Moyamoya Round II

Seven years ago, I had 2 strokes and was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease.  Moyamoya is rare neurovascular disease that causes the arteries in your brain to stenose (harden and close) for no apparent reason.  As you body fights to restore blood flow to your brain it develops tiny blood vessels that appear on an MRI as a "puff of smoke" or Moyamoya in the Japanese language.  These collateral vessels are extremely fragile and cannot provide the blood flow your brain desperately needs.  As a result patients often suffer Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs), stroke, seizures and other associated symptoms. 

I was blessed...excellent doctors, great health insurance and a recent doctoral degree meant that I had the resources necessary to research and understand my diagnosis, get a quick and accurate diagnosis and treatment.  At the time, doctors thought it possible but unlikely that the Moyamoya would advance to my left side.  Two months after diagnosis, I underwent an STA-MCA bypass on my right side at Stanford University in California.  Two months after that I was back to work.  God was in that experience with me every step of the way. It brought me back to a relationship with Him and literally marked the start of a whole new life for me.  Since then, I met and married my amazing husband and we now have two adorable and kolohe sons.

Then, last year, almost 6 years to the day of my Moyamoya diagnosis, doctors discovered an almost complete blockage of my LAD, the artery providing blood flow to the entire left side of my heart.  Two days later I underwent open heart surgery to have a single bypass completed. While they believe that this is related to my Moyamoya, the rarity of the disease makes it very difficult for doctors to make strong causal connections.  Just as with my Moyamoya diagnosis, my surgery went smoothly and the recovery process was quick.  Again, I was back to work in about 6 weeks!

And now, 11 months after my heart surgery, a routine follow-up MRI shows that the Moyamoya has progressed to my left side.  Based on the speed of the progression and the degree of blockage, Dr. Steinberg at Stanford recommends another bypass no later than mid-October.  If you lost count that will mean in a span of 7 years, I will have had 2 strokes, 2 brain bypass surgeries, one open heart surgery, and 2 c-sections.  Two of those surgeries (an open heart and a brain bypass) will occur within 11 months of one another!  Oy!

I didn't know why all of this is happening, but I do believe that God has a plan for my life.  In hindsight, that is evident.  In all three cases, everything fell into exactly the right place to get me diagnosed quickly.  To this point I have been able to obtain treatment quickly and was back to full health in an unbelievably short span of time.  My first encounter with Moyamoya was the catalyst that brought me back into relationship with Christ and marked a turning point in my life.   The heart surgery ensure that I am facing this new surgery with no other conditions that could jeopardize my outcome and really focused me on the need to completely rely on the Lord in all things. 

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future...'"

and 

Proverbs 3: 5 - 6 encourages us by saying, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Finally, Romans 8:37 – 39 proclaims,” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I am holding fast to these truths and believing in God’s plan for me!