The Silent Killer...... living with the disease.

Wow, so its been quite a while since I was on here. I actually had to play a bit of trial and error in order to remember my user name and password..... I used to have another blog, but in typical Michelle style, i forgot the username and password, and whilst trying to access this one, i found the other one.... go figure! i have to laugh at myself..... if i dont, know one else will.

So, some people know (perhaps most), but the reason i havent posted in so long is because i unfortunately got sick.... i have in actual fact, ummed and aaahhhed over whether or not i was going to post about this and originally decided i wasnt going to, but i have decided to go ahead and do it anyway and perhaps, its in a bid to create more awareness about the topic.

lets go back a few months:

12 August 2011: 
this date saw both my husband and myself making our way to my Mother In Law to stay the night.
We arrived and shortly after that, i said to Brian that i wasnt feeling to great, it felt as if i was having an allergic reaction to something.
2 allergex tablets later and a bad nights sleep, it was finally Saturday.

13 August 2011:
Very early that morning, around 6h30, i told hubby that i needed to get home in order to use the Nebulizer. 
so we left......

but i never made it home

(anything you read here on out, is factual, however i have no memory of this, all information is directly from my husband and hospital reports)

Brian rushed me to the Wilgers Hospital as i had already passed out in the car.
there i was treated with oxygen, but my condition worsened and i was then what is medically termed, intubated; where pipes were pushed down my throat in order to allow the machines to breathe for me.... also known as machanical ventilation.

During this time, my husband and the hospital picked up complications with my medical aid, and all my family could do, was watch how i was stabalized and transported by ambulance to another hospital.... Pretoria Academic, where i was treated in ICU for 6 days. (many hospitals i have been in, but none compare to the treatment i received in ICU at this hospital - i will blog about this another time)

I am told that i was in and out of conciousness for 4 days, but during this time, they were lessening the workload of the machines, in order to allow me to breathe on my own.  So on the Tuesday, they removed the pipes when the saw that i no longer needed the assistance of the machines.

My first memory is on Tuesday, time or even estimate is not known, but i remember my husband saying to me:  "hello my angel, do you know where you are?"  i was only able to shake my head and he proceeded to very briefly tell me that i had had an asthma attack on Saturday and that it was now Tuesday.

everything is very fuzzy, and according to the doctors, i will never regain my memory of that time.

i lost my voice due to damage on my vocal chords, but i was told the damage is not permanent, however, i dont sound exactly the same as i did, but close enough and i am thankful that i can still talk!

Recovery has taken a very long time and i am still going through it all. 

i wont go into the gory details of it all, as some of it is not very pleasant, and it took me 2 months to just accept what had happened.

All i want to say, is look after yourselves, what happened to me was awful and you very quickly discover the fine line between life and death, BUT, what my family had to go through was possibly even worse.
My Dad told Brian, "nothing you said to me about this situation could have prepared me for what i saw"  and Brian said my dad cried, to watch your daughter lying in a hospital bed unconcious with pipes everywhere, was just too much for him. 

This incident, put a huge strain on my life and especially on my marriage. I feel that what happened, was possibly supposed to make us stronger, but it didnt, it pushed us so far apart, we didnt know each other anymore.  i really thought it was the end of the road for us.

but God is good and HE can restore ANYTHING that has been destroyed and HE did.
my marriage is stronger than ever and i am happier now than i have ever been.

if you know of anyone that suffers from ASTHMA, dont shrug it off, its a horrible disease and it kills!

its now Friday and i am off to prepare myself for hospital next week!
specialist visits every month and medication everyday.

MuCh LoVe To YoU aLl

mIsH xXx