It's March 1st!

Today is March 1st! Shocking! This year has flown by. I am happy to report I have 26 treatments done! I am scheduled for 15 more and then my doctors and I will decide if I should continue them longer. I have certainly had my fill of movies! More movies than I have watched in my entire life. I must admit “Survivor All Stars” has been great! Also great to watch on the treadmill (run whenever they run and don’t allow yourself to get off the treadmill till someone gets kicked off). Oh and I watched Mama Mia and thought about my cousin Lisa and sister Cyndy the whole time! I almost cried when they sang “Super Trooper”. I remember singing that with Lisa and Cyndy over and over.
I am excited to tell you how well my leg is doing. While I will always have this disease, the infection is gone and I am out of danger for losing my leg, at least anytime soon. I have been amazed by “The Tender Mercies” of the Lord in my life these past few months. It is not a coincidence last October I randomly met three people who asked me if I had heard of Hyperbaric Treatment, causing me to seek out doctors I didn’t need yet, but would urgently need in January. It certainly is not just luck our insurance company has not said one word other than “OK” for a very expensive and experimental treatment. And was it a coincidence our family moved half way across the country to literally 3 minutes away from one of the only Hyperbaric Centers in the United States? (By the way the hyperbaric center opened in August, two months before I started my struggle with my leg). I know that our Father in Heaven is just as aware of each one of you, no matter if you believe in him or not and he loves you more than you can comprehend, and if you look closely you will be able to see those tender mercies in your life to.

“The tender mercies of the Lord are real and . . . they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them. . . . The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts…” ~ David A. Bednar

I want to also thank you all so much for your love and comments and EXERCISE! I think there are about 65 of you! You’ll never know how much it has meant to me! I am so blessed to be eternally connected to so many of you!

A Special Hello to my friends in Hudson

I want to shout a hello, kisses and hugs to my friends in Hudson! Here is a picture of one of the mountains here in Bend. Gwenyn…oh I wish I could talk to you in the tube, it really would make my time fly by! And Linda, I cried when I read your post. You have been so much on my mind. I miss you and thinking of you and Aimee exercise for me makes me burst with Joy! Lori Feia, I wish I could hang out with you in the cul-de-sac and talk about the boys (I mean our boys, not “boys”…lol).. I know living next to you was one of the Lord’s blessings in my life. Pam, I miss talking to you so much! I hope things are going well for you! And Annette…I am excited about your new little one and you live not so far away from me. Leiani, thank you for being inspired to email me. I needed to hear from you and my Hudson friends. You are so in tune with the spirit, and I think Heavenly Father paged you to email me J. Amy Hess, thanks so much for the email, Mackenzie still talks about Brayden all the time. I am so glad I got to know you last year. Beth I miss you, I hope we can talk soon. I hope you know how much of my heart you own and I think about you all the time!

Love,

Amy

Ritenere l'amore!

Italian for “feeling the love” (Italian in honor of my lil’ niece Kaity). My heart is so full, for all of you love, exercise and support! I have had my first four treatments, and they went well. My ears are still adjusting, things sound a little rice-crispyish but that should end during the next week. My vision is starting to change, I will probably become really near sited by the end of next week but that will also correct itself. I had surgery yesterday and it went really well. There was only one time last week I started to feel a little anxious about being in the tube, and I just closed my eyes and started to go through the list of all of you who are shaking your booty for me. It made me feel so happy and as I suspected, I totally calmed down. I really want to talk with each of you, but I am a little confused about blog etiquette so look below for your individual posts (coming today sometime). Love you all and thank you so much for what you are doing for me!!!
Amy
PS. Make sure to click on full screen on the slide show on the right. We get frozen fog here, we have never seen it before, it is amazing.

I swallow my pride. I enter the dark side of blogging.

Hi Family and Friends-

I know, I know, I have told many of you this day would never come, but I was wrong, and here I am using precious time to write something no one may ever read. But with recent events I thought this might be a good way to keep everyone (who is interested) up to date, as I take this strange journey over the next few months.
First of all I want to apologize for those of you I haven't spoken with, honestly I just haven't had it in me. But I am doing better now, I just needed some time to process. So here is what is going on. Many of you have noticed the red spots on my legs before. It is a rare condition called necrobiosis. Over the years I have been to many specialist including The Mayo Clinic and The International Diabetes Center and no one could help me. There is no cure or research (because it is rare). The problem is sometimes those areas can become infected. My leg ulcerated with an infection around Halloween and the strongest antibiotics are doing nothing. I went back to the Doctor a week ago Wednesday and was told I could possibly loose my leg. The good news is, I have three great doctors and they have came up with an aggressive plan and they are certain it will work. In my heart I just know it is going to work. Monday I will start Hyperbaric Treatment for the next 8 weeks (possibly up to 12 weeks) five days a week, 3 hours a day. I will also have surgery next week. The picture above is what it looks like.
So let me tell you a little about the chamber and then let me tell you how you all could help me. Basically the chamber will pressurize and gradually they will take me down where it will equivalent to being 33 feet below sea level. I will need to continually be popping my ears for the first 15 minutes, then I will feel totally normal except my voice will sound like I am sucking helium. Then I just lay there. I can not have anything with me (like paper, cell phone, book) and I can not have any makeup, lotion, hairspray etc, because I will be in 100% oxygen which is very flammable. I can watch a movie on a screen attached to the tube, but as you know, I'm not a huge movie person, and I never sit still for longer than a half an hour. So the goal for me is to stay calm and not get claustrophobic (once the lid is closed, they can not open it till I am done, or it will cause severe lung damage).
Alright so here is what I need from you. A greater purpose to all this craziness. For every hour I lay in the tube (3 a day), I am asking for a donation of 5 minutes of exercise from each of you (Parents, Siblings, in-laws, friends, strangers). I know it seems a little manipulative, but if I start feeling "crazy in the tube" I know I can calm myself thinking of you all exercising. The exercise can be anything you want and as light as it needs to be, just make sure it is healthy for you. It can be a short walk. Lifting small weights (even from the recliner), Tai Chi for those of you in the 60 and older category. Yoga for my high stressed Sister-n-laws, and something neck friendly for my sister. Tim and Rob, two words...Billy Blanks (Ruth will enjoy BB's tight pants). I am also asking my friends to sign up as well. Remember start light, it might be a long 12 weeks. Oh and I will be exercising each day as well. Ever since I had this idea, I have totally calmed down about everything. So think about it and respond to this post if you can help me out. I will send an email out to you all when that is up.
I love you all!
Amy