In need of guidance

Okay prayer warriors, I have a favor to ask of you. This time it is not for an urgent situation, rather a request for prayerful advice. I have another tough decision to make.

Let me catch you up on the latest situation. After a month of decline in my health status, my endocrinologist sent my convulsing booty back to the hospital. As usual, there were a laundry list of situations and conversations that I found completely hysterical, but probably would not be appropriate to share with all of my church friends. Come on, y'all know me...I can find humor in just about every situation...and often share my thoughts out loud...when they probably should be filtered. I blame it on the pills and the scrambled brains. Admit it, you wish you had an excuse!

My new Neurologist paid me a visit there, ran lots of tests, put me on new meds, and sent me home. I have to tell you, I feel better than I have in almost two years. From the time I met Dr. Restrepo, he has been a skeptic about my rare diagnoses and was strongly against the usual treatment for the Encephalopathy.

We had a follow up visit yesterday and he was amazed at how well I was doing. In fact, he took one look at me and in his saucy accent asked, "What happened to you? You look amazing!" That is when my husband answered him, "Good drugs!" The very serious doctor spun around and shook his hand at John. "No...no! I am Colombian! We say medication," he corrected. Oh yeah, Doc has a sense of humor! Game on! "That's right...all drugs are good to Colombians," I added. He couldn't help but appreciate my sense of humor. What can I say? I'm FUNNY!

After running the tests and reviewing my file, Dr. Restrepo has conceded to accept Hashimoto's Encephalopathy as my diagnosis. "I'm okay if you want to label it something else," I told him. Again he waived his hand and said, "There's nothing else." He studied about 22 cases of this while he trained at the Mayo Clinic and 20 of the cases were highly progressive. The treatment was always high dose steroids. He said there is not a safe therapeutic dose for me with my history. If it is going to be progressive no matter what, then why expose me to ulcers, infections, diabetes, osteoporosis, bone replacement therapy, and more. We can slow the progression with the immune suppressants and take anti convulsants, thyroid hormone, and B-12 to treat the symptoms. This is a small victory for me! Whoo-hoo!

We had originally planned on switching me to a milder medication at the follow up visit, but now have decided to leave me be. "You are doing too well and I do not want to mess this up by switching anything," I was told. I asked about biopsies that I was suppose to have last week after a test showed abnormal cells. Dr. Restrepo advised me to postpone the procedure since I am highly susceptible to infection and stress or trauma could aggravate my now stable condition. I was soooo okay with this, as the biopsies are done in the office without anesthesia.

Okay warriors, this is where I need some prayerful input...not just medical. When I called my OB's office today to tell her that I would not be rescheduling the biopsy, she put me on hold while she reviewed my test results. She returned to the phone and told me that she strongly advises that I have the biopsies done on an ASAP basis. The type cells found are very concerning, and since the results were misplaced for almost 5 months, she does not feel I should wait any longer. My OB is suppose to call me with his recommendation about the safest way to do this. I am not emotionally ready to have another surgery, put my family through the stress, or take on anymore financial burden. Please pray with me that my doctors and I will make the best decision, and I covet your advice. God bless sweet friends.