robutacion
Member
I haven't updated this thread for some time as Merissa seemed to have a period where the treatment was doing something certainly not perfect but at least Merissa could get along her day fairly well but more recently (about 2 months ago) her RA specialist suggest that Merissa should try a new drug that seemed to be helping some folks, this medication is called Rinvoq or Upadacitinib tablet once daily.
About 4 weeks into the treatment Merissa started to feel unwell from headaches to loss of appetite, joint pains and shortage of breath, from there on an for the next 3 weeks she got worse particularly in her ability to do more than 2 steps and start gasping for air. Last week I request her/our GP
to give us a referral for her to be tested for corvid19 as some of her symptoms were identical to that virus, she was tested and the results come as negative which was good.
Merissa had an appointment to see her RH specialist on the 22/06 (last Monday) and this corvid test was done 6 days prior and while Merissa continue to have troubles in breathing, we decided that we would wait to see her specialist before I would take her to the hospital emergency. Well, at the appointment day she started coughing, nothing serious or continuous but we noticed that she was spitting up some small blood amounts, it happened that while in her consultation she brought some up just in front of the specialist, however, I had just mentioned that to the doctor and had a pic taken from one of the tissues she had used the day before, that was not what concerned him the most, was the shortage of breath that made him ring the hospital emergency (ER) and arrange for Merissa to be seen as soon as I would arrive with her.
The specialist appointment was at 2:00pm and by 3:15pm she was been admitted to the emergency.
In no time she had oxygen mask while I was explaining all I knew to the ER doctors. You can imagine the number of tests that were performed after she arrived, it was scary stuff but I stayed with her all the way through.
In general terms and to prevent me getting into a lot more detail and make this post a book size, Merissa was in the ER for 48 hours she then was moved to an isolated room for another 48 hours she then was moved into a ward with other 3 patients that meant that she was feeling better and was no need for isolation.
Today is Saturday 27/06 the 6th day in hospital and they are still not sure if the new drug has caused the problem or the long term Merissa has been given all these new drugs that most were a fail, they believe that Merissa had develop a lung infection that was the cause of her breathing problems, firstly they thought she had a clot in her lungs then a possible bleeding from somewhere in her lungs but that endup all being cleared up.
My conversation with one of her doctors at the hospital yesterday afternoon, I was told that Merissa was indeed suffering from a number of conditions that made her very ill when she was admitted, some of those condition could cause serious results so, they are tackling all those issues and until Merissa can breath on her own and show normal values, she will continue hospitalised, the "prediction" is that she should be able to come home next week, sometime.
She misses all her pets (2 cats one small dog) and off-course being home in her bed but for now, she is in the best place she could be due to the circumstances.
Let's all hope she comes home soon and in good health.
Cheers
George
About 4 weeks into the treatment Merissa started to feel unwell from headaches to loss of appetite, joint pains and shortage of breath, from there on an for the next 3 weeks she got worse particularly in her ability to do more than 2 steps and start gasping for air. Last week I request her/our GP
to give us a referral for her to be tested for corvid19 as some of her symptoms were identical to that virus, she was tested and the results come as negative which was good.
Merissa had an appointment to see her RH specialist on the 22/06 (last Monday) and this corvid test was done 6 days prior and while Merissa continue to have troubles in breathing, we decided that we would wait to see her specialist before I would take her to the hospital emergency. Well, at the appointment day she started coughing, nothing serious or continuous but we noticed that she was spitting up some small blood amounts, it happened that while in her consultation she brought some up just in front of the specialist, however, I had just mentioned that to the doctor and had a pic taken from one of the tissues she had used the day before, that was not what concerned him the most, was the shortage of breath that made him ring the hospital emergency (ER) and arrange for Merissa to be seen as soon as I would arrive with her.
The specialist appointment was at 2:00pm and by 3:15pm she was been admitted to the emergency.
In no time she had oxygen mask while I was explaining all I knew to the ER doctors. You can imagine the number of tests that were performed after she arrived, it was scary stuff but I stayed with her all the way through.
In general terms and to prevent me getting into a lot more detail and make this post a book size, Merissa was in the ER for 48 hours she then was moved to an isolated room for another 48 hours she then was moved into a ward with other 3 patients that meant that she was feeling better and was no need for isolation.
Today is Saturday 27/06 the 6th day in hospital and they are still not sure if the new drug has caused the problem or the long term Merissa has been given all these new drugs that most were a fail, they believe that Merissa had develop a lung infection that was the cause of her breathing problems, firstly they thought she had a clot in her lungs then a possible bleeding from somewhere in her lungs but that endup all being cleared up.
My conversation with one of her doctors at the hospital yesterday afternoon, I was told that Merissa was indeed suffering from a number of conditions that made her very ill when she was admitted, some of those condition could cause serious results so, they are tackling all those issues and until Merissa can breath on her own and show normal values, she will continue hospitalised, the "prediction" is that she should be able to come home next week, sometime.
She misses all her pets (2 cats one small dog) and off-course being home in her bed but for now, she is in the best place she could be due to the circumstances.
Let's all hope she comes home soon and in good health.
Cheers
George
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