Sunday, August 18, 2013

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An Extended Weekend

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Despite the continuous fall of rain in this place, I just feel so dry. My spirit feels so dead. I've told myself a hundred times to revive the life which I had found before I got in this place.

 Now the streets are flooded, many people try to stay warm... but I am like a homeless person, I am cold and wet and tired. And these walls aren't giving me any comfort. These walls I've built around myself make me feel isolated.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

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Losing Your Sight is Not Losing Your Life

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A person with active systemic lupus erythematosus suffers numerous complications, which as the name itself suggests, involves various systems of the body. Though the cause of the disease is unknown most scientists think that autoimmunity is the primary cause; the body produces antibodies, such as antinuclear antibodies (ANAs), against its own cells. The formed antigen-antibody complexes then suppress the body's normal immunity and damage tissues. 

The patient in this case is put in a greater risk not only for infection but in the consistent decline of the body's normal function. Antibodies against tissue components such as RBCs, neutrophils, platelets and almost any organ or tissue are formed in patients with SLE.

This review article focuses on  the ocular manifestations of SLE which affect about one-third of those suffering from it. These manifestations range from orbital to irreversible vision loss. 

Based on studies, 29% of these ocular manifestations is lupus retinopathy and is greatly correlated to an underlying CNS disease.In my patient's case, she experienced gradual vision loss secondary to vitreous hemorrhage, glaucoma was how the doctor explained it to her.

As a healthcare provider, we have been taught to promote independence to our patients, despite their conditions. Though understandably, a person afflicted with SLE experiences a number of symptoms, one of its greatest blow would probably be losing one's vision. It is one thing to be sick but still be able to perform certain things on your own, but even gradual visual loss-which for her only took a year- would take a longer time to adjust to. She was fortunate to still have the chance of undergoing an operation to restore her vision, though in certain cases, it was no longer an option.

The only thing worse than a disease with an unknown cause is having a treatment not for the condition itself but for the relief of symptoms, as the case in SLE. It is a great realization, especially in my level, that one of the best interventions I can perform does not rely on giving medications to the patient but in staying with the patient on the bedside, talking and listening to her for even if she cannot see me, and though I cannot see her smile behind the mask, her eyes still show that she smiles. And even if she had temporarily lost her ability to see,one never loses her to feel; to be grateful for everything that's going around her and for her.

A reaction on:

Hindawi Publishing Corporation (2012). Ocular Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Review of the Literature 

Monday, March 11, 2013