Who Do You Think You Are?

by

Monica10

It’s late.
My family is asleep, and I am awake.
Nights are the longest.
Nights are the hardest.
There is no one left to convince I am okay.
There is no one waiting for me to say the right and true thing.
There is no one needing me to shine a light on their own version of this difficult life.
I am alone.

I began a new round of plasmapheresis treatments last Tuesday. After Monday’s brutal attempts to get IV access before my catheter placement I was already beaten up. A large hematoma began to form where the doctor, through ultrasound, finally found a vein in the upper part of my right arm. This along with the pain and invasive nature of the plastic tube stuck from my jugular into my heart’s main artery had shaken me. I felt like the first three treatments went as well as expected. I had the usual exhaustion, headaches and nausea, and by Easter Sunday I was wiped out. I knew something wasn’t right beyond the treatment side effects. Dan took the girls to church and to my parent’s for dinner and egg hunting. I stayed in bed. My headache was gaining momentum. When I woke Monday morning I knew I was in trouble. I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow.

Dan drove to the emergency room Monday evening at 5:30 pm.
He dropped me off at the door in the pouring rain.
I was alone.

It seems strange every time I tell it like this, but it is not for us. Dan makes sure the kids are okay. I take care of myself. Something about my demeanor made the ER staff take me back quickly even though many were waiting. The pain was so severe I couldn’t lift my head from my hands. My right eye was twitching. Stinging tears were running down my face. I keep a typed medical history with me and a list of current medication. If I’m too sick to tell my story I hope they can piece it together somehow. If nothing else the long list of operations and insane list of pharmaceuticals give me some credibility. In emergency rooms this is gold. It’s been almost a year since I resorted to going there. I hate the process and the place that much. I will only go if my pain is a 10.5 on a scale from 1-10. I live at a 4 or 5. Every single day I hurt. This was so much worse. This was scary worse.

As I laid on the hard stretcher with no pillow, I waited and tried to pray, but mostly I listened to the stories happening around me. In the holding bay next to me a woman was wailing. She wasn’t in physical pain. She wanted to die. The security guard and nurse kept probing about how many pills she had taken and whether she had any alcohol with them. Did she hear voices? Was she on her way to the crisis center? She was in tortuous pain of a completely different kind. My heart was breaking. I had been that woman before. I could hear the complete loss of identity in her voice. They kept asking the same questions. “What’s your name? Who are you? Where do you live? Who can we contact who cares?”

The doctor decided I needed a lumbar puncture to test my cerebral spinal fluid, CSF, for meningitis. After two attempts to take blood and two IV tries I became filled with anxiety. I had been given 1mg of Dilaudid for pain. If you know anything about me or how EDS affects my body’s processing of medication you know this amount of medicine is nearly placebo. I asked for Toradol. I explained this non narcotic worked the best with this kind of headache. They seemed thrown by someone not wanting to get doped up in the ER. They did not want to give me anything with blood thinning properties before an LP. Because I had this small dose of meds they asked I call someone to drive over in the middle of the night and sign a consent. This has never happened before in my long medical life. My dear parents, just back from Spain and tired to the core, answered my call and came quickly to sign the paper. I was taken down to the empty radiology floor and put face down on the freezing cold table. The same doctor who placed my cath was called out of bed to do my LP. It had to be under fluoroscopy because of the unstable nature of my spine and the brain shunt tubing there. A long needle was placed deep into my back and pulled tubes of fluid from my spine. I couldn’t stop my tears. “How long, oh God?”

Around 2 am I was taken up to the fourth floor to be admitted. I was utterly exhausted and had no real relief from my head pain. Now I was now suffering from all the needles in my arms and back. Then the process began again. My new nurse came into my room, flipped on the overhead lights and asked me the same litany of questions I just answered hours before. I kept thinking of the woman downstairs. “What’s your name? Who are you? Where do you live? Who can we contact who cares?”

One of the overwhelming feelings I get every time I’m admitted is the helplessness and bizarre anonymity that comes with stripping off all your clothes and jewelry and anything that identifies you to put on a hospital gown. You are now just a chart on a computer screen, a case to be discussed, a room whose call bell they hope won’t be rung too often. Even with the best nurses and doctors there is a very real sense of no one knowing you. The longer you are there the feeling of being institutionalized grows. Your legs get hairy. Your hair gets greasy. Your hospital issue footies get filthy as you get out of bed over and over again to unplug your IV pump and drag it into the bathroom to pee which you have to do at least every hour because of the bags of fluid they are giving you. For me this is all compounded by the frustration of being stuck over and over again because my veins are so weak and damaged they will barely give labs and my IVs will hold for only hours. I questioned why they couldn’t use this beautiful access in my chest for blood draws and meds and fluids. Oh no, that port belongs to dialysis. We cannot touch it. Okay, but it is my port, and you are repeatedly hurting me. At this point my arms looked like I was the worst skilled IV drug user ever. They were covered in tracks and bruises. A new IV team finally found a vein in the top of my shoulder that was a virgin and held. I asked for Tylenol. We can give you more Dilaudid they said. It took four hours to get an order for Tylenol from the doctor and the pharmacy to send some to me.

By Tuesday morning I wasn’t any better, but I began to feel frantic and caged. At least once every hour I fantasized about ripping my IV out and escaping. Why in the world did I come here where no one knows who I am? I’m Monica Kaye. I am the wife of a prince. I am a mother to two beautiful daughters. I am chronically ill but refuse to quit fighting. I believe in Jesus, and He is the only reason my Hope remains. I wished I could wear a sign or hand them a copy of Gauntlet With a Gift to tell them my story. I wanted them to know this snapshot of a sick woman getting treatmeant for some weird autoimmune disorder called PANDAS who came in with an unbearable headache didn’t explain me at all. This list of weird disorders called Chiari, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Dysautonomia, Mast Cell Activation Disorder and more were not ME.

After being “released” on Thursday I came home to sleep until my final pheresis treatment on Friday. Over the weekend I slowly began to steep myself back in truth. I kept thinking about the woman behind the curtain in the ER. I continued to think about my own identity in all this brokenness. Sunday morning I opened Paul David Tripp’s New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional to find this message in answer to my heartache.

Who in the world do you think you are? I’m serious. Who do you think you are? You and I are always assigning to ourselves some kind of identity. And the things that you and I do are shaped by the identity we have given ourselves. So it’s important to acknowledge God has not just forgiven you (and that is a wonderful thing), but he has also given you a brand-new identity. If you’re God’s child, you are now a son or daughter of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You are in the family of the Savior, who is your friend and brother, You are the temple where the Spirit of God now lives. Yes, it really is true–you’ve been given a radically new identity.

The problem, sadly, is that many of us live in a constant, or at least a rather regular, state of “identity amnesia.” We forget who we are, and when we do, we begin to give way to doubt, fear and timidity. Identity amnesia makes you feel poor when in fact you are rich. It makes you feel foolish when in fact you are in a personal relationship with the One who is wisdom. It makes you feel unable when in fact you have been blessed with strength. It makes you feel alone when in fact, since the Spirit lives inside of you, it is impossible for you to be alone. . .

So if you’re his child, ward off the fear that knocks on your door by remembering who God is and who you’ve become as his chosen child. And don’t just celebrate his grace; let it reshape the way you live today and the tomorrows that follow.

Our family photographer just sent me the files from an anniversary photo shoot of Dan and I from February 2011. The above picture of me is from that day. Danica was still in her Minerva brace and wheelchair. I had come through my hysterectomy in August, 2010 knowing I needed a bowel resection, but I was literally breathing the 24/7 care my Danica needed not realizing how each day was breaking me just a little bit more in every possible way. Since this photo I have had ten of my nineteen surgeries. My body resembles almost nothing I see there. I barely remember who that beautiful woman was, but I know who I am today.

I am more than flesh and bone.
I am a daughter of the King of Kings.
The Spirit of the living God resides in me.
I am not alone.
I will never be alone.

(I am done with my treatments and had my levels tested yesterday. I am waiting to hear if they are low enough to have my catheter removed. I will begin the chemo drug for six months to suppress the antibodies from returning in hopes this invasive treatment can be slowed or avoided altogether. Please pray for my body to respond well to the new drug and for it to work as anticipated without toxicity or drastic side effects. Please be in prayer for a trip to Maryland on April 29th. I will fly alone (there’s that word again) and have a tough day of a flexion and extension MRI and then late appointment with my neurosurgeon. I will stay the night and fly home the next day. Like always the financial aspects of my out of network treatments here and these trips burden us. The emotional and physical toll are an even greater weight. My instability from C4-6 or 7 is causing a great deal of pain. I am wearing my collar more and more and praying the removal of inflammation from the pheresis will help with my symptoms. Thank you to each one of you who has been praying for my family and I, making meals, sending letters and cards, and especially those who mailed care packages to the girls during their spring break with a sick mama in bed. You are God’s hands to us. Bless you. Our Hope remains!)

What in your life causes you to lose sight of your identity? What sign would you wear so others would really see you and know you? When you begin to feel alone what Scriptures or songs bring you back to the truth of who you are in Jesus Christ?

Photo by Grace Designs Photography

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2 Comments on Who Do You Think You Are?

  1. Joanna Sormunen
    April 14, 2015 at 6:58 pm (9 years ago)

    Thank you for your honest post! And also praying for you. May God keep you and guard you all the time!
    I think I would wear a sign that would say GENTLE. To urge people to be gentle with me but also to let them know that I’m gentle. Sometimes life can be so hard, and you just need gentleness.

    Reply
  2. Stacey Thureen
    April 17, 2015 at 10:50 am (9 years ago)

    Monica,
    Thank your for your transparency, vulnerability, and faith to see God in the middle of everything. Stopping by from #FindStability link-up.
    Blessings,
    Stacey

    Reply

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