"my story"
in primary school, a few months into year 4 i think, mum took me to the doctor because i was bleeding alot, when i cleaned my teeth my gums would bleed for ages, and when a scab was scratched off it wouldn't stop bleeding -
(leukemia causes the number of white blood cells to rapidly increase and crowd the bone thus preventing normal production of red blood cells and platelets, the lack of red blood cells makes you more susceptible to disease/ it decreases your immune system, and the lack of platelets stops your blood from clotting properly to make it stop bleeding) - that sounded intelligent didnt it?:P
the doctor said not to worry about it too much. but it didn't stop, so mum took me to a different doctor. during school one day mum picked me up and took me straight to port hospital cause she got a call from the second doctor who had diagnosed me with leakemia. i stayed in port hospital that night and the next day i was flown to Sydney children's hospital and was taken straight to intensive care cause i coudlnt breath properly from the fluid on my lungs.
so i was hooked up to a breathing machine and had a gas mask on. when i was in intensive care i needed to have a complete blood transfusion, so basically there was one doctor taking out blood at the same rate as another doctor was injecting new blood.
also while i was in there i had a needle in my ankle that was connected to a drip, and because i had a low immune system my leg got infected and the skin started to die. but after ages of medication that fixed itself up.
the gas mask i wore apparently caused bleeding behind my eyes so i couldnt see. and we were told there was no operation that could fix it. so then i was enrolled in "The Blind Society" and was being prepared to learn braille. and then one day out of nowhere we were put in contact with an eye doctor who said he could fix me.
so he operated on both my eyes, each operation took longer than six hours because both times the same thing went wrong, they cut the something-or-other, so then they put these buckle things around my eyes that did something. both operations were ages apart, and after each one i had to keep my head down facing the floor for weeks straight, apparently it was supposed to keep a gas bubble in a certain spot in my eye while it healed, i had an incredibly sore back after sitting with my head down all day for weeks. and then even after those operations and a cataract removed i still need strong prescription contacts, but im used to them now.
the reason most other people with leukemia died is because to cure it you need to find somebody with exactly the same type of bone marrow as you, just like when you need blood, but bone marrow is alot more unique so its harder to find a match. but guess what!?!
Jayden and Danyon both matched my type, which is extremely rare.
so they got some of jaydens bone marrow (with a big needle in his spine).
and injected it into me through a drip over several hours.
(just realized how much happened!:P the rest is in point form.)
-i went bald from the leukemia
-my gall bladder died so i had to get that removed (probably my easiest and least painfull operation).
-i was so sick that i didnt eat and had to get fed through a tube.
-i had an allergic reaction to morphine, and got addicted the substitute painkiller which was in a drip with a button you push when you want it to inject you. and it felt so nice i used it all the time so i got addicted. and when they took it away i was like a drug addict who had gone too long without his drugs, i was shaking and couldnt control my muscles and everything hurt.
-i had an allergic reaction to some other medication that made me get incredibly high temperatures and made all my muscles shake, it lasted for several hours and then when i calmed down i was crying so much from the pain of my sore muscles.
-i got bed sores from lying in bed all day,
-i needed physiotherapy to get my legs strong enough to walk again from not getting out of bed for all that time. when i needed to go somewhere i went in a wheelchair.
-had lots of "Spinal Taps" (*cough* good movie *cough*:P) where they test your bone marrow by sucking it out of your spine with a massive needle. and the worst part is they didnt even put me to sleep, i was slightly sedated but aware what was happening, and i could feel the needle vibrating in my spine, (i know, its quite graphic)
thats all i can think of that happened when i was hospital for that nine months
apart from that
-got my tonsils removed
-had a tree fall on me
-i got third degree burns to 15% of my body when i was 2, and have some pretty good scars from it, from boiling hot water from the stove, that i cleverly pulled down on myself cause i wanted to know what was inside.
-the garage of our Sydney house got struck by lightning and caught on fire, the garage was completely burnt out but the flames didn't even touch the house even though it was attached.
-i was in a car accident where the car rolled off the side of the highway and flips several times into a big mud pit, cause it was raining, the car stopped rolling and landed upside down. mum was pregnant with Jayden at the time so she was taken to hospital, so dad and me slept overnight in some bus shelter.
-split my head open last year,and after i did it i wasn't even worried cause i knew God would let everything turn out well, and it did, i didnt even need stitches, the doc just "glued" it up! Click here for a gross pic of it! :P
so pretty much im a miracle made for God.
and im still alive only to serve him with my skills.
