Hospital Stay

Today is Saturday, June 10, 2023. I can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks since I was admitted at Amiri Hospital. Time had a different dimension at the hospital for me. Especially with the high doses of steroids that I was on, my sleep was extremely disturbed, if I was even able to get any sleep at all. I averaged 4 hours of very interrupted sleep almost each night. So to say that I need to catch up on my sleep is an understatement. Hopefully the rest and sleep will come with time. I also lost count of how many times the nurses had to keep changing the place of my cannula on my hand and arms for my IV infusions due to the swelling and bruising it would cause. Was it every 2 days that they were changing it, or every 3? Who knows. They also had to ‘prick’ me to draw blood daily for my doctors to check my levels that at one point I couldn’t recognize my own arms and what they’d turned into. Bruised everywhere, with swollen veins here and there, and soreness all over. If I’m sounding ungrateful for finally being treated, trust me that’s not the intent. In fact, I want to state the opposite. It’s the things I just mentioned, along with all the other treatments, tests, scans, sonars, x-rays, you name it, that all worked slowly towards helping me move medically and clinically in the right direction and I’m super thankful for that.

Speaking of being thankful…I don’t think there’s a single person at Amiri Hospital that I’m not grateful for. From the porters, cleaning staff, nurses, technicians to all the doctors that oversaw me, I’m grateful to them all. If it wasn’t for the amazing team that took care of me during my time there, I don’t believe I would have survived my stay the way I did. I was overseen by 6 different departments – Rheumatology for my condition itself, Speech Language Pathology for my initial swallowing problem, Physical Therapy to rehabilitate my weakened/weakening muscles, Nutrition to put me on the correct diet to reduce my inflammation and increase protien consumption for my muscles, Occupational Therapy to help me with the arthritis that developed in the joints of my hands and feet and Psychiatry, which was requested by me, to help with my mental well being. Words cannot begin to describe how remarkable each doctor was. Whether I was approached individually by one of them or collectively as a team, the doctors would go above and beyond in their explaining, responding, engaging, and even consoling. They all get an A+ from me!

My morning weekdays were extremely busy in the hospital. I would have already been awake from 3:00 or 4:00 am. The nurses come to draw blood around 5:30, then I have my breakfast, get dressed and be ready to start my rounds with the departments. The rheumatology team would come see me daily with their updates on my blood tests, conduct their physical examinations of my muscle strength, and then brief me on any modifications to my medications. The SLP team would also come daily to check on my swallowing condition, help me with my swallowing exercises and update me on my progress. My physical therapist saw me daily as well to help with both my cardiac and physical rehabilitation. During my first week at the hospital our sessions were done in my room with certain exercises targeted to address my general weakness and fatigue. By week two we started going down to the hospital’s rehabilitation gym on the ground floor to use the equipment and machines. The nutritionists came in a few times during my hospital stay to discuss my dietary requirements which was pretty much to be on an anti-inflammatory diet. By week two they started me on a daily protein powder to help build my muscles and repair my tissues. I will continue taking this for a while longer. The occupational therapist came in once to give me all the required exercises I needed to work on to help with my joint pain. The worst pain I was feeling was in my hands and wrists, and it really affected daily activities that required fine motor skills. The psychiatry department visited me a few times throughout my stay, and the first day they came just happened to be the worst emotional day at the hospital for me at that point. There were of course many other highly emotional and mentally exhausting days for me where I had turn away the doctors from the various departments because I was too overwhelmed and drained. The rheumatologists were the only ones I couldn’t turn away as I needed to hear my daily updates from them. But it was this collective team of doctors, whether they saw me daily or sporadically, that helped me slowly, slowly, slowly get better, better and better. There is, however, one unfortunate development which is muscle weakening in my lower body, specifically my thigh muscles. The doctors said this is normal given my condition and the amount of steroids I’ve been on adds to this weakening. Hopefully, with my continued physically therapy, I will be able to rebuild and strengthen my muscles day by day. 

As we’re still waiting to see the full effect of the IVIG treatment I underwent two weeks ago, we’re safe to say that I’m medically and clinically doing better than I was the day I was admitted. So, on Thursday, June 8, 2023 after 26 nights in Amiri Hospital, I was finally discharged. No words can describe the joy I felt entering my home again and seeing the smiles on my children’s faces. 

اللهم ما أصبح بي من نعمة أو بأحد من خلقك، فمنك وحدك لا شريك لك، فلك الحمد ولك الشكر.

الف الحمد لله على كل حال.