Hi, Everyone. It was sweet of you to care. Thanks. I know the prayers helped.
My aunt is stable but still intubated. Its been a nightmare. I cant even describe.
Can I tell you this all started as a kidney infection from an undiagnosed UTI? They undertreated it and she went septic causing her completely overwhelmed system to shut down. What happened to her body on large doses of prednisone would break anyone's heart.
They finally treated the UTI again, she is finally stable, but the damage that has been done.
OMG. She is on dialysis. Intubated and sedated for 10 days now. The questions soon are what is a quality of life that is acceptable?
So, as I looked at my 9 aunts, all with various auto immune disease.. I decided that Im so thankful that I have tools that Im hoping have allowed me to break the pattern.
Typically hospitals terrify me. But this time, they just made me sad. You have all these doctors looking at single organs and nobody looking at the whole. Even in the best ICU wards in NYC. Im just glad they finally have her some antibiotics and the spiral has stopped. Now she has to heal, but she has no feeding tube and hasnt eaten in 11 days now. I cant understand how that is possible.
I want to smuggle in magnesium oil to rub on her feet but the intubation has her so agitated while on all that pred that we cant touch her.
Anyway,
When you watch a 47 year old woman cling to life, a woman you remember as a small child as beautiful and full of life's potential, it makes you reassess what is important. Im so sick of technology. Im sick of the current medical system so clouded by so many special interests. Im sick of how slow the science rolls out. Im sick of everyone I know being sick. From the kid at the playgroup whose mom I talk to for 3 hours about
her kid's EE dx and limited diet.. to my 31 year old friend who died of brain cancer.
Plus, during the last 10 days Ive realized Im "well". I have all the "answers" I need now. It just comes down to living it. Ive researched it all to death. I really wanted to find a way to help people by distilling all the information Ive synthesized down but then I realized when I read Richard Horowitz's book, many books saying much what I am. Most of the time much more eloquently. Maybe they cant go into the minutiae of epigenetics (but I do think that medical specialty will be a rising one).. but the 4Rs is really all you need to know. And there are good doctors out there. We just have to find them.
I dont really add alot to the conversation. ;) It's good to talk to you guys tho.
I just wanted to check in. Keep hugging your loved ones and yourselves! Thanks for caring.
Post Edited (PathogenKiller) : 3/25/2014 8:44:01 PM (GMT-6)