I haven't updated you lately on how the chef is doing mainly because she's been in academics this trimester and physically it hasn't been as challenging. And now that she has "Leo", her wheelchair, she's able to head off the pain in her feet/ankles much of the time. For instance, if she knows she'll be on her feet a lot or will need to drive somewhere later in the day, she'll use Leo early in the day so the pain levels are manageable. She used to have to keep plugging along and then deal with the pain afterward with ice/drugs. Now she can head it off. I'm sure it confuses the other students on campus when sometimes they see her in a wheelchair and sometimes she's walking across campus like it's no big deal. More than one student has come up to her to ask if she's just goofing off with the wheelchair. Surely she doesn't really need one. No doubt she gets tired of having to explain it. And unless you've been along for her journey for the past 3 years, I'm not sure it's possible to understand it.
Amy wraps up her academic trimester in mid-November and begins culinary labs soon afterward. No doubt it's weighing heavily on her mind. Last year during labs she was in constant pain and then had to deal with the lymph node/cancer scare. And this year she has to make up one of the segments she missed during that time. She's going to give it her best shot and will just have to take it one day at a time. Because she's beginning to feel "secondary symptoms" of her pain disorder, we've decided to try to get her back to the Mayo Clinic...this time to be seen by pain mgmt specialists. The location in Phoenix doesn't have a pain mgmt dept, so we'll have to schedule this visit with the Rochester, MN clinic. I discovered this week that a Dr referral is needed in order for her to be seen, so on Wednesday that was faxed over. I can't call again until Monday at the earliest to set up the appointment; they need time to process the referral. The only chunk of time Amy has during the school year is the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, so that's what we're shooting for. We'll try our darndest to get affordable flights, but given that it's a busy time for travelers, we might have to take our chances with winter weather and drive it...14 hours each way across the plains of Nebraska. So I guess we have a couple of prayer requests currently...that we can make an appointment sooner rather than later and that we can find affordable flights. As we get closer our prayer will be for good travel conditions...whether we fly or drive. Amy has to be back in labs on 4 January, so we don't have a lot of wiggle room with our time.
Thanks for being faithful with your prayers. I'm amazed at how many people ask about Amy and are holding her close in thought and prayer. What a blessing to us when we know no one is exempt from needing prayer support. By the way, Amy sends out e-mail updates about once a week from school just to let friends/family know how life is on campus. If you'd like to receive these e-mails, feel free to contact me with your e-mail address and I'll make sure you're added. (Yes, she gave me permission to tell you about the updates.)
Ok, hopefully you feel updated. It was kind of nice to relax a bit lately...nothing major to talk about. Calm is good!
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