Thursday, April 10, 2014

A brief explanation of a recent illness

I pulled it together for Eliot's birthday party, sitting down as much as I could, but when we got home I went straight to bed as my health continued to spiral downward.  Spencer was suddenly in charge of children and home.  He did a really great job handling it all, though it was stressful for him especially since he still had his own work to do.  People from church helped out with meals and helped watch the boys so Spencer could get some work done.  To complicate things further, he had an upcoming trip to North America that would keep him there for seven weeks.  He thought about cancelling the trip but it was very important for him to go, so instead he arranged with my mother and his to come out and help me for a few weeks.

In the midst of all these arrangements I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia.  I was there for almost a week during which additional testing and a lung biopsy ultimately confirmed that I had eosinophilic pneumonia which is essentially an immune response that gets turned on but doesn't turn off, filling up your lungs with your own white blood cells.  Apparently it can be caused by all sorts of things that I don't have.  It can also happen for reasons they can't explain, and it was decided that this was the case with me.  Fortunately it's very easily and effectively treated with steroids.  I was discharged from the hospital shortly after Spencer's mother arrived and on the very day that my own mother arrived.  Spencer left on his trip a few days later.  That first week home I was still pretty weak so it was great to have the extra help.  As the weeks have passed I've gotten stronger and as the dose of steroids gradually decreases I pay close attention to my lungs as a relapse is possible.  But so far so good.  I am certainly very grateful for friends far and near and for all of the help and well-wishes that have come our way.

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