Do you know what a chronic illness is? Do you know the definition of the term? And even more than that, do you know of the devastating effects it can have on a person's life?
I'll put it in the simplest way possible, a chronic illness is an illness which can be maintained but up until now and for the foreseeable future, it cannot be cured.
My name is Kirsty, I was born fairly healthy and the only thing I ever really suffered with, was my incredible knack at catching any cold or virus someone around me had! Oh and I suppose there was also the awful shoulder pain that I suffered with but the doctors put that down to an 'impingement'.
When I was 17, my life was tipped upside down. It was July and my older sister was moving to Florida with my nephews and brother-in-law. I'd felt ill for a few weeks - fevers and nausea, fatigue and breathlessness. I just pinned this down to the fact that I was about to sit my AS exams and of course, the impending pain of my family moving away. I went to a GP and without a second thought, he agreed.
Towards the end of July, the fevers started becoming more frequent, the fatigue got worse as the sleepless nights started to set in. And the nausea? Don't even get me started on the nausea! All of a sudden, I woke up one day with an incredibly swollen toe on my right foot.
One night, I had my friend over and we were having the typical girlie night but it was tiring me out so much that we both went to sleep. Of course, being the kind person I am, I slept in the spare room and let her take my comfortable bed. As I got into bed, I slid my feet under the duvet but something didn't feel right. It felt the skin on my toe was on fire and the touch of the sheets was enough to bring me to tears. It took me a while to fall asleep but I did.
Like awaking from a bad dream, at 4am, I woke up. I realised that my face was soaked, I'd obviously been crying in my sleep. The pain in my toe was now so intense it felt like my whole foot was in agony. I lay in bed for a while, tossing, turning and crying to myself (this becomes a common occurrence in my life). Eventually, at 5am, I crawled to my parents room. I begged and begged to be taken to A&E but the both agreed, because of the time I would be waiting for ages and suggested we wait until around 8am.
I managed to get back to sleep after that. I think it was partly exhaustion! I woke up and got ready and off we went to A&E. After waiting just over an hour, the doctor told me I had soft tissue damage and that I must have knocked it without realising. I agreed with the doctor as I am often bumping into things. I was prescribed ibuprofen and to ice and elevate my foot.
I tried what I had been advised to by the doctor but it wasn't working and I was in fact, getting worse. Other toes on the same foot began to swell, the joints looked almost purple and was hot to touch. The pain, fevers, nausea and fatigue were all intensified. I made an emergency appointment with my GP who took bloods and suggested I had an infection. I was prescribed antibiotics but the next day the GP surgery rang and advised for me to go straight to A&E as something in my bloods didn't seem right but this was probably related to the infection. I was prescribed codeine by the hospital and sent on my way.
After this, my other foot started to swell, I had an overnight stay in hospital, another two trips to the GP and then one final trip to A&E. On that last trip to A&E, my Mam was at her wits end. She had been with my everyday since it began, it was now 6 months since the original symptoms had began and she couldn't bare to see me cry anymore. I'd been given the same antibiotics twice, I'd been given around 6 different types of painkillers and had my blood taken 7 times and numerous x-rays, I was (unsuccessfully) using crutches. I hadn't left the house in weeks and I had lost 23lbs.
The doctor in A&E sent for an orthopaedic surgeon and luckily enough my Mam knew him from work. My mam explained everything that had happened over the previous months, he took one look at my feet and then that was it...
'Well it sounds like arthritis to me'.
Arthritis.
And that's when I pulled into the slow lane.
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