Summer Storm

Before I begin this week’s blog post, I want to thank those of you who responded to the launching of this site. It’s a huge encouragement to me that people actually want to hear what I have to say and eagerly anticipate my next post. So, without further ado, here it is…

This summer has been a difficult one for me in the realm of health. Those of you who see me regularly have noticed that I lost a substantial amount of weight recently. This wasn’t intentional. Throughout the summer, I’ve found it more and more difficult to swallow food and almost completely lost interest in eating. On top of that, I started having some difficulty breathing. Just prior to contracting pneumonia, I received two new breathing devices that my pulmonologist prescribed: a BIPAP machine to increase airflow and decrease carbon dioxide buildup at night, and a Cough Assist machine to help keep my lungs clear. These would prove invaluable in my later recovery from pneumonia.

In early August, I caught a cold, which very quickly progressed to pneumonia. While pneumonia is rarely life threatening for normal, healthy adults, for someone with decreased lung function like me it can be deadly. It’s one of the leading causes of death for men with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. With that in the back of our minds, my doctor put me on antibiotics right away and we continued to monitor my condition. On the next day, Wednesday, August 12, I felt like I could barely swallow anything and, after a quick consultation with my doctor, decided to go to the ER for an endoscopy. Going in to the ER, my dad and I thought the doctors would quickly perform the endoscopy and fix whatever was wrong, then I would be back home for the night. Obviously, we were wrong.

After three to four hours of waiting, they finally admitted me to the hospital. The doctors and nurses determined that I was too sick with pneumonia to safely undergo an endoscopy. They decided to pump me full of IV antibiotics and fluids overnight and see if my health improved enough in the morning to make the endoscopy feasible. The next day my vital signs and blood chemistry began improving and the doctors decided it was safe for me to undergo the procedure. Everything went smoothly and my gastroenterologist didn’t find anything blocking my esophagus, but did see some inflammation in my stomach. After another night in the hospital for more IV antibiotics, I was released on Friday the 14th.

Fast-forward to today and my health is continuing to improve. I can finally eat again like I used to thanks to a couple medications that are helping my stomach heal. As phlegm continues to clear from my lungs and the breathing machines do their job, I’m finding that I feel short of breath less frequently too. Basically, I’m almost completely back to my version of full health.

Those are the facts, but there’s so much more I could share with you. There were so many people who made my hospital experience better and so much uncertainty about whether we were making the right decisions and if I would even survive. Looking back on it now, it’s so easy to see God’s hand directing it all. But, in the moment, all I could do was rest in Him and trust that, whatever happened, He would be there with me.

Your Invaluable Invalid,

Adam