This year I went to Colombia in March and in May I was in hospital. I don't think the two events were directly linked, but one never knows. I didn't feel well when I returned. I had spent all my time in March in Bogota which has a high elevation of more than 8500 feet. It was difficult adjusting to the altitude and I think that some of my underlying and as-of-yet undiagnosed health concerns. I had very little energy during my visit there though I persevered and still managed to walk, sometimes uphill, a good fifteen miles a day, with many bench breaks of course. Bogota has been one of my most meaningful excursions into Latin America, given the many great people I met and the opportunity of really immersing myself in the city and learning about the people there. My Spanish also improved noticeably.
In early May I admitted myself into hospital emergency when I had the same flu as four years earlier. I was weak, suffering from chills, could hardly walk and had double vision as well as partial paralysis to my hands and feet. They kept me for almost a week, put me through a whole battery of tests, only to discover a large benign tumour on my pituitary gland that had been flooding my body with prolactin. They also discovered an underactive thyroid and possible cancer but this so far still seems unlikely.
On my first day in hospital, even though I could hardly function with my hands for typing or writing purposes, I began a new drawing of a bird from Colombia. To my surprise, I was drawing very well and this became my rallying cry towards recovery. I began exercising my hands and feet and also my eyes, retraining them to focus normally. The following day I noticed a slight improvement. I was allowed to leave my bed and had graduated to using a walker. The third day, there was improvement in my hands and feet and my eyes were able to focus normally for a couple of minutes at a time. When no one was watching, while hanging out on the roof garden, I would go for walks without the walker. I was a bit wobbly, but doing fine and there was no danger of falling. On the fourth day I was walking with a cane, as a courtesy in order to keep the nurses and the physiotherapist quiet. My eyes were focussing normally and I could keep them both open at all times. My hands and feet were much better and I was feeling stronger. On the fifth day, in part on my insistence, I was discharged from hospital. I have never had to use the cane again and for the next three weeks while summer started early in May I gathered strength till I again was feeling normal again. The doctors and nurses, by the way, were all amazed at how rapidly I recovered.
Many were praying for me. And I was praying for myself and for others. I also believe that art played a not insignificant role in my recovery; also standing up to a bullying nurse who tried to abuse her power with me.
I am on two medications, to shrink the tumour on my pituitary and to get my thyroid working. So far so good. My prolactin level is also down. For those of you, by the way, who do not know what prolactin is it is the hormone that allows mothers to breastfeed. Six, or was it seven, times in hospital, doctors asked me if I ever lactate. I simply replied that I have never been in the Family Way. I forgot to add that keeping my sense of humour also aided in recovery.
Last week I was informed that my housing provider is raising my rent, by more than $100. Even though my rent is very low by Vancouver standards, since I live in subsidized housing, when you are on a low income a jump of almost $120 a month is nothing to sneeze at. I was extremely wroth with my managers and we had quite an unpleasant showdown made all the worse by their unwillingness to hear me out or express empathy. These people are evangelical Christians. They are also anti-gay and they know that I, a Christian, am completely in support of equal rights and equal marriage rights for LGBTQ people, and I think this is another reason they don't like me. That said, after three years of low-balling my rent it came out that BC Housing is auditing my housing provider so understandably they have to toe the line even if I have to suffer because of it. I have worked out a new budget and my hours of work are increasing now and I have no reason to doubt that I will be able to make another trip to Colombia this coming March.
I have no idea what the rest of this year holds for me. I dread nothing and I embrace the future that God has set at my feet.
No comments:
Post a Comment