13.1 - For those of you who enjoy running, you know that 13.1 is the half-way mile marker for a marathon. I was a runner since my first 10K (6.2 miles) when I was 8 years old. I loved running and it was an activity that disconnected me from the difficulties of life and gave me time to think and meditate. I ran up until I had my cervical fusion in 2000. At that time, after my cervical fusion, I was told by my neurosurgeon that the only reason I should be running was if someone was chasing me with a gun! Haha![...]

Good evening everyone! I wanted to thank all of you for your posts of encouragement and the many individual texts that I received last night and this morning. You really blessed me and Steve with your words and many great scriptures you shared.[...]

Good evening from the warm (hot) destination to Phoenix to continue my care at the Mayo Clinic. If you have followed the blog recently, you know that medically things have been spiraling out of control. At least it feels that way to me at times.[...]

Happy Easter holiday! This week Steve and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. As we were sitting at dinner, we reminisced about the last two decades of our lives. (Actually three decades when you go back to when we met at 12 years old!) We discussed a marriage that has known jubilant joy, deep despair, suffocating sorrow, bountiful blessings, prevailing peace, and God’s grace.[...]

And so we wait ... some more ...

At least we get to wait at home.[...]

It is 3 am and I find myself once again in the emergency room tucked away in a room waiting on an admission to open up on a regular floor. It’s been a whole two weeks since we were last here. I have developed an infection in my left arm that started two days ago and has rapidly progressed from a rash on my hand to a spreading combination of a rash and large blisters that now reaches my elbow. It seems to have started from the last IV site but we are not 100% sure that is the case. The doctors are running tests and every few hours they draw a new line on my arm to mark the spread of the red streaks. Honestly, we are exhausted after having already been here for 13 hours. It took over 2 hours with different members of the IV team to get a new line started in my right arm so we could begin antibiotics. That line collapsed and infiltrated the tissue with a large amount of antibiotics. Now it is extremely swollen and feels like acid has been poured in my arm. Ugh. Currently, we are waiting on the next plan for an IV. Meanwhile, I am not getting the antibiotics that I need to stop the spreading infection in the left arm. [...]

In my last post, I said to stay tuned because the next post would be about Steve. He was scheduled to have his four wisdom teeth surgically removed and I was sure we would get a great picture or two and if lucky, maybe a funny video with him on pain meds! Our week last week took an unexpected turn and this week I have just been trying to rest and recover from a 5 day hospital stay.[...]

A Tale of Two Lees

It has been the 6 week mark since our last trip to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix and I was planning on writing a note to give you an update. It had one theme - Progress! Then this weekend happened and now my note also has another theme - a few steps back. Oh well, what is a girl to do. I almost just wrote about Mayo but I have promised you that on this blog I would be honest, even when it is hard or not what I wanted. So, today you get the two-for-one special.[...]

Hi everyone! First, thank you for your prayers, texts, and calls on our recent trip to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. Although it was a short three days of assessments, there was a lot of information to bring home and we will need some time to process it in its entirety. After we have had time to process and involve our local doctors with the recommendations presented at Mayo, we will update more here on the blog.[...]

Merry Christmas from the Brooks! The last post was from my birthday in May and we vow to be more consistent in the coming year! As the last post reveals, I am blessed to have a husband who sees my daily struggles and also sees the unconditional love and grace of Christ as we make this difficult journey. His post says more than I can convey here. Steve’s previous post gives a glimpse into our hearts on this challenging journey. I hope you will take the time to read his post.[...]