>Last month, my 48-year old Aunt complained of malaise and series of coughing on a Friday. She was brought to the Emergency Room for prescriptions but when the lab results came back she needed to be confined due to Pneumonia. She was then given high doses of antibiotics as it was harder for her to breathe each minute. Come Sunday, she was getting worse and it was apparent that her lungs were congested. It’s also clear that the antibiotics aren’t working despite their doses. Monday, she was brought to the Intensive Care Unit because she went into coma. From then on, series of exams were made to determine what was causing all the sudden depression. Her body emaciated overtime and for a while her 9 doctors were baffled and didn’t know where, what and how to strike. After 3 weeks, it was said she has Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis. Turns out her Pneumonia was viral and the infection went to her spinal cord and up to her brain. She’s now completely emaciated, she’s awake but she’s unresponsive (my cousins refer to it as baby stares), and just today she needed to go to the Operation Room again because her last operation didn’t heal causing it to eviscerate. She is too malnourished that her wound won’t heal anymore.
My Aunts and Uncles are doing everything to keep her alive and are keeping their hopes high that one day she’ll walk out of the hospital.
This ordeal has been crucial for the family not only because it progressed quickly but also because we just lost another Aunt last year. My cousins are still young too and one even declared suicide IF her Mom dies. That cousin is receiving guidance from a Psychologist.
I hope my Aunt recovers soon. I’m confident that my family will be strong through all this and come what may. We’ve all been very strong over the years and this will make us even stronger. 🙂
