Week 6: Finally Starting to Feel a Little Better

Day One - Relaxing Ion Cleanse

Here is this week's update on McKenzie's progress:) Last week was terrible. Probably one of the worst weeks that McKenzie has had since she has been home. Her headache was really bad and everything felt so overwhelming and frustrating.

Luckily she just kept pushing through the hard times and woke up Sunday morning with her head feeling much better. It was the first time that has happened in about three months.  She had a good day on Sunday. She was able to attend a fireside with a friend where Sheri Dew spoke and talked about several things, one of which was that Satan is anti-progression. That hit home very strongly. Satan doesn't want us to ever think that we are progressing. McKenzie was so glad to be at the fireside and to remember that:)

Day Two - Ion Cleanse (Brown Water)

On Monday, McKenzie woke up again with her head feeling much better. We hardly dared to hope that something might be working and that possibly we could finally have found some answers.  We also went in to see our homeopathic doctor and she retested McKenzie to see how her body was reacting to the herbs and things that she has been taking. She was amazed to see the progress. She said that 90% of the parasites were dead and that now her body was working on getting all the toxins etc out.  Many of the areas of McKenzie's body that had been so stressed were now balanced and working much better. As she was looking at all the test results, she could see exactly what things needed to be changed in her treatment to make sure that the headache would continue to go away. One thing that changed was that instead of getting the IV treatment McKenzie now needed to get an Ion Cleanse (foot bath). It is so interesting how it works. The water starts out clear and then as your body is getting rid of the toxins thru your feet, the water changes color.The color of the water represents the parts of your body that are detoxifying. The first time she did the ion cleanse the water turned yellow. This meant that her bladder, gallbladder and a few other related areas were all detoxifying. Today she did another ion cleanse. This time the water was brown. This meant that her body was detoxing her liver as well as getting rid of tobacco and cellular debris. (Most of the people in Bosnia smoke, so McKenzie has felt like she was a second hand smoker) That is why it is so interesting that this happened today.

McKenzie and Elder Hansen

There have been a couple of other nice things that happened this last week.  Elder Hansen from McKenzie's mission who just got home, was able to bring her the rest of her things that she had left in Bosnia. It was like Christmas all over again. It was nice to be able to visit with him and hear about all the things that were going on in the mission.  Thanks Elder Hansen!!!

 

Bookmarks for all the RS sisters in the mission:)

The other nice thing that happened was that our Stake Relief Society asked McKenzie to head up a project for the RS sisters in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. We made bookmarks for all of them to let them know that we love them and that we are all sisters. It was a great opportunity for us to help build them up a little bit.

We are so grateful to finally be seeing some progress. Thanks again for all of your love and support:) We especially thank you for your prayers in McKenzie's behalf. 

Week 5: A Sweet Tender Mercy From the Lord

Siblings rubbing McKenzie's temples when the headache is bad

Sometimes they are not so helpful:) haha

Just another little update on how McKenzie is doing. We also wanted to share a sweet tender mercy that we received yesterday. As we look at the past month that McKenzie has been home here is what we are seeing:

Good things:
1-Her neck and shoulders have loosened up quite a bit and are not so painful.
2-She is getting much better sleep.
3-Emotionally and mentally she is feeling much better.
4-She is able to get up everyday and do good things (service, family things, helping friends, working on mission stuff etc.)

Not so good things:
1-The headache still never goes completely away.
2-She doesn't have much energy (she says she feels like a little grandma:) This is probably from having to deal with the headache everyday.

We continue to search for answers. The neurologist says that she needs to stay on the "Topimax" for another month to see if it will help. He is encouraged that she is doing better and that the headache is not getting worse. We of course are just frustrated that she still has the headache:(

The homeopathic treatment seems to be good although one IV treatment helped to relieve the headache, while the next one didn't do anything. We just keep moving forward and hoping to see some good results.

We are grateful for the sweet tender mercies that the Lord sends for McKenzie and us. Yesterday when McKenzie went in for her IV treatment, she met another  returned sister missionary who also had to come home because of illness. This young woman has now been home for two years and had so much wonderful advice for McKenzie. Their personalities seemed very much alike:) They were able to visit for about an hour while getting their treatments. As you can imagine there are many things that both of these girls have struggled with in not being able to finish up their missions like they had hoped to. It is a very emotional thing as well as being hard physically when you don't feel good. McKenzie was so grateful to have someone to talk to who knew just what she was feeling and could help her figure out some ways to deal with this new mission she is on.

 We are so grateful for all of you who love and support McKenzie. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers and for sending her your love:) She still doesn't have the energy to do all that she wants to, but please know that she loves and appreciates you!
 

Grandma's birthday lunch with the Aunts:)

Week Four: Finally Getting a Few Hours Headache Free

Our Homeopathic doctor doing some testing

  

Opthamologist visit

Here is just another little update on how McKenzie is doing. It has been another week where she has seen very little progress as far as her headache goes. It is hard to wait for things to work and yet that is what we are having to do. We have continued with acupuncture. The doctor sent us home with some herbs to use on McKenzie between appointments:)

Acupuncture at home:) no needles, just herbs. It's pretty interesting, that's for sure!!!

Today we went to a Homeopathic Doctor whom we loved.  She and her staff spent lots of time with McKenzie and were able to give us some answers. The best part of all was that McKenzie had an IV Power Drip of magnesium, B6 and a few other things to help battle some parasites that she has picked up which they feel are causing the headache. Afterwards she was headache free for a couple of hours. That is the first time in 2 months that she hasn't had the headache. They also gave her some herbal remedies to help get her body back to normal:)

Power drip-Some relief at last!!!

After that we went to see the Opthamologist to get her eyes checked. Everything looked good there, so her eyes don't seem to be the problem.

We continue to be hopeful that we can find some answers. Today was an answer to our prayers for her not to have the headache even if just for a little bit of time.

Trying to keep her sense of humor with her eyes dilated:)

We are thankful for all your calls, prayers, visits etc. You have all been such a great support to McKenzie. Please know that she appreciates all your love and support.

Week Three: Trying Some New Things

Dr. Yuri working on McKenzie

Pin cushion

Just a little update on McKenzie's progress this week. Her headache still continues to persist, never letting up completely. That is probably the most frustrating thing for her. She has had less nausea and been sleeping pretty good. Her neck and shoulders have also loosened up a bit:) At least there are a few good things happening:)

As we have been looking at another week of waiting for the medication to start working, we decided to try something new, acupuncture.

McKenzie went to her first acupuncture appt. today with Dr. Yuri. We really liked her. Everytime she touched McKenzie's neck she would say, "Oh my, this is bad!" She could feel so much tightness in it. She also feels that there are some problems with McKenzie's spleen and pancreas, both of which were very sore and painful today. After the appt. McKenzie did say that her head was feeling a little better, but the rest of her body was hurting. Dr. Yuri did some massage as well as the acupuncture. We'll see what happens as the week progresses.

Lunch with the Bailey's

We were able to have lunch this week with Elder Taran Bailey's parents, Ed and Penni. Taran just left the MTC and is now serving in Sarajevo. McKenzie was able to share lots of great info with his parents about being on a mission in Bosnia.  I remember going to dinner with the Trumbos, (Sestra Trumbo's parents) when I learned that McKenzie was going to be in Bosnia. It is always helpful to hear that it is safe there, from people who know:)

 McKenzie was also able to spend some time with Brandie Frampton and her mom Lena this week. Brandie has been called to the same mission. McKenzie is so excited for her. They had a great time visiting. McKenzie was able to answer lots of Brandie and Lena's questions.

We continue to have faith that things will work out and that McKenzie can get some relief:) Thanks for your continued love and support of her and our family. We appreciate you!!!

McKenzie's Progress: Week Two Back at Home

McKenzie & Mom serving the headaches away!!!

Here is the update on McKenzie's progress for this week. First of all, we need to say thank you so much to all of you for your kind thoughts, words, visits, gifts and prayers for her. It has made her feel so loved.

It has been an emotional week for her, as we started to work on the things the doctor suggested for her. Basically the headache is always there.  Sometimes it is not as painful, but then it spikes and gets bad. She also continues to deal with nausea at very random times. We have tried to fill her days with good things, such as going to the temple, writing missionaries, working on some projects for her mission, humanitarian projects and visiting with family and friends:) She tries to push through even when the headache gets bad. She has been sleeping much better this week and we are grateful for that. She has also been getting massages from our kind neighbor, Julie Britsch, and that has been helping with the soreness in her neck and shoulders.

In visiting with the doctor this week he said that as long as the headache is not getting worse, but staying the same, that he wants her to continue to do the same things. (good sleep, exercise, massage. taking the Topimax). He feels that we need to give the Topimax more time to work. It is supposed to help prevent the headaches. We are hopeful that it will  take effect soon.

McKenzie has also been able to talk to President & Sister Rowe, and their family as well as some of the missionaries in her mission this week:) That has been a sweet tender mercy for her. They are keeping her filled in on everything going on in the mission.

Thanks again for all your love and support! 
Kelley

Three Sestre for the ward missionary activity.

First Doctor's Visit Back in the US

Visit to see Dr. Nelson

Hey All,

We just wanted to update all of you on what our neurologist said yesterday. Our bishop who is a doctor got us an appointment with a great pediatric neurologist. (McKenzie may be his oldest patient) First of all he looked at the MRI's and did some tests on McKenzie and then said that he didn't see anything serious, which is good. Then he said that we could either redo all the tests or start from where we are. He said the "pictures" looked good, so he felt like we could just go from there:) He said sometimes our bodies just start in this cycle of headaches, not necessarily for any reason, but that it is not unusual for someone to have a series of headaches that lasts for up to eight weeks and then starts to slowly subside on its own. There can be all different kinds of reasons for it but we never really know why. He also said that taking the pain medications as she has been can actually begin to "cause" the headaches. So here is how we will begin treatment:

1. Get off all of the pain medications and muscle relaxants. (essentially everything she was taking before)

2. Get on a routine schedule. He told her that even if she doesn't sleep at night, she still needs to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

3. When she has the headaches, she needs to do something active, like going on a walk etc, not getting back in bed.

4. He started her on a medication called "Topimax" which is to help prevent the headaches. He said it takes up to a month to start working and that it will probably cause her to be drowsy at night. She was happy about that:)

5. He suggested "massage therapy" for her neck and shoulders. Our neighbor is a massage therapist and will begin with McKenzie tonight:) He also suggested acupuncture or any natural means of controlling the soreness.

6. He prescribed something for her to take if the nausea got so bad that she was throwing up, but didn't want her to use it, if not.

Maddie taking care of big sister:)

He told her this will take some time, but it is a time in her life when she has time to work on it. We are going to work on some projects to keep her mind busy. I know that she has been thinking about some things she wants to do for the mission.  She has continued to try to keep her spirits up. I heard her up this morning at 4:30am and went down to see how she was doing and she was in the tub with her Book of Mormon:) She continues to study and and be a light here. So many friends have stopped by to visit her, so she is receiving a lot of support:) I'm not sure this was what she wanted to hear today from the doctor, but I think it makes a lot of sense. This next week will be hard as her body adjusts to what is going on.

Thanks again for all the love and support:)
Kelley

High School & College Friends Who Came to Visit

Roommates:)

Family & Friends

She's Back!

She's Home!!!

Waiting at the airport. We love McKenzie:)

 

Welcome Home:)

 We just wanted to let everyone know that McKenzie made it home safely. We were so glad to be able to wrap our arms around her at the airport. She had a long day of travel from Zagreb, Croatia to Paris, France. Luckily there were four elders also coming home, who took great care of her on the 11 hour flight to Seattle, Washington.  Her grandparents met her in Seattle and were able to take care of her until her flight left for SLC four hours later. (Thanks so much Gma and Gpa Giles)

Ready for Sestra Giles:)

She got into the SLC airport at 7:30pm after 23 hours of travel. As you can imagine she has been exhausted and not feeling too well, but has maintained her sense of humor. She was released as a missionary yesterday and now her new mission begins as we search for answers about her health. She has her first doctors appt. with a wonderful neurologist on Monday. We will be so glad to see him.

She was so touched to walk into her bedroom after her long day of travel and see so many kind notes, thoughts and gifts from all of you. She feels your love and support and is so grateful. We are also grateful for all of you. We know that she is here because it is the Lord's will for her right now. She has seen so many tender mercies from the Lord these past few weeks. We will try to keep you posted on her progress.

Some of the notes for Sestra Giles!

We know there are many of you who would like to see her, just know that she gets tired easily, but she would like to see you if even just for a few minutes:) She is back on facebook and you can contact her there.

Thanks again for all your love and support!!! She has needed it and so have we:) We are lucky to be so blessed to have great family and friends.

We love you all!!!
McKenzie and the Giles Family

All together again:)

PS. A special thanks to President & Sister Rowe and their sweet family, as well as the Smartts and all the missionaries in her mission who have supported her through this trial.