He Will Fight Your Battles – Kristi
Mine has been a medical journey, a health journey, if you will. I have had both hips replaced. The right one was in August 2019, and the left one was in December 2019. The right one is fine, but something happened with the left one and I started having strange symptoms after that operation almost immediately. It slowly progressed as time went on, but I was starting to have vision fluctuations and weight fluctuations, brain fog, A.D.D., and some weird stuff that just wasn’t me.
There were no real answers, my doctors just kept saying, “Oh, you’re just recovering from surgery. Oh, you need to do more PT, etc., etc…” As it turns out, every time I moved, the metal of the hip replacement was rubbing and flaking cobalt into my system, which ultimately was making me sick.
That led to all the weird stuff going on in my body.
My symptoms kept getting worse and worse through revisions and follow up operations. I’m talking about severe itching with red rash all over my body, all over my scalp, in my ears… I just can’t even describe the itching. It’s just wake-you-up-in-the-night itching. It’s so intense. My vision kept fluctuating, I constantly felt flushed, Brain fog, A.D.D., getting worse and worse and worse and going from doctor to doctor trying to find things out was time consuming and expensive.
I had four or five big surgeries in a short period of time and the symptoms kicked in even worse. That led to a spot on my back. All the stuff in my body – it turned into a malignant melanoma on my back. So that led to another surgery.
But I want to tell you, my church family, my choir family, they just loved on me and kept praying for me. I live in Naples with no family around and I’m single, so I live alone and my choir family has picked me up and loved on me and taken care of me from the very beginning. They checked on me, sending me cards, sending me encouragement, cooking for me, cause I couldn’t get around very well and they just loved on me.
They’re like my family.
It’s an amazing, amazing group who opened their arms to me. They were all about new people and they still are. We encourage anyone that wants to sing to come. It is a community. It’s not just a choir, it’s a family.
I don’t know what I would have done without them. And they could have easily not done that, especially because I’ve been really needy. Since December of 2019, I’ve been pretty needy, and that’s a lot to expect from someone! But they just stepped up. Some of them have fed me four or five or six times. I mean, if I needed rides, if I needed food – whatever I needed, all I had to do was ask and it was done. So I don’t know how I could have done that.
If I wasn’t plugged into a church with a group like that for support, I don’t know what I would have done.
That’s very, very important.
This is the part I don’t like talking about, but it’s what’s happening. A lot of people have come up to me and said, “For all you’ve been through, I don’t know how you keep on smiling and singing praises to the Lord.” Oh, that’s just not an option for me. I mean, why wouldn’t I? After all he’s done for me, that’s the least I can do, you know ? Last week someone said, “You have taught us all how to handle adversity with grace.” I was so humbled by that because there’s nothing special about me.
I’ve had a lot of people ask me, “why don’t you sue that surgeon? You need to sue. You need to sue. At least leave a bad review.” And I just can’t. That is not in me to do that and I don’t think that’s what the Lord wants, because that would be kind of like I give it to Him and then I’m taking it back, I’m going to do something on my own.
And my goal is to take it to him and leave it with him, because that’s what the Bible says.
The Bible talks about turning the other cheek and pray for your enemies and etc., etc., etc. My Bible verse to get me through this has been Exodus 14:14. The Lord will fight your battles. You need only to be still.
I take comfort in the fact that he sees all this and he knows what’s going on.
There was a hip replacement in August of 22 that was the most painful one I’d done. I was still itching. And it was hard. It was really hard because I’d done everything everybody asked, and I wasn’t getting better.
I don’t know why, but I’d always been wanting to watch The Chosen but never did it. Somehow last year on Christmas Day, I was home. Both my kids are grown and live in different states. We chatted and I was fine, but it was kind of lonely and somehow the Lord delivered me to watch that show.
It struck a chord with me from the very beginning, and I couldn’t stop watching and I couldn’t stop crying. The scene, where James shyly approaches Jesus and kind of says, “Lord, I’ve got this, this leg, why haven’t you healed me?” And compassion instantly entered his face. The actor who plays him plays him so well. At least that’s how I see Jesus, too. And so full of compassion and telling James how he considered it, but how much more effective James’ ministry would be healing others when he himself had an affliction. And James was kind of still bewildered by it, but he accepted it because he trusts the Lord.
And so Jesus hugs them and walks away and then Jesus turns around and said, “But James, you will be healed.” And then I, I’m starting to lose it now because that spoke just volumes to me, because someday I will be healed from all of this. So the Lord used something as simple as a TV show to help me and speak to me directly.
I don’t like talking about it all. We’ve all got something. It’s kind of between me and the Lord. I tell people, it could always be worse. And I’m thankful for how the Lord has orchestrated every step. And I can see it as I look back, because it’s been almost four years now. I have always pointed to my faith in the Lord and how he has taken care of me and made things happen that couldn’t possibly happen without his help.
I mean, giving me some answers… here’s how I found out I had metal poisoning from the hip replacement:
I worked in an office for six years before I joined the one I’m at now, and I’ve been here three years, but former patients have been finding me through advertising or word of mouth or seeing my business cards at their doctor’s office or something. One of my patients came in from the other office and his wife came with him. She rarely came to other appointments. I’ve been working with him for at least six or seven years now and his wife never came in. This time, she came in using a walker, which was so out of character for her. So I asked, “What happened?” And she said, “Well, I had a hip revision surgery,” and I’m curious, “Why did you need that?” And she said, “Because there was too much cobalt in my system making me sick.”
And the light bulb went off and I did some further research. That’s how I took the idea of metal poisoning to some of my doctors. If she hadn’t come in, I might still be seeking answers. So the Lord having her come in here – there’s no other explanation because it wasn’t like her to do so. It gives me chills right now, talking about it.
I had no idea what was going on. I had gone to Cleveland Clinic over in Weston to see an allergy/immunology specialist. He ran some tests and when they came back he told me they were all negative, and he had no idea how to treat me. I’m covered with red itchy, rash and all kinds of stuff, and he couldn’t help me.
So for her to walk in at the right time could only be from the Lord. I would prefer that he would have sent that answer a lot sooner, but he did it. And I know he has his reasons and I am here to accomplish his purposes and definitely his ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not mine, but he is in control and I trust him. As hard as it is.
The sermon Pastor Alan did recently about Joseph and how the Lord set that all up – If this hadn’t happened, then that couldn’t happen, and that couldn’t happen, and that couldn’t happen… It’s so important to be a part of a group that believes in the Lord and follows his teaching, because I can see that in my life. If this hadn’t happened then that wouldn’t have happened. When he was talking about that, I got goosebumps because that’s what’s happened in my life. It’s been this and that, and now they’ve all kind of fed off each other in an amazing way.
I’m still not healed yet.
I’m still having some tests, it just goes on and on and on. But it could always be worse. I mean, the Lord has done so much and he is good all the time, even in the midst of this, I’m calling the itching good because it is serving his purposes somehow. And if he can use me through all this, then I’m ready. I’m able. I’m willing.
That’s what I live for, is to accomplish his purposes, however he chooses.