I have an autoimmune disease. This is the long and the short of it. From this point forward, this category is about laughing when you really just wanna stuff your face with movie popcorn, extra butter.... and it's dedicated to those who lead me from the snack counter and make me laugh. I couldn't do it without you.
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In 2007, I was working with a disaster relief effort in New Orleans. I was 37 years old, healthy, and strong. And I'd just met a guy. I worked with a mold remediation crew, which was a lot of demolition, and I loved it. It was winter, so when I developed the same cough everyone had, I didn't think much of it. I took a few days off, but then my knee started aching. Badly. A day or two later, my knee was fine, but my ankle swelled up. That resolved, but my shoulder froze. Pick a day, pick a different joint. "I'm just exhausted. I'll go to bed earlier," I'd think.
The cough got worse, so I made a doctor's appt. But on the way to his office, I coughed up straight blood. My roommate turned the car around and drove straight to the emergency room. Let me tell you, coughing up blood will get you instant admission and lots of attention!
I'm endlessly grateful to the team of docs at East Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Metarie, Louisiana. Dr. Pethke, my pulmonologist, actually suggested the correct diagnosis when he saw me in the ER. Pretty amazing since only 1:30,000 get this particular flavor of autoimmune: Wegener's Granulomatosis.
I was in the hospital for 11 days, then three weeks later, for another 7 days.
I had surgery to get a lung biopsy. And there's a lovely divot in my left leg where they took a deep skin biopsy. I was on oxygen and broad-spectrum antibiotics, and even needed a walker for a few days. But once the diagnosis was confirmed, the correct medications began in earnest: High-dose corticosteroids and immunosuppressives (small doses of chemo meds).
Three years later, I'm still on meds, though not as many, and my energy has gone the way of the dodo. I have a chronic cough at night. And then there's the prednisone weight, which I plan to bemoan muchly here. But other than that, I'm good, thanks to some wonderful docs and that cute guy I mentioned earlier.
As I said, this category is about those lovely character building blocks that come with illness. Thank you with all my heart to those who keep me laughing. -- Girl Parker