DOING IT FOR BRITTNEY!
Mood:  amorous
Now Playing: Day 637-The Final Road To Survival

What a week! What a day, but another productive one at that! Unfortunately all good things must come to an end as I am closing in on another Drano treatment weekend. UGGG!

It was a great day as I once again was able to put out another fire. Nothing more self gratifying than relieving stress. GP and stress just doesn't mix. It starts causing my insides severe inflammation. Last thing we need as Gastroparesis patients. I am now taking the time needed to live a safer and happier life for me and my beloved fur kids.

I got quite a few offline emails regarding the situation a week ago with the attempted assault. There were quite a few outraged individuals who aren't just GP patients but others who suffer from various conditions as well those in the legal and medical field. Like myself, they take it very seriously knowing someone would attempt to be violent towards anyone who is sick. If I lost my backbone over the years I quickly found it and thank you to those who support the act of self defense in order to keep safe. Its not like me to take such extremes but I have yet to deal with someone so intoxicated as to come after me and try to force themselves into my home in a rage. I have quickly learned from that one night of experience that you can't wait until its too late. I am lucky she was unable to get into my home. I can only imagine what 'if' she did. For now I am doing just fine and I am confident enough to learn from the experience in what to and not to do. Thank you everyone for your amazing support and being my rock!

This evening I put together a letter on behalf of a family who has a daughter suffering from Gastroparesis. Her name is Brittney and she is 12 years old. Her family asked for my help in contacting one of the Gastroparesis Awareness Campaign spokespeople. I take what I do helping others who suffer from Gastroparesis very, very seriously. It has been my passion for many years. Lately that passion has sadly had to take a back seat due to personal issues that have created a lot of stress for myself. After sitting down tonight in the GP room filled with many reminders of why maybe I have been blessed to live almost nine years with a terminal condition called Gastroparesis I vowed to refocus my attention to the cause. It helps me to help others and I enjoy all the wonderful emails and letters from fellow GP patients as well their family, friends and loved ones. I now realize my true calling and it was nice to start my focus again this evening on bringing a smile to a young patient by the name of Brittney.

I am going to share some photos and story of an amazing and quite talented young girl who enjoys baking and visiting the local pet stores. I see so much of myself in Brittney's story and the love for the furry ones. It breaks my heart to read her suffering by the hands of Gastroparesis. I can only pray my mission allows for one day a cure for those like Brittney as well many other GP patients. Amen.

My daughter Brittney is 12 years old and suffers from Gastroparesis. Brittney has been through a great deal in the past 15 months. She has suffered greatly with this illness. At first, we thought she was making it up or was just a worrier suffering from anxiety. But after losing 17lbs and not being able to eat anything at all, we started to get very concerned. She was looking very ill and seemed to be getting depressed. Then when she completely stopped gaining weight, she also stopped growing. She was suffering daily with nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting and insomnia. She was eating very few foods because there are so many foods that upset her system.

She has missed so much school we had to hire a tutor to come twice a week to make sure she is staying where she needs to be. She has to have IV's when she is feeling ill among a list of other oral medications. She was hospitalized for over two weeks and visits the doctor once a month. She has had numerous gastric studies and GI tests but still there is no relief in sight for my daughter. I never knew about this condition until Brittney was diagnosed with it and we found the Gastroparesis Awareness Campaign website. We then realized one of her favorite TV stars is a Gastroparesis Awareness Campaign supporter.

It has been a long, hard struggle not only for my daughter but also for the entire family. She was a completely normal child that never missed more than 1-2 days of school a year. She has missed over five months now with Gastroparesis. I have great sympathy for anyone who has this after going through everything with Brittney. It is hard to accept that you will never have a normal child again and it will become a daily struggle for the rest of their life.