Living with Lupus

my wife is a 56 year old black woman… about 10 years ago she became very ill and we almost waited too long to seek medical help she was eventually rushed to the hospital where many test were performed she subsequeuntly regained some of her health to the point that she was allowed to return to something of a normal life …however that attack left her body scarred she was left with scars that covered a large part of her body the term “lupus” never came up it was only when she was sent to a dermotologist to treat the wounds and scars did the doctor treating her become curious about their origin and sought opinions and it was decided after many tests that she had SLE.

well back in January of 2009 she again became very ill and we suspected that perhaps it may have been connected to her case of lupus but were not sure she been on prednisone at one time and was doing quite well but her doctor felt that the risks of the medicine outweighed the benefits so she was taken off prednisone and went steadily downhill healthwise she spent a lenthy stay in several hospitals and after much medical care was allowed to go home and she tried to resume work as a registered nurse of twenty - odd years but soon afterward again became too ill to continue working so after missing so much time from work she was dismissed from a job that she held for about seven years with this company called Hospice where she did home visits Cigna her health care provider informed us that she was no longer covered at such a critical time we scrambled to get help for her and went to Cobra…well going back and forth trying to get help for her today her health has deterioriated her renal doctor recommended cytoxan chemo which we reluctantly tried it made her gravely ill and she has not eaten a full or half meal in almost 3 months she has lost over 30 pounds and continues to experience an extended belly after several belly tap procedures the fluid comes right back the other morning her lung doctor told my daughter and I that he didn’t give her much of a chance if any at all we tried to be diplomatic and immediately dismissed him from her case and are waiting for the the new pulmonary doctor to assess her beginning either tommorrow or monday we just want a nother opinion and someone that has more bedside diplomacy we mean no disrespect to her original lung doctor but we are entitled to a second opinion this woman is not just a number on a sheet of paper to us she is our whole world and we won’t give up unless it is God’s will not man’s opinion in all due respect…thanks for listening …may God blees all of us in similar situations…