A time of testing

Tom started having medical struggles that were not a big deal at first. But apparently it was a big deal to his coworkers because he heard many comments made to his face, behind his back when they thought he wasn’t there and even had a blog written about him. Since arriving here, he has had 4 knee surgeries (he is now in a permanent knee brace to preserve his knee because his next surgery is total knee replacement), sinus surgery, and a cyst removed from his wrist. In 2004, he also injured his back and hasn’t been the same since. For four years, he has been put on motrin and tylenol, given physical therapy and sent back up to fly, time after time, even though his pain was so bad.
Now we are faced with the diagnosis of CIDP (chronic inflammatory demylenating polyneuropathy—it’s like Multiple Sclerosis of the legs), an autoimmune disease, which if untreated could eventually lead to life in a wheelchair, but we’re grateful it was found. What that means is for the last 8 months of this life, Tom has had weakness, numbness and tingling as well as burning down his legs. He has had muscle wasting and has no reflexes in his left leg. At the end of a normal day for you and I, Tom feels like he just worked out at the gym for hours. It was not a diagnosis we were expecting but we serve a God who we know and trust has a perfect plan for our lives, this included. The treatment for this disease is steroids for a few months with about an 80% success rate of putting it in remission.

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