First Day

Today was my first day at the clinic. What a day! I'm exhausted. First we waited for about 30 minutes after I gave them all my paperwork. (Yesterday my mom and I spent a couple of hours filling out all the papers they gave me and putting together all my recent tests and records.) Then they took me to into the dr's office, and I got sick right away from a smell in there, maybe from their air filters, I'm not sure. So they moved me to another office and we waited another 30 minutes. Then the dr finally came, and I gave him my whole medical history. That took about 45 minutes. Then he left, and we talked with his assistant about what kinds of tests to order. Then that guy left and we talked with the patient coordinator about some more stuff. It was almost 1:00 when we left.
My mom and I were both on information overload. We finally decided which tests to do. (We're trying to priotize because they all cost a lot.) So about 3:00 we went back to the clinic and they drew a bunch of blood. Praise God, the lady got me on the first stick! I hope those tests will be helpful. It's so hard to know what's really essential and what's just stuff they like to do. I think the doctor was pretty sensitive about our limited finances, but they still always think some things are necessary when they really aren't vital.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to get some skin testing done (for a few allergens). They want to test for a lot of things, but I don't know if my immune system can handle that, so we'll just take it slow and see. The big problem at the moment is that I'm reacting to the air in the office. The patient coordinator didn't seem to think they could put me in a different place for the testing. So who knows what will happen tomorrow. We're just praying that the Lord will take care of it somehow. I was hoping these people would be more understanding about someone as sensitive as me, but so far they haven't seemed to be. Please keep praying for wisdom and for God's protection from tests or treatments that would be bad for me.
I confess I've been slightly grumpy the last two days, probably from not sleeping well and not being able to eat my normal foods. Still, I'm trying to remind myself that all of this is not about ME! It's about God and what He wants to do and how He wants to glorify Himself. I'm so thankful for all of the people who are praying for me! I definitely won't be able to keep a godly perspective without lots of prayer support.
Speaking of perspective, we met a lady here who's had an incredibly hard life. (She's been sick since she was born. She's now in her 40's and taking care of her terminally ill father by herself.) She shared a little of her story with us and my heart went out to her. It didn't sound like she had much of a support group or encouraging friends either. It made me so thankful for all the wonderful people praying for me, encouraging me, supporting me, etc. Please pray that we can be a blessing to this dear lady while we're here.
So one day down, many more to go. As my sister reminded me, I'm here for a reason. Hopefully I can hold onto that through the difficulties, knowing I'm under God's care.
"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care." -Psalm 95:6-7