Update from Pam Long

All- thanks for praying.

Josh miraculously was in quite a happy mood this morning at 5:30 am, as we departed for the surgery center for his endoscopy. He continued to be content while fasting overnight until 9am. I knew someone was praying for us! Thanks!

The results show that his esophagus has almost cleared of all inflammation; however his duodenum now has significant erosion. This is a newly identified problem for us since the last scope 6 months ago. This explains why we initially saw improvement, and then starting seeing GI symptoms again. The photos show that there is no redness or swelling with the erosion, which means his impaired immune system is not fighting it. Now we must wait a couple weeks for biopsy results to discuss new meds. Even with this setback, Josh's doctor is confident that we are making progress.

One more prayer request: The night before the procedures, our health insurance denied our request to use an out -of-network doctor based on his expertise with autistic entercolitis. We must now proceed with lawyers into an appeal process to get reimbursed for over $10,000 in past medical bills and for coverage for future bills. This is a big disappointment for us.