Continued Recovery

I first would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued love, support and prayers on our behalf. As most of you already know, Wez had been suffering from a neurological disorder called Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia for the past 4 years. Due to the amazing financial support of our church family and donations from friends, family, and even more people that we have never met, Wez was able to have a much needed surgery to give him pain relief. Wez had Micro vascular decompression surgery on January 23rd of this year and up until 2 weeks ago has been mostly pain free. After the first month of recovery Wez began experiencing pain that would come and go. Two weeks ago on Thursday, Wez’s face pain returned and has not subsided. We contacted his doctors and he was started on a round of Steroids as well as another medication to help with pain and swelling. Later the next week he began another medication. Much to our dismay the pain did not leave and our neurosurgeon, Dr.Jannetta, requested that we come back to Pittsburgh. They tentatively scheduled Wez for surgery again this Friday. We left Nashville on Monday and went to speak with the doctors this morning at Allegheny General Hospital.

Dr. Jannetta feels that the pain has returned due to the fact that the nerve is just extremely damaged due to being fused with the two blood vessels for such a long period of time. It is rare for the pain to return but he has seen it before. Due to the surgery being such a major operation, Dr.Jannetta has requested that we try one more option before going back in. In an attempt to “put the nerve to sleep” Wez is being started on 2 very strong medications. He will begin taking them as soon as we get home and the dosage will begin small and continue to increase over the next few days. Wez will continue on this medication for the next 6-8 weeks. His theory is that the medications will allow the nerve to repair and in turn relieve Wez of his pain. After 6 weeks, if the medications have been unsuccessful, Wez will be scheduled for surgery again. This time instead of putting in Teflon plates, they will just go ahead and cut the nerve. With this, Wez will be left with numbness on his face however he will be pain free.

We want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers for us. It has been a long road for us and we cherish the love and friendship each of you give us. Please continue to pray for us. We will be returning home on Thursday and Wez will begin his medications. The side effects of these will make the next few weeks difficult for Wez so please pray that he maintains a good outlook and that his pain subsides. I will do my best to keep everyone updated but please feel free to send me an email if you have any questions. Again, thank you all so much.

Love always,
Rachel Bezuidenhout

"And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him too, for each day's problems: live in vital union with him."
Colossians 2:6