Don't Ever Give Up
by Susan Thom(42)http://onsuchthings.com
I awakened from a sound sleep at one a.m. I was in my twenties, and was on a sick leave from my job at the post office. I had been having problems with my eyes hurting, and was staying in my old room at my parent's home. My mom was a nurse, and wanted to keep an " eye " on me. I had been going to the old family doctor, and he had given me drops that blurred my vision. My pupils seemed to be the problem, but a solution was not forth coming. The drops kept my pupils dilated, which in return, rendered me legally blind.
I couldn't drive, or read in order to sort the mail, so I guess I was just waiting for things to change. This particular burst of pain was so intense, I was crying out in pain, and unknowingly woke my parents up, who were two floors above me. My dad yelled that I had interrupted his sleep, and my mom came down to see me. It felt as if someone was taking a sharp knife and plunging it in and out of my right eyeball. There was no relief. No medication that would work any longer, and no doctor available.
I had been to eye doctors, neurologists, family practitioners, and yet, here I was in the worst pain I had experienced as of yet. My mom took me to the hospital, and they put more drops in, and the pain subsided, and back home we went. Her profession, and mothering instincts had her very worried and upset for her child. When the next episode happened, she took me to a different hospital, and I stayed for three days.
I had a team of doctors and interns trying to figure out what was wrong. I will never forget lying in that hospital bed, my mom in a chair by my side, and the head doctor coming in only to tell us that they thought I had a rare disease from some other country, and that I would be blind and crippled with arthritis by the time I was twenty eight. I was twenty seven. My mom looked at me, I looked at her, and she said, " Come on, get dressed, we're leaving. "
She made one appointment after another, until a doctor she worked with suggested a retina specialist that was supposed to be very good. He didn't know the cause or the name of whatever I had, but I was put on prednisone, starting at sixty milligrams, and every few weeks I had to drop down by ten. When I would reach ten milligrams, the pain would return, and I would have to go back up to sixty.
At this point, I was able to see much better, and was able to go back to work. I had " moon face " and I heard a customer I had known for five years, ask my boss who the new girl was. That was it. I had to get off this medication. I made an appointment for the retina specialist, and my mom came wit me. I asked him what else could be done.
He replied, " Well, I could give you a shot of cortisone directly into your eye, but it will be very painful. " I said to him, " Then do it. " I don't think he was expecting that reply. At this point, and at other points throughout, it was painful to even have the light shined into my eyes. He drew the needle, gave me the shot, and proved to be a man of his word.
The pain was beyond what I had ever known, as the fluid shot through my eye socket and made it feel as if my head was going to explode.We returned home, and it was hours before the pain started to subside. However, it worked, and I never had to put drops in my eyes or take prednisone again, or for ten years, anyway.
I was not blind, nor was I crippled by the time I was twenty eight, or ever after, I am now fifty two. I eventually was treated for Crohn's disease, and the doctor said I had over three hundred and fifty ulcers in my intestines, some bleeding, and he would have to put me on prednisone. I told him my story, and he asked, " Was that uvitis of the eye? "
I wondered how he knew, and I said, " yes, it was. " He told me that this was a symptom of Crohn's. I went back on the prednisone, but it worked quicker this time for the problems I was having, and I have been suffering from Crohn's, an auto immune decease, ever since. I have, however, learned how to keep it I remission most of the time.
The moral of this story is that if you have the courage to keep going until you find the right answers, your hard work, pain, and suffering can be reduced or eradicated. You don't have to take someone's word for what they think you have, just because " they " are four doctors. You don't have to take anyone's word for anything if you feel you know different, or better.
With hope in your heart, and faith in your soul, experience teaches you strength and determination until you can find the right doctor or person who can help you in your time of need. This philosophy isn't just for this situation, it applies to any time we are going through pain, heartache, disillusionment, and despair.
I believed God would take care of me, and help my mom find an answer, and she did. If we had accepted the diagnosis we were given, they would have been right, I would have been blind. The retina specialist said the first doctor had been giving me the wrong medicine for months, and I was developing cataracts that left untreated, would have caused blindness.
There are certain things we must accept as part of life, and deal with them accordingly, but this was not one of those times. A mother's love holds no boundaries, and for that, I have always been grateful.
Article submitted Wednesday, April 01, 2009 & read 158 times.
Leave Your Comments:
» left by Rita Sosnovik from Hope (1 year 118 days ago.)
Oh how we learn from our experiences and battle scars.Why is it the more they hurt, the more we learn?RitaRespond to this comment
» left by Susan Thom(42) (1 year 116 days ago.)
hi rita,
i am ecstatic that you dropped by. (author talk :)
don't be a stranger, and you'd love how it feels to write something of your own as well.
at least we learn, right?
i hope you come back for more,
thanks for reading and responding,
my best to you,
sue
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