Torture, Thieves and True Love

We had an "end of day" celebration for enduring another really grueling day. I even opened a few presents The Footprints ministry gave me before we left. There wasn't much mention of today's agenda in yesterday's blog, because I was edging on the bad side of FEAR.  Having an MRI with this new device is mighty scary since I was the 8th person in the United States to get one implanted.  Well, countless MRI compatible Spinal Cord Stimulators have since been successfully implanted since mine was such a disaster.  I coped quite well with torture, despite being in the pit of despair for several weeks (Princess Bride reference, for those uncool readers). For some reason, some folks think this device is a pain pump and contains narcotics, but it does not. It only blocks the pain message to the brain by intercepting it as it travels up the spine and the brain receives the message as a vibration.  Pedro was the name of my first device and he worked perfectly and is why I didn't want to give him up in 2013 when I had the surgery to implant this knew device.  Well, I think everyone knows that the surgeon messed me up real good and now that new device is causing me pain rather than relieving it.  That's why I am having surgery to remove it on the 26th. I tried to convince them here at Mayo to remove the device for me, but they know my new surgeon in Shreveport and said it was more appropriate to have it done at home.

The problem is, that even though the Mayo Clinic staff knew how to handle the MRI procedures, I pretty much associate anything that has to do with that device with torture.  Therefore, they drugged me up fairly well for the 2 hours I spent in that tube.  They allowed David to go into the room with me and he kept his hand on my leg the entire time and we both prayed throughout.  I have no idea what the results of the MRI have shown, but I am sincerely hoping it will reveal the cause and solution for my headaches.  

After a good long nap, I had an appointment to do the visual acuity test, where my peripheral vision was the main purpose.  Just before the test, we were afforded the opportunity to sit in the waiting room for over 30 minutes. Here, we listened to an older man share his entire life story (quite loudly) with a woman who was approximately half his age. We don't judge for obvious reasons, but what made this conversation interesting was that she was clearly not his family member and was most definitely trying to investigate his net worth, the amount of his life insurance and his dire health status.  She was also working hard to discover how she might be included in his will.  By the time we left, it was apparent she had a fairly good chance of marrying this man and throwing down a few banana peels to speed things along and live unhappily ever after.  David's grandfather, whom his deeply loves, was often quoted as saying, "There's no fool, like an old fool."  Wow. This was daytime television worthy.

I'm not too sure what happened during the day, but somehow I got scheduled for another CT scan of my HEAD.  They clearly have a feral cat problem in Rochestor, Minnesota! I am NOT the cat whisperer.  But, I will show up for my CAT scan tomorrow morning before heading out to the post office to mail a few things.  We are definitely in the home stretch and although we will likely leave here on Friday without too many answers, we will be coming back in June to further investigate my headaches, memory loss and cornea implants. 

Just as we started to head to the vision test, one of the scheduling associates we worked so hard with yesterday stepped from behind the counter and came to sit by the two of us. She wanted to tell us how our love for each other was apparent and how much she enjoyed watching us.  Listen, we didn't have any PDA or anything like that....we are just oozing love.  I highly recommend you watch my favorite movie, The Princess Bride, if you want to begin to understand the depth of our love and the beauty of our love story.

Please continue to pray for the doctors' wisdom and interest in solving the mysteries of my complex medical case.

Peace and Love,

Su

1 John 4:11-12

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."