September 28, 2016

Wow.  What a day.  So much going on.  But I am going to bed so thankful - really like I should every night.

I drove to Wilkesboro before church tonight to pick up our road race t-shirts.  I was driving down the mountain with some of the most beautiful views in the world.  But I was in a hurry as usual.   Then I saw the rainbow.  God's promise.  He knows all I have going on.  He reminds me in soft, gentle, sometimes beautiful ways that He is in control.  As a line in one of my favorite songs goes, "Sometimes I gotta stop, remember that you're God, and I am not."

I was excited to see the shirts.  With over 170 people registered for our very first High Country Type One Strong Race for a Cure, I have been thankful for the response to our road race.  We want to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation which just came out with some great news today.  And we also wanted to raise awareness of early warning signs of Type 1.  So many tragic stories - and we want to put those signs out there on the radar of as many people as we can.  It could save a life, prevent a tragedy.  And in doing all of this, we find encouragement in helping others and supporting each other.  We all live with Type 1 diabetes in our families or are close to someone else who does.

Our online donations had taken a huge jump, and we were so close to our original goal in online race entries and donations alone.  I was happily surprised and have been tickled to see the donations top the $5000 mark this evening!

Doing this race has given us (the team) chances to share our stories.  We want to honor and thank God for his help with our children and others in our lives who deal with this illness.  Our verse is Joshua 1:9 - "Be strong and courageous..."

Just before bed, I checked Watauga Democrat online; and Andrew's name jumped out.  He was named the Sun Belt Runner of the Week by the coaches.  He did not think to tell me and thought it funny that I had found it online!  The timing is amazing.  He had a great race Friday in Virginia.  It was hot, dry, and dusty.  And he had been so sick.  But he ran a great race.  He felt great.  Those things that bothered others did not bother him.  It is truly a miracle.

Just today, I had to step back from my battle with Blue Cross Blue Shield.  They held up Andrew's medicine for months at the beginning of the year.  They were quick to tell his drug company he was not covered after January 1.  Then they shut down their communication, so the company could not double check.  The meds cost about $8000 a month, so they needed to know Andrew had insurance! I was begging them since February through calls and messages to help him get his medicine or his immune system would start dropping  And it did.  And I have the labs to prove it.  BCBS finally told the drug company Andrew was indeed covered, but then they dropped their reimbursement rate for this company (that we have used for a few years) to lower than 5% from 42%.  So BCBS threw up another road block.

After much fighting and tons of prayer, the drug company (not my insurance company who told me I could get his specialty drug at Walgreens for $70 - NOT correct!) found us another comparable drug company.  And we got to keep Andrew's wonderful patient advocate.  And Andrew got his first shipment AFTER Easter.

He ran two track meets in his last outdoor season at Appalachian.  And then he got sick.  Just like I had told them he would.  Just as I had feared.  But he was able to run at conference in Louisiana.  Not his best races, but he got to run the last races of his season.

I knew he could battle illness for most of the rest of this year, so I keep praying for his health.  After his first cross country meet and before the second one, he got sick again - with two things.  One was a stomach bug.  The next was upper respiratory - his usual problem.  Before Andrew was diagnosed with a disease called CVID, he had tons of URI's.  He probably had micoplasma a lot and not always treated as his immune system prevented the micoplasma test from showing it.  This was before we knew what the problem really was.

Dr. Black in Charlotte is always amazed that Andrew has no lung damage due to the number of infections and delay in treating them effectively.  Dr. Patel, another specialist in Charlotte, is amazed that Andrew was doing what he was when he was diagnosed.   They both, along with our local doctors, work hard to keep Andrew healthy and get him back on track when he gets sick.  They know he loves his running, and they go above and beyond to help him do that.

To run five miles up Grandfather Mountain and climb a mile in altitude should not be easy for someone with Andrew's medical history.  But God helped him do it.  And for that, we are so thankful.

So the hot, dry conditions that bothered so many should have shut Andrew down.  But it was a miracle, and he had a great race Friday.

This is timely because of the communication I have had with my insurance company this week.  One girl was just so rude and ugly.  I have asked for a nurse case manager, because they are usually more compassionate and have a clue what the patient deals with  But their attitudes had gotten to me again.  I really prayed today that I would not be sucked back into that place where they really have a lot of control over my day with the frustrations they cause.  And then God gave me the rainbow.  And then He directed me to the article about Andrew.  And that was after all of those donations I had seen for the race today!

God knows.  Sometimes I wonder why God ever thought someone like me could juggle all of this stuff - especially the medical stuff.  I used to turn green just getting near a hospital, and I have been in most of the major hospitals in NC and some outside.  It's taken me a long time to realize that is exactly why.  He knows my witness is that I cannot.  Only with Him can I get done what needs to be done.  So many times God wakes up an exhausted me - usually with Lucy our dog - to check Sam at night when he is low.  I check him a lot.  But sometimes I sleep through the alarm, or he needs to be checked at a different time.  Before Sam's diabetes, I know God woke me up to check on Andrew.  And more than once he needed us.  Once, I found him face down on the floor next to his bed in the middle of the night.  He needed us.  I would not have found him, but I know God shook my shoulder.  I know He did.

So for someone who deals with all of this (plus the insurance company), today has been one of those good days.  I feel God's hand on these things.  I want to praise and honor Him and give Him all of the glory.  He is faithful.  He is here.  Always.

I went over September 20 in my head a lot this year as it marked seven  years of diabetes in our family just after Sam turned five.  But September 22 was harder.  I was exhausted.  Sam was still in the hospital.  Pete and I took turns staying, and he stayed at night.  That was the night Andrew had a horrible seizure and was not breathing when they left with him in an ambulance.  Peter and Will were left alone, one sitting on the front steps of the house as I pulled away to follow the ambulance and firetruck.  I could not even stop to tell him it was okay.  My child was ahead of me, and I did not know if he was going to make it.  It was a long three miles to the hospital, and Pete called me as I pulled into the parking lot to tell me Andrew was going to be okay.  He had met them in the ER.

I remember that night, after I came home, I was almost too tired to cry any more.  I had cried out to God earlier that night to save Andrew, to make him breathe.  And I knew without a doubt He was listening.  I felt so pulled.  So helpless.  And it was easier at that point to give it all to Him.  I know I take things back and have to give them over again.  But that night will never be forgotten.  How I felt.  What I learned.  What I now know for positively certain.  God loves us more than anything, and He is always here to help.  After all, He already gave up His only Son for me.

I share these stories in hopes of encouraging others or even bringing someone to know Jesus who does not already.  It's my story. I know what happens in these places.  I am there.  And it's real.  And I know with all my heart.

Thanks for reading this!  I am praying the rest of this season will be good for Andrew.  But most of all, I want us to glorify God in what we do - no matter the circumstances.