For those friends who have been following my journey over
the past weeks, I am now home and have finally been able to write about my
experience in more detail.
In August I started experiencing some strange pain in my
joints. I went to two separate doctors and was given an appointment to see the
Rheumatoid specialist on the 13th of September.
On the 3rd of September I went to seek out the specialist on my own at the government hospital where she works. I was told that her first available appointment was in October. That afternoon, I was admitted to the ER at the private hospital with intense stomach pain.
Inconclusive tests and increasingly strange symptoms left 6 or 7 specialists in the private hospital baffled as they came to see me each day. Joint pain, strange rashes, stomach pain – one morning all stopped and I started coughing up blood.
It was thought that I could have some kind of auto immune disease and the hospital began to send my blood samples through to more sophisticated labs in Bangkok. While waiting for the results my condition worsened and the hospital could no longer deal with my case. We decided to move to the government hospital hoping that if they could not help me that they would send me to the royal government hospital in Bangkok to see the specialists there. On the 9th of September, I was moved into the general ward of the government hospital. That night at midnight my oxygen levels continued to drop and the doctor put me on a ventilator in the ICU.
It was only the next morning that a diagnoses came through from the blood results that we had been waiting on from Bangkok. Miraculously they came through a day earlier than is the norm. The doctors told me that I had been diagnosed with Wegeners Granulamatosis, or GPA. A rare auto immune disease – and as far as they know only the second case ever to have been diagnosed in Thailand. My lungs were severely affected, but thankfully my kidneys were not yet.
Treatment started immediately. I remained in the ICU for 6 days on a ventilator, and eventually the pipes were removed and I was put back on oxygen. I was moved out of the ICU into a private room where I had my first chemo treatment and was monitored until I was well enough to go home on the 22nd of September.
I am thankful for so much – having completely out of the blue been given a taste of how close one can come to losing ones life unexpectedly. I was held in prayer by thousands all over the world and as I fought for my life in the ICU each day, God was so tangibly close to my side. It has been a deeply fulfilling struggle, even though that seems like such a contradiction. I know that struggle is not yet over as I now live my life with this disease that I didn’t know I had. For now, I take every day in my stride, prayerfully asking for God’s leading and healing. My family and friends have been amazing and one of the hardest parts of the suffering was to see them watching me suffer. I knew deep down that I would make it, but I cannot imagine how watching me must have felt for each one of them. My mom and dad came to Thailand and became the parents while Noiy waited 24hrs a day outside the ICU. Noiy’s mom had been staying with us since I was admitted to the private hospital. We would not have made it without the amazing support system of family and friends that put aside their own lives for me. I am deeply aware of the sacrificial love of family and the phenomenal strength of character of the people in my particular family – there is nothing quite like it and for it I am forever grateful.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers as we walk this journey together as
a family. My treatment will be re-evauted over periods of 3 months, 6 months
and 2 years. For now I am being strongly medicated and will continue with Chemo
every 3 weeks. Noiy and I know that we are called to this purpose and that this
is but a stumbling block in our journey. The stumbling blocks however are
sometimes what we learn most from and in all that we have learnt already, I can
say that I am thankful – not only to be alive and to continue to serve our
Savior, but to have had such an intense experience that can draw me closer to
Him for who I live my life.
On the 3rd of September I went to seek out the specialist on my own at the government hospital where she works. I was told that her first available appointment was in October. That afternoon, I was admitted to the ER at the private hospital with intense stomach pain.
Inconclusive tests and increasingly strange symptoms left 6 or 7 specialists in the private hospital baffled as they came to see me each day. Joint pain, strange rashes, stomach pain – one morning all stopped and I started coughing up blood.
It was thought that I could have some kind of auto immune disease and the hospital began to send my blood samples through to more sophisticated labs in Bangkok. While waiting for the results my condition worsened and the hospital could no longer deal with my case. We decided to move to the government hospital hoping that if they could not help me that they would send me to the royal government hospital in Bangkok to see the specialists there. On the 9th of September, I was moved into the general ward of the government hospital. That night at midnight my oxygen levels continued to drop and the doctor put me on a ventilator in the ICU.
It was only the next morning that a diagnoses came through from the blood results that we had been waiting on from Bangkok. Miraculously they came through a day earlier than is the norm. The doctors told me that I had been diagnosed with Wegeners Granulamatosis, or GPA. A rare auto immune disease – and as far as they know only the second case ever to have been diagnosed in Thailand. My lungs were severely affected, but thankfully my kidneys were not yet.
Treatment started immediately. I remained in the ICU for 6 days on a ventilator, and eventually the pipes were removed and I was put back on oxygen. I was moved out of the ICU into a private room where I had my first chemo treatment and was monitored until I was well enough to go home on the 22nd of September.
I am thankful for so much – having completely out of the blue been given a taste of how close one can come to losing ones life unexpectedly. I was held in prayer by thousands all over the world and as I fought for my life in the ICU each day, God was so tangibly close to my side. It has been a deeply fulfilling struggle, even though that seems like such a contradiction. I know that struggle is not yet over as I now live my life with this disease that I didn’t know I had. For now, I take every day in my stride, prayerfully asking for God’s leading and healing. My family and friends have been amazing and one of the hardest parts of the suffering was to see them watching me suffer. I knew deep down that I would make it, but I cannot imagine how watching me must have felt for each one of them. My mom and dad came to Thailand and became the parents while Noiy waited 24hrs a day outside the ICU. Noiy’s mom had been staying with us since I was admitted to the private hospital. We would not have made it without the amazing support system of family and friends that put aside their own lives for me. I am deeply aware of the sacrificial love of family and the phenomenal strength of character of the people in my particular family – there is nothing quite like it and for it I am forever grateful.
