Trip Down Memory Lane

I know I've been speaking a lot about how I believe God and how He's going to heal me, but I just need to take a trip down memory lane, and give God thanks for what He's already done.  Let me share some more details with you...

• 2006 - I went on a camping trip with my 5th grade students and we were in the sticks. Shortly after that, my husband and I traveled to visit his brother in Alabama, and once again we were in the sticks. My first rash appeared shortly after these trips. When I went to the dermatologist, they referred me to the infectious disease doctor Dr. Macapinlac, as they speculated that it could be a rash due to Lyme's Disease; which made sense at the time because ticks linger in the woods. This began the first round of blood work, accompanied with my first overnight stay in the hospital when I had to have a spinal tap test done. All blood work came back negative for Lyme's Disease, but the doctor didn't want to take any chances so he started me on the antibiotic used to treat Lyme's Disease, Doxycycline (especially since I had pain in my neck and back). After a round of treatment, if my memory serves me right, along with the use of a topical steroidal cream, the rash went away.
• 2008 - At the end of June, the rash from 2006 returned again...in the same exact location (lower left leg). I went to the dermatologist once again, and again they figured that it was a rash due to Lyme's Disease. So I returned to the same infectious disease doctor again, who again took blood work and again started me on Doxycycline. This time, accompanied with the rash was intense pain from my knees down to my toes, in my neck and back, and swelling in my feet and ankles. This caused grave concern for the doctor as these symptoms are common in patients with Lyme's Disease. He started me on another round of Doxycycline, hoping that this would alleviate the pain...it didn't work. Now he decided to put me on an intravenous antibiotic, in which I had to come to his office daily for a half hour. After 3 weeks of taking this IV med, the rash began to go away and the joint pain went away.
• 2010 - You guessed it...the rash is back and in the same location. We bypassed the dermatologist and went straight to the infectious disease doctor, who this time referred me to a rheumatologist - all previous and current blood word for Lyme's Disease had been negative, and who ever heard of Lyme's Disease rashes reoccurring without being bit over and over again?!  Well, one rash wasn't enough this time. I ended up with not one, not two, but three rashes.  Did the joint pain return you ask? Oh yeah and with a vengeance this time. The joint pain wasn't only in my neck, back and lower legs, but in my entire body.  Let's fast forward to the rheumatologist - after rounds of testing and questioning, the rheumatologist said, and I quote, "I'm not sure what's going on with you but I guarantee you that you don't have an auto-immune disease".  My primary care doctor completed the referral for me to see him after she thought there was a possibility of me having Lupus.  I remember sitting in a restaurant with my husband, sharing the news with him that there was a possibility of me having an auto-immune disease and we both sat at the table and cried. It was at this moment that I prayed and asked God to heal my body, because I didn't want my husband to have to take care of me...he had been taking care of his mom and dad for as long as I could remember and I didn't want him to now have a sick wife to take care of. 
• June 2011 - At the end of June (the time that these rashes have always appeared) another rash (yep, in the same spot) appeared once again along with the joint pain and swelling. This time I went to my primary care doctor, that referred me back to dermatology who looked at it and said "Lupus" and  immediately referred me to rheumatology...again.  This time my primary care doctor recommended Dr. Rosenstein, and when I called his office, he didn't have an opening until October...yes, October. I kept calling and calling and calling, hoping to get an appointment sooner. I got a call stating that another doctor in the practice, Dr. Suleman Bhana,  had an opening in July - I took it. Then about a week later, I received a call stating that they had an even earlier appointment so I took it.
• August 2011 - My husband and I traveled to the Bahamas and within a day, I had not one rash, not two, not three...but EIGHT RASHES. Needless to say, the sun didn't do wonders for my skin.  Dr. Bhana had done GOO-GOBS of testing and actually called me while we were on our way home from the Bahamas to let me know his thoughts...they weren't good. 
• October 2011  - Things got MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH WORSE. Dr. Bhana referred me to Dr. Werth, a rheumatologist/dermatologist for her expertise (the doctor in Philly). By this time I was on 12 different medications, including steroids (which caused me to gain 65 pounds), IV drugs, and several others. I was seeing another infectious disease doctor Dr. French, who took me out of work on disability because I was barely functioning. By this time, I could barely stand up straight or walk.
• December 2011 - I was sitting on the choir stand in church, in pain and barely able to move and I heard the voice of the Lord so clearly say to me, "If you want your healing, stand up." I started to dispute this because in my physical body I could barely stand but then I realized that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. So, I said yes to the Lord, and stood up. And at that very moment, I was able to clap my hands, stomp my feet, and move like I hadn't been able to move in months. In that very moment, I felt healed. And though God hadn't said, "you are healed, take up thy bed and walk", I knew that it was a precursor of what was to come. 
• HERE WE ARE NOW...on the verge of my healing, waiting with expectancy and believing that God is going to do just as He did when He told me to stand up if I wanted my healing. I stood up then and I'm standing up now...not trusting and believing in the doctors, but trusting and believing in what my Father said that I could have.

I MAY NOT BE WHERE I DESIRE TO BE 

BUT I'M CERTAINLY NOT WHERE I USED TO BE...

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!