Day Fifteen - February 23, 2026

This weekend had its recurring challenges. I had extensive episodes with difficulty breathing and such crushing fatigue that it was hard to function or even think straight. As I was laying on the couch Sunday afternoon listening to one of my favourite Bible App restful meditations, a very clear image appeared into my mind. It was a picture of God’s hand, wrapped around my wrist, pulling me up from the depths, with my hand wrapped around his wrist. When I got up I went to my lap top and did a “dear google” search. I wrote “Gods hand pulls me from the depths”. The near identical image below popped up with the verse “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters” from Psalm 18:16.

I’ve written for the last two weeks of finding God daily in the middle of really difficult days. This weekend as the challenges have continued I’ve felt defeated and somewhat of a fraud for continuing to talk of God showing up and sustaining me when the next day I fall again. But its in these moments when I can’t think for myself he simplifies things for me like a child and simply sends me a picture. He is still saying to me, “Maria, I’ve got you.”

The Lord replied, "My precious child,
I love you and would never leave you.
The times when you have seen only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."

(From the Poem - Footprints in the Sand)

So today started the first day of my final week here in Tennessee. Please pray miracles happen this week and I am not only fit and ready for the drive home, but have regained full strength or am in the process of such to start the next chapter of my life.

Today my lungs are clutching again to breathe and my eyes just want to close, but its a later start and Jeff has me at the clinic for 11:00 am. Jeff and I have gone over what we’d like to discuss with my doctor. We first want to ask about prioritizing everything necessary so we make the best advances in the next four days. But our doctor first asks how our weekend was, which he doesn’t normally do which then has him asking why mine wasn’t fabulous. So we start as I’d hoped with doing an even deeper dive on my lungs, possible blood clots, fibrin in my blood, blood flow, etc. As I had a high test for micro-clots in 2024 after an ambulance ride, this has stayed with me, and even more so after the failed dialysis and constant chest pain. Testing showed no obvious blood clots (as I was treated for this on week one), which was excellent news, it also showed mold and yeasts again were the instigating cause and in the doctors opinion had caused damage to the lungs. So my treatment for the molds is being extended. Testing also showed I have fibrin in my lungs (which are sticky clumps covering red blood cells and are your body’s first response to injury and pain. Fibrin itself is not bad, unless it gets out of control.) In my case the cause of injury has been so lengthy that my body has produced an overabundance of fibrin which has slowed down my blood and made it sticky. The remainder of my appointment was done testing me on methods that may help with reducing the fibrin, reducing the chest pain and improving breathing. We then discussed how I will also need treatment for the damaged areas of my lungs once the lungs are clear from microbial colonization.

We also brainstormed if there are “baby steps” we can do to gain more fluidity in the veins. So tomorrow we will try simple saline in my veins to get them moving and hopefully reduce the pain, pressure, and numbness I am feeling throughout my body. If this lifts the chest pressure, that will be a relief and show we are on the right track. I can’t imagine driving home in my current state. I discounted the potential of doing another dialysis (EBOO) as how could my veins and blood recover in just a few days (that didn’t sound possible or logical to me)… but we will see what tomorrow holds and go from there as God is in control. The EBOO does still hold potential benefit for me if possible. The nurse, Pam, who did the original attempt came over and chatted with me for a bit today. She was so happy to see I was back and hadn’t given up. I’m not a “giver-upper” so I came back. Or I’m just a sucker for punishment, who knows! (smiley emoji).

Because of the persistent mold growth/colonization I am cutting back the total foods I can eat down to 2 for two weeks (chicken and lettuce). Not ideal, but if there is any natural sugar (rice) the mold and bacteria in my body may make a pact to stay alive, and I really want them gone. So two weeks of further cutbacks on food are worth it for a future free of these burdens, especially while have the phages doing clean up in my body.

I have a list of concerns I would like to go over yet with the doctor before we leave, that we haven’t had a chance to touch on yet.

Jeff ended up investigating Phages (my main therapy) this weekend and was surprised to see they have been researched at McMaster since 2008 and they have a clinic at St Jos in Hamilton where they will use them as treatment. The qualifications to be allowed entrance in this program are so finite, that very few in Canada will be allowed access to the phages and style of treatment I am receiving. To qualify you will have had to be on numerous antibiotics with longterm exposure, and with demonstrable proof that none have worked or been effective. Your doctor would also have to fill out extensive forms and be aware the program exists. As chronic Lyme and mold toxicity are still not acceptable diagnosis in Ontario, I would not qualify. Phage therapy is available in clinics around the world, so I am exceedingly grateful that there is one within a driveable distance for us to access.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I treasure them.

With Love

Maria

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” – Isaiah 43:2