Another Trip to Maryland Coming Up!

Dearest Friends and Family,
I wanted to tell you what is going on with me. Some of you may know and others do not, but you will soon know so I wanted to update everyone.
I became really sick about 2 weeks ago, and landed in the hospital. Well to make a long story short, I ended up very ill, vomiting and nausea and I haven’t eaten anything at all, so I was throwing up bile (sorry for the grossness!) Anyway, the doctors here in Texas put a NG tube in my nose going to my stomach to continually pump it out, which help. They were going to do a surgery here to put another tube in my stomach so I could drain it on my own, but my doctors at John’s Hopkins were consulted, and they really think they can do some other things for me. They are iffy and have some chance of working, but it’s not a 100% guarantee, but they want to see me right away and help me because I’m so ill.
I’m at the point right now where I’ve officially lost about 50 to 55 pounds and on the surface, I look pretty good. I just am ravaged and so sick and nauseated so badly all of the time on the inside. I feel so weak and last week I literally could not put the phone to my face to talk. It was that bad. But Kevin was with me by my side and I was so happy to have him with me.
So I say that to tell you that I am making an emergency trip home to Maryland on Thursday of this week. I will be there until they decide what to do at this point. They likely are going to want to consider a Gastric Pacemaker, which may or may not work. They will also be doing minor surgery to take my gallbladder out. They also may look at my pancreas, but I don’t know what if anything they’re going to do with that right now. If some of these things don’t work, I may end up with the G-tube, which is a tube to drain my stomach. That may be last resort. The pancreas procedure would be major, and I’d have to be pretty sure that that is what I want.
My goal is to be able to eat again. In my current state I am constantly nauseated. I vomit regularly if there is any kind of intake. I feed on my feeding machine. We are also getting hassle from the insurance company. Since September, they don’t want to pay for my feedings. We are worried because they are expensive, but they are the only way I can survive, so we have to have them. They don’t want to cover them because it’s a formula and they say it’s a supplement. It’s not…it’s what I live on. I can’t live on regular food. Anyway, it’s a mess. We need your prayers right now and God’s true intervention.
So many of you have been like angels to me. You all are precious and you are in my prayers. If you’ve ever asked me to pray for you, you can bet your name is in my prayer journal. Even many people I don’t personally know, I pray for if you mention them to me. I believe that prayer changes things. I need to do even more of it. Sometimes it’s hard when you’re sick, but everyone hurts and everyone has trials. This is just mine. And I thank you for walking through it with me.
Thank you for the calls, letters, emails and friendships. While I’m in Maryland/Virginia, it won’t be a luxury, pleasant vacation because my heart is here in Texas. I am so fortunate to have the best family in the world. My mom and dad and sisters take such good care of me while I’m there, but my heart is here, or at least the man that holds my heart is! Kevin has to work so I can have insurance so that I can get the treatment I need. But he and I worry and we love each other. We’re all we’ve ever known. Taking care of me is like breathing to him. He told me that he loves taking care of me. I don’t know why, but I am so in love with my husband. I really am. He is the light of my day, and I hate being away from him for 2 seconds. Thinking about possibly being gone for a month or more breaks my heart. Hopefully he can fly in for a long weekend or for Spring Break or something. Plane tickets are a lot, but we’ll manage.
I say this to say please pray, thank you for being my friend and thank you for your encouragement. God sure is good to me. Even through these trials, He’s opened my eyes. He’s brought into my life new friends, and I am so happy despite what I am going through.
Chronic illness is so hard, but I’m among those most blessed and many of you are my blessings.
Thanks for your prayers. I should have internet access here in Maryland when I get there later this week so I will try to keep updates now and then for you. My appointment at Hopkins is Tuesday afternoon.
I love you always,
Ami McCarty