Suddenly blessings appear

Sometime in the last 12 years, my life has been turned into a series of unfortunate events. Now the events which usually transpired were never huge, major catastrophes, but it seemed simple things were never simple. I would finally get a doctor who understood my medical case, and the doctor would move out of state to take a job at another medical facility. If I would finally get a diagnosis and be referred to a doctor who could help me, I would often be told my case was too complicated. I should seek care else where. I finally abandoned the medical community and started living my life the best I could.

This all worked until May 2017 when I got a tracheostomy and was started on invasive ventilation. Now, I needed medical professionals to help guide my case. I was in unfamiliar territory. Seeking medical care often turned into a fight to stay out of nursing homes (because being on a ventilator is too complicated to be managed at home), and I even had to fight to stay alive. (Some doctors told me I was too complicated. It was time to give up, put me in a drug induced coma, disconnect my ventilator and let nature take its course.) I fought so hard to try to get proper medical care, but everything would often crumble around me.

In July 2018, I acquired a bad bacteria called pseudomonas. I quickly detected the new infection because my sputum changed. I begged for medical intervention, but the bacteria was not taken seriously. I was sent home. Three weeks later, I was in the emergency department, very ill. I was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The bacteria became resistant to the antibiotic I was being given. I was not told this. I was given more and more of the same antibiotic. I went home after 12 long days of being very sick. By the time I got home, I was coughing up lots and lots of blood.

Five days later, I was back in the emergency department, extremely sick. I was admitted to the ICU, and I was finally given a different antibiotic. After five days, I was sent home with no antibiotics. My bacteria then became resistant to all antibiotics. Subsequently,  I had to take an extremely expensive, new and experimental drug which caused an anaphylactic reaction. I was then placed back on a drug my bacteria was resistant to.

From this time forth, it has been a constant struggle to get antibiotics. Thankfully, my bacteria has changed back into being sensitive to most antibiotics. This means, the cefepime I was usually given was now effective against the bacteria. I tried and tried to get a long course of antibiotics to get rid of this infection, but my efforts were often thwarted. Something would always happen which impeded me from getting a long, full course of antibiotics.

This spring, I was absolutely exhausted. I was very sick with multiple infections in my airways. When I gave up and stopped fighting, suddenly everything started working in my favorite. I was finally given a month’s worth of antibiotics. The infection cleared, and I was relatively healthy for six months.

When I became sick again this fall, it was a battle to get antibiotics. I was miraculously set up with three weeks worth of antibiotics. But it was not long enough to clear the infection. I remained sick. To my shock, my doctor in the outpatient setting prescribed another month of IV antibiotics. When this all seemed to be crumbling again due to miscommunication, God arranged for some miracles. Suddenly, I am now on a long course of IV antibiotics.

After fighting for so long, suddenly everything seems to be working in my favorite. I usually am in and out of the hospital every two to three months with a bad respiratory infection. Now, in the past nine months, I have only been hospitalized once for my pseudomonas infection. That is an incredible blessing and miracle.