In January 2017, I gave birth to my first child. Unknowingly at the time, the epidural needle had punctured too deep, causing spinal fluid to leak out from around my brain. After a few days of excruciating headaches from my brain basically sitting on my skull, the leak was repaired.

However, over the next few months, I gradually began to experience strange symptoms.

My hearing became altered to where I could hear my own heartbeat and breathing louder than the sounds around me. My eyes felt bruised anytime I looked around. I was experiencing dizzy spells. I was waking up every morning with such miserable aching as if I had the flu.

Then the headaches began. I had rarely had headaches before, but something about these didn’t feel normal. They pulsated with such pressure that I thought I would pass out. Even stranger, the same pain was in my back, making me nauseated to no end.

From one specialist referral to another and test after test, no one could find an answer. Everything from allergies to meningitis was suggested. ER doctors settled for migraines, and I was constantly prescribed medication that didn’t work.

Finally, in October 2017, a spinal tap was performed that revealed my body was rapidly producing too much spinal fluid.

I spent the next year in and out the hospital, trying every form of treatment and medication I could. 

I lost my job, my car, my home, and irreplaceable time with my baby and family. 

I wanted to give up. Never being able to find relief, I was tormented.

But even when medication failed, my God redeemed me. My strength and endurance were always replenished. 

I learned not to regret what happened to me but to be thankful that it did. 

I had grown too comfortable in my so-called Christian life. I had backslidden further than I ever thought I could. If I had never gotten sick, I would still be on that same path.

Instead, God is renewing my body and spirit every day. He is showing me my place on this earth. He is revealing the true beauty of life and all the lessons that come with it.

Let the doctors continue to say there is no cure. By His stripes, I am healed!