cope in our lives.  So, I am sending this to you so you know what is going on and to ask you all to pray for her.  If your church has a prayer list, can you include her name on that too?

I don’t have the time to call everyone and let them know what is happening and, emotionally, I don’t think I can either.  So, I will keep you posted via email as to what is happening.  If you want to send her a line, I will make sure I print it off and bring it to her.