Hey guys, it's Ben. I usually leave the blogging to Jess because she's so good at it, but I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on a few happenings in our life. Jess has done a great job keeping ya'll up to date on things as they develop regarding our battle with MS. That's important to us because so many of you pray for us daily and I can't tell you how much that means. Sometimes I think a few of ya'll actually pray for me more than I do, which really amazes me. 

We took a visit to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and it looks like the current medicine I've been on isn't doing its job. I'm starting a new medication this week that is a monthly IV infusion. The good news is that I don't have to do any more weekly shots or deal with the nasty side affects that  come with them. For a person who hates shots to begin with, the weekly battle with a 2-inch-long intramuscular injection was starting to takes its toll. Not to mention that I've had about enough of the completely unpredictable fever, chills and body aches. 

   This medicine is supposed to be a lot more affective and a lot cleaner, meaning that it is very specific at what it does so the side affects aren't as violent. As far as I know, most people don't experience any bad side affects after an infusion. 

The down side is that I have to take a day off once a month and go down to Cullman to do the infusion. I think it takes about an hour and a half to do the infusion and then you have to sit there for an hour to make sure there aren't any negative reactions. Also, the bill runs about 80-90,000 dollars a year, most of which we will never see (praise God for health insurance). All in all, I'd take that any day over the old medicine. 

There is however one little thing about this medicine that I'm not so excited about. A small number of people who take it get this really bad brain infection that is fatal. I think there's only a .00125 percent chance of getting it, but to be honest that terrifies me. 

I really struggled with making the decision to switch to this medicine for about a week and a half. We kept praying and finally God gave me an answer. 

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." - Isaiah 12

If you're running out of things to pray for hopefully this will give you something to add to the list. I really appreciate ya'll and can't being to tell you how much your prayers mean to me.