I am doing so much better! It has been such a gradual process that I have to look back at old texts and calendar pages to remember the road I have traveled. I can’t believe that I had gotten down to 94 pounds and after tube feedings and oral feedings, I finally found myself back to a healthy weight. I’m no longer on tube feedings and now I’m completely sustained just by my diet. For many months I was unable to drive a car – I didn’t have the stamina. Driving takes more energy than you realize. Plus, when I got to my destination I needed help with doors, holding all of my gear and often needing help with my wheelchair or walker. Tomorrow I’ll drive one hour for an appointment all by myself, and since its an easy parking and short walk inside the door, I can do it alone.

My mom gifted me some very helpful equipment to help me gain independence. Granted, a walker isn’t really a girl’s dream birthday gift (haha), but it has truly helped. It is lightweight and able to convert from a walker, to a chair (so in long lines I can sit or take breaks), and into a wheelchair. My old equipment was very heavy and hard to use. Now I can even get it in and out of the car by myself when necessary.  She also got me a really nice portable oxygen machine. It is smaller that my oxygen tanks and the battery last several hours before charging. Before I had to manage large tanks or carry a few small ones. All of this new equipment has helped me to get around easier. I didn’t realize as my mom was doing the research for these items and finally purchasing them, just how helpful they would be. It has really changed my day-to-day quality of life.

I still have my challenges. I require oxygen 24/7 and I’m limited as to how much activity I can withstand. That means showers are a big activity for me and household chores (the ones I can do like dishes and laundry) take extra time and patience with lots of breaks. I also continue to have severely dry eyes that require special scleral lenses that hold saline onto the eyes and corneal scarring that has affected my right eye vision. Despite these things, with extra effort and timing, I can still do a lot especially compared to a year ago. I’ve also discovered the fun of the motorized shopping carts at Target and Lowe’s! Elizabeth and I had some good laughs as I motored through Target last fall buying her college gear. The reverse horn is really loud and it is easy to go into reverse on accident – so not only was I often going backward for no reason, but I did it with an amplified beep!

Some other good news is that Jonathan and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary a little before Christmas. It is so amazing to think that that many years have passed! He has been such a blessing to me. I can’t imagine going through my health battles without him. He also celebrated 10 years of his business (openskyideas.com or jonathanscheele.com) in October.  Truly a blessing to be in business for himself so that he has been able to travel with me for treatment and stay overnight in hospitals when needed and take me to many many appointments. He’s known for often working on his laptop everywhere we go.

I’m sure there is more to share, but I’m just not thinking of anything more right now. We had both a lovely Thanksgiving and Christmas with both sides of our families and we are looking forward to a good and hopefully uneventful new year. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

One more thing. Go Dawgs!!!