Lupus Wants A Piece Of Me

These past 2 weeks have been hard for me. I received a call from my rheumatologist about 3 weeks back. He warned me to be careful. My white blood cell count was dangerously low and he was concerned. He asked how I was feeling and of course I said I was fine. I didn’t feel anything. But I began to take care of myself. I avoided coughs and sneezes from people. And I tried to stay away from germs. I washed my daughter’s hand often. But nothing could have prepared me for the massive attack of… tun tun tun…a mosquito.

A mosquito bit me on my leg as they usually do here in Florida. That’s just what happens ’round these here parts. Somehow the bite got infected and it turned into a growing ball of pain. About 8 days in when I saw no relief in sight, I went to the emergency room. By this time, I was having a really hard time walking because it was painful. The mosquito bite was now the size of a grapefruit. It was hot, red, and very hard. I kept hoping that my immune system would start fighting. But the blood tests warned me, the fighting was not going to start anytime soon. In the hospital, they drained it and it looked horrendous (I will spare you the pictures or gory details.) If you like those pus-popping videos on Youtube, you would have loved this. It hurt as they worked on it and I almost passed out from the blood.

The Lupus acts up when your immune system wants to fight an infection. It’s like a little kid waiting for mom to leave so he can be mischievous.  As soon as the immune system gets up to fight, Lupus comes in and starts attacking. My joints were in pain. I felt inflammation in my chest and back. And boy was I exhausted.

Unfortunately all this happened just as we had taken in another foster baby. The baby is a newborn so it required me to be alert and able. This dang mosquito changed all that. I wanted to lie on the couch and didn’t even want to eat. Once I started eating healthy again I began to heal. It’s been 2 weeks now and my leg is feeling better. My wound is closing. My joints are hurting but I am not as tired. Lupus is no joke. No one would know I don’t feel good but inside there is a giant mess of blegh.

I am just an ordinary girl with ordinary problems. Only through God’s strength I am made extraordinary. I have good days and bad. But thankfully I am able to get out of the bad days quickly. This was one of the roughest patches I’ve had in about a year. When you have lupus that is a long time. We just keep fighting.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 NIV