Meet Travis and Abby

Travis Update: Travis went to his first cognitive behavior therapy appointment last week. It was a joke. She said he needed to be seen by a doctor and that it was obvious it was something medically related. (Sound familiar?) She said she didn't need to see him again unless Travis really needed it. Will anyone ever just help us instead of referring us to someone else?? Luckily, his health has been less of a struggle these past few weeks, but he is still drained of all energy he can muster by the end of the week. Travis is trudging along in his PhD program. He is half way through his first semester! His health allows him make it to classes about 70% of the time, so on the good days he works extra hard into the late night to catch up for the bad days. He has been able to stay caught up in all of his classes. In fact, this week he got a 94% on his physiology exam! #proudwife Apart from school, Travis has been spending as much time as he care spare out on th...

I haven't posted since March. Many many updates. Travis's health is slowly but surely improving. The twitches, facial grimaces, and all other dystonia/myoclonus-type involuntary movements seem to be getting less frequent and less volatile the past few weeks. He still has bad days when it all comes out, but those days are farther and fewer between the good days. Many of you have heard that he finally has a diagnosis after a week at the end of July in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic. After a dozen appointments/tests/movement labs, it was decided that Travis has a treatable, non-degenerative disorder called "Functional Movement Disorder." It is treatable by cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which basically means he needs to retrain his brain to suppress the involuntary movements. We are hoping he can start a CBT program in the next month or so. We moved to Columbus, Ohio last week. So far, we love it! Travis starts his PhD program in Biophysics on Tue...

Health Update: Wow. Where do the updates start? Over the past month, Travis has had a spinal tap, in addition to two other trips for blood tests. His symptoms are pretty much the same as last month. The worst of it includes: chronic lack of sleep, intense brain fog, facial grimaces, full body twitching, stuttering/difficulty communicating. So, let's get to the news. We found out that Travis doesn't have Huntington's Disease.  (YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!) We found out that Travis doesn't have a post-infectious autoimmune disease. (happy dance) We found out that Travis doesn't have Wilson's Disease.  (awesome, awesome, awesome) Through out the past few weeks, we've had moments of relief to know what it was not, but we also had moments of frustration, because we still don't know what is wrong and Travis has had more bad days than good days. Dr. Renner met with us last Thursday. He told us that in multiple tests, it shows that Travis has untraceable ...

Health Update: Travis's worst symptoms lately are constant and complete fatigue, inability to get to sleep, and the brain fog (can't think/comprehend/communicate well). We think the new medication is helping. The dystonia isn't as constant, mostly more at night or triggered by stress/anxiety. The emergency med "Klonopin" has saved Travis multiple times when the chocking comes. We have been overanxious about hearing back on the test results. After waiting 3 weeks, we contacted the nurse asking if they have heard anything yet. She responded with a message, "In regards to the Huntington's and Wilson's tests, they require a consent form be signed by you and Dr. Renner. We can do this likely at your next visit; however, the tests won't be able to be drawn until we have verified that your insurance is willing to pay the costs. If they are unwilling to pay the costs, we can get an out of pocket cost amount that you may be responsible for if you choose...

Hello. Let me introduce myself. I am Abby. I married Travis exactly 1 year 3 months and 13 days ago and by all definitions of soul mates, we are made for each other. And starting 1 year 3 months and 3 days ago, we started the long journey of a mystery illness that is taking over my dear husband's body. We have been through more adventures than anyone wants in a lifetime, and I have written nothing down. He has become my hero in more ways than one and I feel the need to make it known how amazing he is. I realize that life is only getting crazier and it is difficult for me to find the words to what is happening, so I thought I would take time to write down more of our life here. Every time I post, I will give a health update and a reason why Travis is my hero. Health Update: Currently, Travis's worst symptoms are extreme lack of energy, inability to sleep, hands sticking in unnatural ways for long periods of time so he can't eat/write, throat twitching...