A pneumonia diagnosis is a bummer, no matter when it happens. But for Medi-Share member Andrea, a summer bummer turned into a year-long ordeal that redefined suffering and peace for her and her family.
“It’s a battle we’re still fighting,” she says.
Andrea joined Medi-Share around three years ago, because it aligned with her biblical values as a faithful Catholic. She didn’t want to support things that she knew were not in accordance with her beliefs. Andrea works for her church and homeschools her children, and with her husband, she decided that Medi-Share was a good option for their family.
Last summer, as Andrea’s son Timothy was wrapping up his birthday celebration, he came down with cold-like symptoms. It was a crummy way to end a birthday, but they didn’t think much of it beyond that.
A few days later, when his symptoms got worse, Andrea’s sister, who is a nurse, came over. She noted Timothy’s distress and said, “You need to take him to the ER.” Following her advice, Andrea took her son to the ER where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and hospitalized for a few days.
Shortly after that, Andrea’s three other children began to display the same symptoms, as did she. Each began with a fever and slight cough, something that wouldn’t be worrisome in general. But knowing that Timothy’s condition deteriorated rapidly, Andrea immediately requested x-rays. Sure enough, the x-rays revealed pneumonia had spread through the entire household, save Andrea’s husband.
“To say it was a stressful and scary time would be an understatement,” Andrea says.
Thankfully, catching it early helped the children get better in a timely manner. With antibiotics, rest, and fluids, all of the kids recovered, including Timothy. They entered the school year healthy and strong.
Andrea, on the other hand, continued to struggle. As her symptoms persisted, doctors continued to prescribe different antibiotics, hoping to knock out the pneumonia once and for all. After the third or fourth prescription, she still wasn’t well. Her fever never broke, and so, as directed, she went to the hospital. She was treated there for the day, and felt a bit better. They released her in the evening with another antibiotic in hand.
The next morning, she took the prescription and within minutes started itching -- an allergic reaction! Soon her vision began to blur, and she started coughing violently.
“I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t breathe,” Andrea recalls.
Her husband rushed her to the ER. By the time they arrived, Andrea had completely lost her vision. Her lips were swollen and blue. And her blood pressure was dangerously low. Medical professionals used an Epi pen to stop the reaction, and thankfully, after 20-30 minutes, her blood pressure stabilized.
A few hours later, she was released with yet another antibiotic. This one did not cause a reaction, but it also didn’t really help her pneumonia either. She scheduled a visit with a pulmonologist, where she learned that she had both gram-positive and gram-negative pneumonia. That explained why antibiotics had been so ineffective. Unfortunately, the coughing tests that she had to do there put her back in the ER for more IV antibiotics and steroids.
Eventually, after ten weeks, three ER visits, eight rounds of antibiotics, and two rounds of steroids, Andrea says that she finally felt like a human being again.
But then she began to struggle with painful after-effects: Terrible stomach pain and debilitating diarrhea. For thee to five months, her digestive system was in such chaos that it altered her way of life. Because she needed to run to the bathroom sometimes multiple times an hour, Andrea could hardly leave the house. She declined social gatherings. The family canceled their vacation.
“That’s been the hardest part,” she says. “It was so isolating.” She felt discouraged and desperate for healing.
Finally, during a mapping test in the winter, Andrea found out that she had bacteria in her system. “When I was on the antibiotics, my gut was completely destroyed,” she says. The good bacteria got wiped out, which allowed bad bacteria to flourish. Her medical professional put her on a strict, restrictive diet of around 10-12 foods. If she veers from the diet at all, her intestinal issues return.
“I haven’t had a chip, a bread, a cheese, a piece of cake – nothing,” Andrea says. She also has to take supplements and digestive enzymes in order for her system to process the things that she is able to eat.
Despite the restrictions, Andrea says she’s come to terms with where she’s at right now. “I really made peace with my suffering,” she says, “[by] seeing where the Lord is touching my life with blessing and how I can be grateful – not to dismiss the suffering, but knowing I’m still blessed in the midst of it.”
One thing that she’s grateful for is the support that she’s found in the sharing community at Medi-Share.
Andrea says, “When you are dealing with a health crisis, the last thing that should be on your mind is whether or not your health share will be effective -- whether or not bills will pile up or be honored and repriced. I am so pleased to say that with Medi-Share, that fear of bills being honored and accepted was not present. They worked with each of our clinics, ERs, and hospitals. In fact, the clinics we went to mentioned that they didn’t usually work with health shares, but they worked with mine, because of the effectiveness of those running it.”
Andrea’s road to recovery is ongoing. At time of interview, she was about to undergo a colonoscopy in hopes of finding answers. As a community, please join us in prayer for Andrea and her family, that God would reveal next steps that would bring about full healing, and that He would continue to encourage her throughout her struggles. Her attitude of perseverance and peace is a testimony to us all.
