Hi everyone,

It's been a long while since I've signed on.  My life has been a whirlwind the past couple of years.  To refresh your memory, my daughter, Kara, has LPHS.  She began having symptoms at age 19 and was finally diagnosed at the Cleveland Clinic about 4 or 5 years later.  The memories of those years still make me sick to my stomach to recall them.  I feel as though I aged doubletime during those days, weeks and months of watching my baby girl cry, scream and beg for relief from the horrible pain.  I held her hand as she endured so many painful tests and slept in her hospital room many nights as she suffered. 

Not quite two years ago, she took her nephrologist's advice and stopped taking the birth control pill.  She had some easing up of the pain, so she started to wean herself off all the pain medications, anti-nausea and anti-depressant medications gradually.  She hated how all the medications had changed her life.  She was bloated, pastey, nauseous, tired and foggy all the time.  She had met a wonderful man and was determined to get her life back to as normal as she could.  I guess I didn't realize what a strong woman I had raised.  She did very well for the first few months, with only a few trips to the ER for pain control when she had a bad episode.

Then, that's when she dropped a bomb on me - she called and told me she was pregnant!  I was absolutely terrified.  You could not convince me that she could carry a baby full term.  Considering what her body had been through for the past few years, not even to mention that she was receiving very strong intravenous pain medications every so often.  You could not subject a developing fetus to that kind of treatment. 

Well, nine months later, with no complications other than one trip to the ER, she delivered a very healthy, 8 pound miracle.  He is absolutely an angel - a beautiful blue eyed, blonde hair angel.  She is a fantastic mother and doing very well now.  She is now married to that wonderful man and they are expecting another boy in June.  She has pain occasionally, but usually can control it without medications. 

I know that LPHS is something she will probably always have to live with, but I like to think that God sent this little angel to her as her miracle "cure".  Occasionally, I check all the boards to see if anything new has come up concerning LPHS and see how everyone is doing.  I just wanted to let everyone know what has happened to us. 

Connie P.