My name is Kathy Abbott & I am 29 years old mother of 3 beautiful children wife to my amazing husband, At the age of 5 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabeties. My family & I managed my condition as best we could but when I was 8 it was found my diabeties had triggered epilepsy as well.. Thankfully as I grew, my medication & hormones changed I grew out of my epilepsy at around 13 years of age all the while since my diginoses n for the rest of my life it was a constant shuffle of doctors, specialist appointments, highs & lows ( especially in regards with my sugar levels) & learning the signs & triggers of hyper & hypo glycemic episodes (fits) which can lead to memory loss at one end of the scale & coma/ death at the other hospitalisation everytime...Because of the desease no part of my life was ever normal, my mother was so concerned bsl/ health the she was worried about me participating in sports or have sleep overs at friends, I remember going to birthday partys & watching all the other kids eat lollies & race around like kids should but I was just a bystander. In my mid teens when my ability or inability to have children was discussed. I was told that it would be extreamly hard for me to have or conceive children as it could lead to complications with my bsls which could lead to miscarriage due to sparatic sugar levels( uncontrolled). When I was 19 I met chris my now husband.. Never had I known anybody who was so intent of knowing as much as possible about my condition. While his work mates would take their playboy magazines to read on their lunch break, chris would read up on medical books, leaflets & anything he could source to help me manage my illness. His support understanding & desire to get me as healthy as possible & keep me there is what enabled me to conceive our first baby at the age of 21. We were in such disbelief we did serveral tests n even when the doctors confirmed it, it was hard to believe. Sadly due to my unstable sugar levels I miscarriages in the first trimester. I cant put Into words how that felt. I felt like such a failure wed done our very best, but our very best brought us heartache like we never known. Through all the appointments, test, scripts happiness & sadness Chris was my rock he was just.. There.. Always I always kind of waited for him to just get tired of it & leave but he didnt When we married in 2006, I didnt know I was pregnant I found out just before another loss after the 3rd miscarriage, the emotional pain had taken its tole & I couldnt handle anymore disappointment & sadness. I decided the doctors were right it was going to be hard to have children & that was it I was done. In the next couple of months a specialist in mackay dr heart prescribed me a new & better insulin & insulin resume he also took one look at me referred me to an opthamoligist ( a specialist in diabetic eye care) & they correctly diagnosed me with diabetic retnophaphy, the degeneration of my eye sight. The procedure to correct this would prove to be both painful & costly. We did serveral trips from mackay to to Brisbane for laser eye surgery, a retrectimy, & months of care drops pain while all this was going on I realised I was pregnant again. I didnt allow myself to become to excited this time though as I was certain it end the same way as before. Throughout these months of eye surgery I was completely reliant on chris to get me to doctors appointments etc as I could not drive cook even getting around the house I had to helped everywhere & with everything I did & chris was just.. There.. Still.. After 4 months I started to believe that maybe since the new subscribed insulin was keeping my sugar levels in check that this pregnancy was going to last. We finally had made it this far. We decided to move back to Dalby to be closer to family & the medical treatment i was receiving in Brisbane. In October at 28 weeks through my pregnancy my health started to waiver My blood pressure was through the roof. My blood pressure alone should have killed me As I recall it was 240/160. The staff at toowoomba hospital tried for 2 days to stabilise my then diginoses pre eclampsia to find they were unsuccessful they arranged for my transfer to the mater hospital in Brisbane where they informed me upon arrival & observation that at only 28 weeks & 5 days gestation was to be born via emergency c cection. I was terrified.. How could he make it, how could he possibly survive? When Noah was born he wasnt breathing an was immediately rushed to the special care unit & attached to various machines that would give him his only chance of survival. I was then taken to the intensive care unit & I was stabilised there I stayed for 2 weeks with only a photograph untill I was well enough to be wheeled down to finally meet my tiny baby boy. I look back on that day an I am overwhelmed, I was so elated but because of my eye surgerys I could barely see him, but it didnt matter, because he was there.. Fighting.. All 1240 grams of him. Over the next 3 months! Noah stayed in the special care unit & day by day he got stronger while chris & I learned how to care for our very premie baby who still reled on oxygen & nasal tube for feeding. Christmas that year I got wonderful gift, we brought our miracle home. Though he still required oxygen & aiding chronic lung desease he was home.. with us.. Noah remained on oxygen for the first 7 months of his home life untill his lungs were strong enough. That also ment that chris & I didnt have to carry around the extra weight of the oxygen tanks everywhere we went. Our tiny little boy had beaten the odds! As he grew with all the doctors, pediatrition physio, sleep studys appointments he had along the way Noah was diagnosed with diplegic cerebral palsy. We attended monthly appointments to help aid in Noahs ability to crawl/ walk ( mobility skills) Shortly after Noahs first birthday we recieved one hell of a shock we were expecting...TWINS!! I was already high risk due to my own health, high risk from previous complications during pregnancy & birth, now I was carrying twins, doubling the load on my body, but all these things considered my pregnancy & health Was stable untill at 24 weeks. I was again diagnosed with pre eclampsia & was admitted to the Brisbane mater hospital where they are equipped to handle premature twins if i went into early labour. Chris Noah & I stayed at the Ronald McDonald house untill at 31weeks I went into labour, unable to stop the labour another emergency c cection was performed. During the surgery I lost over 2ltres of blood I flatlined, was resuscitated, & required a blood transfusion. But in between all this, I actually got to hold one of my new born twins, phoebie. An experience I had missed 2 out of 3 times I recovered in the intensive care unit & my twin baby girls were In Good health. However during my pregnancy with the twins my kidney function had started to deteriorate. I handled life ok for the first few months but eventually diabeties, high blood pressure, new born Twins a child with cerebral palsy & waining kidney fiction got to much & I needed help. Chris was there.. Still.. Again.. He stopped working & stated home to help with the family & my health. Months later a career opportunity arose for chris back near mackay we packed up & headed north. We settled into our new home and new life in mackay. Chris was doing well in his job, the only down fall was while chris was working 3.5 hours away for ten days at a time, I was left without a vehicle with 3 children under 3, managing Noahs CP, teething & very active twins and my own health issues as well. I struggled for a year and it was then we decided that a move to Moranbah would make things a lot easier as we would be living cheaper and much closer to where chris worked, so that he was able to come home everyday and also be there much sooner if I needed him urgently, as Id been having dizzy spells from diminishing iron levels. Follow up Tests were done and I was to see a renal specialist. More test showed that my kidney function was down to 17%. During the appointment, when I was given this news, as the doctor was speaking, it was like what you see in the movies. Everything went quiet. I could see the doctor.speaking, the kids playing on the floor of the office, chris looking at me and holding me tightly but there was no sound. Just raw fear and uncertainty. Millions of questions thoughts fears And I remember being so so scared. I was imformed that while my kidney function would continue to drop, I would have to wait til it dropped to 10% before I would start dyalisis. By the time it got that low I was bedridden. Starting dyalisis was then delayed until I was at 6% kidney function unable to function properly when I had my first procedure for Hemo dialysis which involves having a catheter inserted into my neck, across my lungs and sitting on my heart, to clean and filter my blood and remove excess fluid. The next day I had to go under anesthetic and have the peritoniel dialysis catheter operation. what was meant to be a day procedure ended up being a week in hospital as I had a bleeding complication that lasted For two and a half days i bled out. They tried applying (excruciating!) pressure to stem the blood flow, otherwise another operation wouldve been necessary. I was so anaemic that I had to have an iron inusion before going home. PD was my prefered method of treatment for my renal failure. But the catheter had to be in place for 6wks before it could be used. meanwhile it was necessary for me to endure hemo as the home renal unit in mackay wasnt opening until after the new year, and I was so ill that I couldnt go without treatment anylonger. The hemo ment that chris and I had to drive into mackay, which took 3hours, the dialysis itself took 5-6 hours and the 3hour drive home again. It usually took 9-11 hours. Every two days. For 3 months. on top of everything else, the sheer expense was crippling. I also had a reaction to the hemo where while my blood was being filtered by the machine, my blood pressure would sky rocket, resulting in a migraine like bp headache. Then once the dialysis was done and I emptied my bladder my blood pressure would return to normal. nothing could be done about it as it was just an individual rection my body had to the tretment. then came the start of the week long training, for managing my own pd. This was done in mackay. we drove the kids up to townsville where family were meeting us to take them to cairns to stay with them while chris and I learned everthing about doing pd at home. 2 weeks into my home pd, I recieved a call from my transplant co-ordinator/surgeon at the westmead hospital in sydney. They wanted to see me to discuss with me and assess me to determine the possibility of dual kidney and pancreas transplant. I had been working towards this appointment for the past couple of months. Many bloodtests, scans, x-rays, and reports from all my specialists were needed to prove that I was a good candidate for transplant surgery. For a long time id been drawing strength from the prosect of this appointment, but in the days leading up to this, a dear friend of mine, who also suffered from type 1 diabetes had slipped into a coma for the last time after a long and difficult battle. He was the only person who I could talk to and know that he truly understood what I was going through as he had dealt and suffered through it all already. When he passed I felt guilty as I was going through the motions of possibly going on transplant list that couldve saved his life... I felt so torn because on one hand, I wanted to go and show my respects, but I also felt that the best way to honour him was to attend this appointment. To have a chance at a normal life. Im sure thats what he wouldve wanted. I met with one of the surgeons and finalised all the paper work. Dotted the is and crossed the ts. They checked me inside and out and decided that I was a suitable candidate for the trasplant. Words cannot express how that felt. I was on the active transplant list! It was a mixture of excitement, fear, and hope. Hope for a brighter healthy normal future for me and my family. Everything was going well for the.next three months. I had renal specialist appts and endocrynologist appointments that all went well. We decided to treat ourselves and the kids, after everything wed been through, to a holiday to cairns. It was wonderful! But the night before we were due to head home I woke in the night with pains in my chest, and was having trouble breathing. I dealt with it all night , thinking it was a bad case of heartburn, but by morning, it was unbearable and an ambulance was called. My blood pressure was something like 240/160. A whirlwind of scans blood test followed. My enzyme levels were checked and showed the presence of treponin which meant I had in fact suffered and survived a heart attack. They watched my levels for a few days, sent me for a cardiogram. Then an angiogram. They attempted the first angiogram in my wrist, but all my veins were too flimsy and it was unsuccsessful. they had to try again through my groin. They found a narrowing of my circumflex. That is when they told me I would have to have a stint put in my heart and I would be removed from the active transplant list. Initially it would be for twelve months but after speaking with my transplant team in sydney, and adjusting my medication, they changed it to six months off the list while I was taking the medication following the stint operation, and a stress test would then determine wheather I would then go back on the active transplant list. My glimmer of hope was gone. I was devestated at being removed from the waiting list. And a couple of weeks later I had to be flown out of moranbah to mackay to be diagnosed with and treated for pericarditis (fluid around the heart) which involved a week long stay in hospital. And like always, Chris was there. Like hed always has been. He and the kids spent hours driving back and forth to the hospital to be with me. In the following weeks I had an angina attack, followed soon after by the sad loss of my paternal grandmother which was a whole other kind of pain. On returning home from the funeral down south I was then diagnosed with an extreme case of pneumonia, a collapsed lung, and a remarkable amount of fluid in the sack surrounding the collapsed lung. Also to make it all worse, I had a reaction to the pain medication which made unable to keep down any food or even water. the nausea was so terrible, I couldnt even stomach smells or movement. I lost 8 kilograms in under a week. The opiate medication they then put me on virtually put me in a vegatative state, and the nausea remained. my only option was to go without pain relief and just deal with the pain. Firstly they did a plural tap to test the fluid in my lungs To remove the fluid from my lung a tube had to be inserted through my back and allowed to drain out. This process took 2 days. Followed by x-rays ct scans MRIs to make sure the lung had recovered sufficiently and that no more fluid accumulated. from when I had gone into hospital with back pain to when I was discharged was 11 days. I was so happy to go home. While a bad cough remained, I eased back into normal routine and was feeling okay for the first time in a while, but after 2 weeks I felt the familiar swooshing sensation in my chest and knew id have to return to hospital... Again...
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 09:27:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015