Miracles in Review

It’s hard to believe 2009 is coming to a close.  I think back on all the small miracles I’ve witnessed this year – many I could not record here.  Earlier this week, I ran into my patient who became the inspiration for this site (see About).  Unfortunately her hand infection had returned, but this time she knew what she needed to do.  After several days of good treatment, the infection disappeared.  I reminded her of how important it was to take care of oneself, including proper diet, restful sleep and reducing stress levels.  Of course, these are not always easy to do, but she recognized what contributed to her relapse.

Then, I heard from my patient Rose, AIDS survivor, who called me from Florida to wish me a Merry Christmas.  She is on an amazing HIV medication, Isentress, which has helped raise her CD4 count to over 1,000!  It was just fantastic to think how well she is doing, after coming so close to passing away.  It was great Christmas news!

I believe hope is vitally important.  While making rounds in the hospital this week, I did my best to encourage a patient who had a complicated abdominal surgery.  Because her pain level was high and she was feeling miserable, her condition wasn’t improving, even though she was on the right medicines.  I spent time with her, made sure her pain was controlled, and encouraged her to fight through.  Now, several days later, she’s doing really well and should be going home in the next few days.

Today I just received a ‘Happy New Year’ greeting from Dr. Camino, my first rabies mentor.  It was a pleasant reminder about the work we need to do for the rabies patients in the Philippines.  I’m looking forward to increasing our  educational efforts there to try and help.  There is so much to do!

All the best for the New Year!

RW

The story of Rose, AIDS survivor

I just had lunch the other day with ‘Rose’, one of my AIDS patients.  It was the greatest thing, to see her – just like a ‘normal’ person. 

Who would believe that just last year, Rose nearly died from a terrible opportunistic infection called ‘Cryptococcus’. 

When Rose came into the hospital, she was thin, wasted and very weak.  She had been having fevers for sometime.  AIDS had been ravaging her immune system and without those defenses, she was extremely susceptible to infection.  Certain types of infections tend to occur in advanced AIDS, and she was now fighting a battle with Cryptococcus neoformans, a nasty fungus.  By the time she came in, this fungus was ‘everywhere’ – it was growing out of her blood. 

We put her on the most powerful medicine we could – amphotericin, or ‘ampho-terrible’.  It was a difficult medicine to take, especially for someone so sick.  Her blood levels dropped to less than half of what they should have been, her electrolytes were profoundly deranged , she felt weak and feverish.  There weren’t any options though – we had no choice but to try and treat her, or face certain death.