Medical adventures

I was one of those children who was hardly ever ill. I hardly missed a day of school throughout my whole childhood and teenage years, so I remember it was a real shock to my system when, just before I turned thirty, a bad bout of whooping cough and pleurisy damaged my lungs, making me susceptible to bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia. The first years were fraught with bad infections that dragged on for six or seven weeks at a time, then it seemed to settle down: I learned how to live with it and how to "catch it in time," by taking an antibiotic before the infection sank too deep into my lungs. I was often able to go a full year without any infections, and when one did strike I was able to overcome it in just a week or ten days. Although slightly aware of my breathing limitations, I can honestly say that I've led a full life and have not been too aware of the illness preventing me from doing the things that I felt God calling me to do.

There seems to have been a change again in the past two or three years. I don't know if planes and airports now crank the air conditioning up higher than they did in the past, but I've been beginning to find that every trip represents a risk. Half a dozen times over the past three years, I've arrived home after a flight and come down with a bad lung infection - either bronchitis or pneumonia - that dragged on for several weeks. As someone whose missionary activities involve travelling to other parts of the world for outreaches or for speaking in training courses, this presents me with a real dilemma. I want to be obedient to God, but I find myself weighing up every speaking invitation because I know the price I might pay for it afterwards - partly in terms of my lungs, and partly because of the post-travel pain and stiffness from my arthritis.

My recent trip to Hawaii is an example of this challenge. Although I think the bronchitis I got there was caused by cold wind and not by air conditioning, I again find myself with a bad bout of pneumonia that stubbornly refuses to shift. After my middle-of-the-night emergency last weekend (see post for 27th March) I saw the doctor again on Monday and was prescribed a strong antibiotic because my lungs were still badly congested and I was having difficulty breathing.

After a couple of days, I noticed something very strange: even though I had been lying in bed all week (trying not to move, as any movement triggered a coughing spasm) I began to feel a sharp pain in my lower back, almost like when you pull a muscle doing sport. Then I noticed the same sort of discomfort at the top of my thighs and further down in my calves. Perhaps it was the Lord who made me suspect the strong antibiotics were behind it; I dug out that long complicated paper that always comes in the box and, sure enough, read that muscle damage and ruptured tendons could be one of the side effects "in rare cases." A little bit of googling on the internet revealed that there are class action suits (court cases) pending in the U.S. on behalf of more than three thousand people who claim that levofloxacin caused them to rupture their Achilles tendon and be incapacitated for months!

I was horrified and made an emergency appointment to see the doctor again that same day. My neighbour took me to the clinic and stayed with me, as I was feeling kind of weak and still coughing badly. Anyway, the end of the story is that they've changed me to a different antibiotic that I've to take for the next ten days. They hope the muscle stiffness will quickly go away, as I had only been taking the other pills for a couple of days. At the time of writing, I still feel stiffness in my back and in my calves. It's not excruciating, or anything like that, but I would certainly value your prayers that it will clear up quickly and not be the cause of any longer-term muscle weakness. (I already experience some stiffness and soft tissue pain from arthritis/fibromyalgia; perhaps that's what made me more susceptible to this side effect from the drug.)

In the meantime, the pneumonia is still a challenge: the coughing is exhausting and I can sense a "crackle" in my breathing. It's a little like I remember from my first lung illnesses in the early 1990s. My neighbours are checking up on me daily and bringing me food. I also have babysitters (furry ones) who watch over me when I'm lying in bed.  But I'd really value your prayers that this will clear up quickly and that I'll soon be back to health again.  Should you feel prompted to, I'd also value your prayers for wisdom in my travel decisions and for protection on my lungs whenever I need to travel for outreach or other ministry. Thank you and God bless you!