Where I Come From

Thank you for taking the time to visit my page and get to now me, my journey and my desire to raise awareness to the disease of AIH along with the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly struggles of Auto Immune diseases. Beyond those struggles I hope to show the light and amazing wonder in the every day. I do not come here to look for sympathy but to hopefully inspire others through my journey. To be a listening ear and shoulder for someone to cry on if needed through their struggles whether they be the same or different than mine.

In 2001 I was diagnosed with AIH (Auto Immune Hepatitis). AIH is a chronic disease that the immune system attacks my liver as it doesn't feel it should be there. Just like if someone were to get an organ transplant. I was very sick before diagnosis. My LFTs (liver function tests) were extremely high. To treat this condition I was put on a very high dosage of prednisone (a steroid) and have been on prednisone since. Taking prednisone has been the biggest struggle of this journey. The side effects from prednisone includes weight gain, retained water, extreme hunger and in the long term thinning skin and bruising.

Currently I have been able to start tapering back down on my prednisone which has helped me be able to bring some of my weight down (still higher than I would like but this is something I have learned to be "OK" with). I have also noticed that my skin is not as thin and I am not bruising as easily. But due to the long term time I have been on prednisone one side effect of tapering is joint pain. I feel this mostly in my feet and ankles. And this may never go away. Because of this, if I sit too long, it is hard to get moving and is pretty painful. Sometimes I will loose balance as well. I have decided to start training our one male German Shorthaired Pointer to be my service dog to help me in these times.

BUT beyond all these struggles there is so much good! I consider my struggles to be small. There are so many people with much more difficult struggles in their lives. I am blessed to have an amazing husband (married in 2004), an amazing son (Adopted from Guatemala), and incredible family, fun and amazing pets, awesome friends and a home. I took up running in 2013 as well and have been able to complete any 5k, Warrior Dash and 2 half marathons! These are things I never thought I would be able to do. We have an amazing breeding program with our dogs and have been able to go on such awesome adventures and meet some incredible people because of this.

One thing that I have really learned with running is to really enjoy the journey. When we drive places we miss so much of the wonder of our amazing world and the people around us. Running is hard! And many times I want to quit. But the amazing journey it has taken me on has helped me to see the wonder in everything around me and the awe in what our bodies are capable of. These things prove to me that there is a GOD. There is no way that the way the world and us as people are put together are an accident or part of a "big bang" or evolution. We are blessed!

I will leave you today with my favorite verse: Isaiah 40:31
"But those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint."