Presently Walking Through My Healing Journey with Symptomatic Anemia
Lord, I don’t want to die. I believe in you, but I have so much left to do here…please HELP ME!
I am still walking through my healing journey. From April to November 2022, I was literally fighting for my life. I’ve been an urban educator for at least 19 years during this time and working with kids, you have to be prepared for anything when the seasons change. Living in the Midwest, the winds are just as finicky as the kids and in April, I was exposed to a student who had come down with the flu. The next day, I came into work and I knew that I had assuredly been hit with the flu bug. Physically, I kept crashing and I had never felt so achy, so exhausted…my eyes were barely staying open.
Initially, I thought I had a bad cold, and I was doing my best to take in as much Vitamin C by way of orange juice as possible, but after hearing my husband’s words, “I think you think it’s one thing when really, it’s something else…” (Raise your hand if you have loved ones who are unofficial doctors. They do try their best to look out for us.) Just like some juicy info that you can’t keep to yourself, my daughter had also gotten the flu from me. While she battled through the typical symptoms like a champ, I was experiencing a living hell I never want to experience in my life.
Coughing felt like my lungs were going to leave my chest. I was so, so weak. I could not stand alone longer than ten minutes without feeling like I would collapse. My son had to grocery shop for our Easter meal and my husband lovingly prepared dinner while keeping an eye on me. Ya’ll, the flu is no joke.
In all of my years of teaching, I never had the flu, so I did not know what to expect. As a follow-up, my daughter and I confirmed we had the flu by going to the doctor. My daughter’s young and vibrant immune system quickly bounced back, while I noticed lingering health concerns. After a few weeks, the flu was gone, but I was still coughing heavily and I was still weak.
My energy waned each day to the point I began ordering groceries online for pick-up orders because I was too weak to push the shopping cart. Coughing in the background of my daughter’s phone calls, I heard her assuring her friends that I did not have Covid as an excuse as to why I was coughing. Each cough felt as though my chest was going to explode. It took so much of my strength to cough let alone do anything else. Along with the coughing, I had serious heart palpitations and shortness of breath. You could touch my arm and literally feel my heartbeat.
I was baffled and tried to do my due diligence to find a solution. I went to my family doctor to get checked out. I asked them for a heart monitor to check my heart because I did not understand why I would have heart palpitations. The results from the heart monitor were positive for only what it checked for, which meant the strength of my heart was healthy and there was nothing else to conclude from the monitor. Furthermore, oral thrush was found and I felt like I was going to the doctor every week for a different remedy: from the nurse painting my tongue purple similar to what they do to babies to alleviate thrush to them giving me pills that were NOT effective at all and could harm my kidneys (which I refused to take anymore pills since they were ineffective). They finally referred me to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. The specialist was phenomenal and encouraged me to stop the irritation by not eating foods that would feed the thrush (no sugar, breads, or pastas) and to STOP taking Flonase (though my family doctor prescribed it). After six months, the thrush had finally calmed down and I had lost at least 35 pounds. If people had not seen me in a while, they were shocked. Some of my friends called me to ask if I was okay. Trying my best to stay positive, I would explain my flu-thrush battle because well, these were the facts and all I could do was keep on keepin’ on.
Fast forward from April to November. It was time for my yearly pap and all while I was living these past seven months with these odd health symptoms, I decided to share with my female gynecologist that I had been experiencing heavy periods during this year. Uterine fibroids must have been draining me, and after much reflection, I noticed a hormonal change in my body where my flow was much heavier after I turned 41 in 2021. My gynecologist is the ONLY doctor who suggested I get my iron checked and she had my blood drawn. This was on a Tuesday.
Wednesday morning, I received a phone call at work from the nurse who shared that my hemoglobin was at a 3.2. The normal range for women is 11-15. I could hear great concern in the nurse’s voice as she told me I had to leave work immediately to go to the ER for a blood transfusion. Trying to maintain my composure, I emailed my principal and other pertinent staff that I had to leave work. I had driven to work, so I texted my husband, explained the situation, and told him that I was on my way to come get him so he could take me to the hospital. Saying a quick prayer in the school parking lot, I went home to have my husband drive me.
All while this was happening, my husband had just gotten Covid, so he was masked up feeling chills but ready to go. It felt like a Nascar ride to the hospital. I knew my cool, calm, and collected husband was concerned and trying his best to keep our conversation lighthearted. Arriving at the ER, I informed the nurse that this was my first time coming to the ER aside from having a baby, and the female nurse said “Welcome.” The staff checked my hemoglobin level again to confirm my level. Almost immediately, I was taken back, and told that I was going to have to stay overnight in order to receive the blood transfusion in a timely manner. The ER doctor was astonished to see me and asked how I entered the hospital as well as how I was getting around living. I explained to him that I walked slowly into the hospital, and that I shopped a little slower.
Listen: it is nothing but the grace of God who kept me then and who is keeping me now. In November 2022, I received 7 bags of blood. I am most grateful for the donors because I never thought I would need someone else’s blood to live. Remember all of the coughing, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and extreme fatigue? Well, after my third bag of blood was given to me, all of these symptoms went away. Let me say it again: THEY WENT AWAY. The power of the blood! Almost immediately, my strength and appetite returned, and color to my lips returned as well. With my skin tone being a lighter shade, I really did not notice if it had gotten lighter, but once more blood was in me, my skin darkened more as well.
Symptomatic anemia was the cause of the symptoms I had–even the flu! My immune system was trying to tell me that something was wrong and I was trying my best to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Present day, I check my hemoglobin levels often and am exploring holistic ways to remove the fibroids. I am still fighting on my health journey and learning much along the way especially in terms of how my body absorbs iron. I believe I experienced all that I did so that I can share my story with other women to pay attention to your body, any peculiar symptoms, and never be afraid to advocate for yourself.
