I have a love/ hate relationship with prednisone. You know, the steroid. But I'll get to that shortly.
I completely love skiing. The last time I went skiing was early 2008. About a dozen or so friends from my Sunday School class rented a sweet house near Beach Mountain and skied for two days. It was an invigorating time flying down the mountains at speeds that approached a hundred miles an hour (rough guess :) ). We tackled the black diamond slopes, and I came out with all limbs in tact. We enjoyed hot chocolate and board games and all together had a wonderful weekend.
When I got back I developed what I thought to be a common cold with all the typical symptoms: runny nose, scratchy throat, and cough. The only problem was the cold never went away. [ Side note: ever since I got pneumonia as a little girl, my Mom has told me that I have a "weak chest." I was never really sure what that meant exactly and for the most part continued to live life to the fullest - skiing included.] The only problem was that as the cold continued, the symptoms got worse. I had trouble breathing, and the lack of oxygen started to make me feel dizzy and weak. One of the most frustrating parts of the whole experience was that I was going to my family physician every couple of weeks, each time given antibiotics and each time to no avail. Finally when I came close to passing out at work, I decided it was time to go to a specialist - a pulmonologist to be exact. Oh what a sweet day it was when I met Dr. Murphy at Salem Chest Specialists. Within a day -and after some very difficult breathing tests and chest scans - he diagnosed me with "chronic eosinophilic pneumonia" and put me on a high dose of prednisone (I guess my mom was right about the whole "weak chest" situation). Although I wasn't thrilled about being on a steroid, if it was the only means to the end of breathing, I was willing to give it a stab. I call it a miracle drug. Antibiotics after antibiotics...NOTHING. Prednisone...BREATHING. It was amazing - apart from some mildly unpleasant side effects. After almost six months on prednisone I could finally breath again. And breath I did for about two years.
Fast forward to January of 2010 and all of a sudden I was continuously getting really sick. But this time I would feel perfectly healthy and then within a hour I would be hunched over on the couch, shaking, nauseous, and again unable to breath well. This cycle happened four times over three months. It was unnerving to say the least. After three specialists and four different diagnoses (chronic eosinophilic pneumonia, sarcoidosis, vasculitis, and rheumatoid arthritis) and still no clear evidence of any definitive disease, I decided to take matters into my own hands. It was obvious that I had some kind of chronic inflammatory issue that affected my respiratory system and prednisone seemed to do the trick. So I continued on the prednisone and tapered off ridiculously slow nursing myself back to health. This second episode may have lasted well into the fall, but I was thankful to eventually be off of the medication and breathing normally again.
All was going well until this past week. I have come to recognize the symptoms that accompany the onset of a flareup. It feels like my chest is constricting, and I quickly have a diminished ability to breathe. Since there is never a good time to be sick, and since I wasn't willing to see if the symptoms would progress, I decided to pull the plug and start back on prednisone. I really didn't want to go back to the doctor, but my concerned husband thought it best that I get an "expert" opinion. I'm obliging him. Monday at 8:45 am to be exact. Other than Ron's nudging I would be completely content to administer my own prednisone and once again nurse myself back to health.
I don't write all this as some sort of pity party. I've come to terms with my "weak chest" situation, even if it did start in my mid twenties. Well I guess if you were to ask my mom she would say it started when I was a little girl. We all have vices, but I will say that as I popped my first 40 mg of prednisone this past Friday, I couldn't help but thank God for the day when my body will be made new, and when I can once again fly down snow covered mountains (that is, if there is skiing in the re-creation...not too sure about that one). I couldn't help but think of the verse from II Corinthians 4: 16 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." Though in the outward body I feel the effects of the fall, though in my spirit I am renewed by the realization that each day brings me closer to a new body free from sickness or disease or a weak chest. PRAISE GOD!!
No comments:
Post a Comment