Our past 2 years

So I figured it was time I finally put this all out on paper. In Oct of 2008 my then fiance started to vomit every once in awhile. I told him to get a doc appt. and he did but we had only been living in Auburn for probably a year and he never had a reason to find a doctor yet, so he had to wait months until Feb of 2009 to be seen by a doc. Over the months his illness had progressively gotten worse but he was still working. He would just go throw up in the trash can and go back to work. I remember going up to his work after i got off work to see what the doc said, at the time I didn't think it was going to be that serious. And Nathan tells me the doc told him he was HIV positive (which he was not) but I felt like the breathe had been knocked out of me as I told him that wasnt possible and "Everything was gonna be ok baby" as I got in my car to leave I fell apart and my whole world changed from that day out. Days later the doc calls back to see Nate again and tells him guess what your also a Diabetic with an A1c of 13.5 , which is an average of your blood sugars over the past 4 months, meaning his sugars ran almost 400 (not even mentioning at the time that that could be a false positive for HIV) and he prescribes him meds for a type 2 diabetic and a script for a blood sugar machine. Still waiting on the lab to confirm the HIV test...which by then I already read up on both myself and came to the conclusion there was no way he had HIV. This is Feb 27th. On March 3rd he was vomitting so bad and his sugar level was 390 so we went to the Er at EAMC. (worst hospital ever) They brought him back and gave gim IV fluids and did a bunch of tests and then send us home. HA!! No insulin, no nothing. This is just the start of our hell on earth. He had to stop working and so did I. We pack up and move back home to Prattville and have to move in with his mom and stepdad. Don't get me wrong they are AWESOME. But when you are 30 and 25 years of age you really don't want to move back home.  Finally after 2 months and 3 hospitals we find out he in fact has a chronic illness called gastroparesis, where his stomach nerves have been damaged soo bad b/c he had diabetes so long and didn't know it, and he is a type 1 diabetic. Wow!! Oh and there is NO CURE for his gastroparesis. During this time his work luckily kept hime on payroll so he continued to get ins. and he was smart enough when he started to take out a disability policy. So we were able to start recieving short term disability about 6 months later. They gave him a few meds to try out and of course they didnt work. Finally @ Baptist in Prattville after being there a week they came up with a combination of meds to make him quit vomiting. But they think there is something else wrong so off we go to UAB for the first time. They tell us he also has gastritis ( tearing and bleeding in the stomach wall) and severe bile reflux esophagitis, he had been throwing up so much bile. The Gi doc at UAB, who had actually written articles about that disease said it was the worst case he'd ever seen in his 42 years as a doctor. So finally I think we are getting somewhere. At this point they are doing catscans, Mri's, millions of dollars in other tests looking for cancer and whatever else they might find. And then they found ziltch!! I was soo tired of docs and nurses that knew nothing, sleepless nights, agonizing days of watching the love of my life suffer I almost hoped they would find something to make all this seem I dont know like it wasnt worthless. So After he quits vomitting and can keep down food for a day they decide to send us home. At this point Im in constant turmoil as I battle with God and the devil on the inside and out. I lost it. Completely and udderly lost it I was soo devastated with their decision. I think that was one of the lowest points in my life where I thought hey this would be so much easier if I wasn't alive. But only for a moment did that thought radiate in my head before me and the Lord my God picked myself up off the ground and kissed away my tears. After that I was just a stubborn and determined woman that knew there was no way this was going to be how it was forever, no matter what the doctors say. Faith drove and continues to drive me after that. I thought I was a woman who lived by faith and hope before, nothing and I mean nothing shook me like this experience did. After many many more months and even a trip to the mayo clinic in jacksonville Fl just to make sure and to finally talk to a couple docs that understood the pain (b.c by then he was also labeled a drug seeker b.c he required alot of narcodic pain meds when he got sick even tho there was a file on him as big as 5 novels) and the depression. Someone that actually said Hey its ok to feel like you feel and I dont think your crazy. And also someone to say there isnt anything mild about your mild gastroparesis. You think??!!! After tons of research and going through many diff hospitals and docs. I got led on a doc that put in temp and perm gastric stimulators to help with the gastroparesis, it would help send messages to the stomach muscles to make them contract and make the food move through the stomach and the intestines. We were approved in Oct. of 2009 to get a temp pacer put in his abdomen in Jackson Ms. We went there full of faith an stayed for a week and 1/2, while it was placed in with wires coming out his nose, numerous tests were ran before and after it was placed, and Er visits while we were there. Thank God these people knew what they were doing! Finally the conclusion was that it was over a 50% improvement. We didnt notice anything at first. They told us with the perm one it would take months for it to regulate in his body. But we were going to do it. I just knew that it was going to work. So on Feb. 1st we were in Jackson, Ms. They performed the surgery only after having to go to the ER and getting his vomitting under control. As I sit in the waiting room by myself for hourse on end I start to of course imagine the worse. I told my mom not to come, "I'd be fine." Well that was such a lie.  I was terriffied. (I told her not to come b.c she had just had surgery on her back 4 weeks prior) Finally it's over. He's out of surgery. I wasnt prepared for what was next. They told us that having your abdomen muscles cut was one of the pain ful surgeries you could ever have. They were right on with that. He was in a tremendous amount of pain when he came out. I still dont understand how they let his pain get out of control, i mean he literally just woke up from surgery and was in agonizing pain. They had to ask me to leave the room while they got him settled. Needless to say that did not make me a happy camper. They get him a pain shot and hooked up to a pain pump. That night was hell. We stayed 6 days in the hospital. Every day was a lil better than the one before. We of course still didnt know if it was really working. We stayed in a hotel for 2 days before coming home jsut in case. Feb 9th we make our treck back home. Hes ok as long as he has pain meds. We make it a couple weeks before he gets sick again. But we were expecting this since they told us it would take awhile for it to work. So after a solid month of going to the ER 2 amd 3 times a week and being admitted. I make a call to Miss. in desperation for an appt to get it adjusted since at the time it was on the lowest setting. April 15th we go back to Miss for quite possibly the easiest doc appt ever, as they adjust w. a transmitter that sends radio waves. For 110 days he didnt get sick and it was AWESOME!! On July 10th he broke his foot and our poor lil puppy broke her hip. On july 17 he started vomitting out of the blue, there was no sign that it was coming and usually he would of felt bad. To the hospital we go for a 5 day visit. They think its a stomach virus. Its just a lot harder on him b.c of his condition. Soo after about 90 hospital visits, including ER visits and weeks at a time, at 6 diff hospitals I am finally able to say that it is over!!! We are at 117 days now, and I thank God for every single one of them!!! He may get sick again but it could never amount to the Hell we've already lived. We are both stronger as a couple and as individuals. Oh we also got married in the on Aug 6th of 2009. It wasn't my dream wedding but I did marry my dream man. We hope to be able to finally celebrate with a ceremony this year. People ask me, "How I did it?", "How I stuck around through it?" , with the grace of God anything is possible. He is and will always be my soulmate. Through better or worse I will never leave his side.

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11/15/10