Biography 239: Medical Condition

 In my childhood, our doctor found I had rheumatic fever. He prescribed penicillin injections. I had to take the painful injections for a couple of months. Actually, my younger sister Sonia and I took it. Our blood report showed we had a very high ESR level. Sonia had 600, and I had 800. The average level was 200. After taking the injections for a couple of months, my sister's level became normal. My one was on 400. My mom stopped giving inject to both of us.

When I was over 18 years old, another doctor tested me and said I didn't have rheumatic fever, and I never had. But due to some medical condition, she gave me thyroid tabs. Not only her following 2 doctors also gave me the same thyroid medications. I took it. I felt good. But whenever the medication finished, I started facing the same problems.

When I became pregnant, my doctor tested and said I didn't have any thyroid problem, and probably I never had.

She suspects I might have a problem in my heart. I went to the National Heart Foundation. The doctor from that organization tested and told me my heart was OK; there wouldn't be any problem delivering a child.

When I was 8 months pregnant, I was facing too many problems. One night, I had to go to the clinic for my health condition. They keep me over there the whole night. In the morning they said, now you are ok, we don't know why the problem happened. I said I wouldn't go home, and I decided to go through the C-section. After the operation, my doctor said, "Shahana, don't fall asleep; I want to show you something. She hold my son up and said, your son made three nodes with the tube, he wasn't able to get food inside. You have made a very good decision, Shahana." Then I fall asleep.

When I woke up, I looked at the wall clock. I had been sleeping for nine hours, and I was still in the operating room. My body was hooked up to the machine. Later, I got to know that my heart stopped. I had some problems with my heart, and that's why, after getting the anesthesia, it stopped working. I had to take 4 asteroid injections and many other procedures to get my heart beating again. My doctor said I was lucky that the anesthesia was from a Shohrowardy Heart Hospital. So, she knew how to handle this kind of case.

One day, I had terrible stomach pain. I went to a clinic. The doctor tested and said my liver had a small amount of fat. He gave me painkillers for that moment and asked me to keep an eye on my diet. Trust me, I am always very careful with my diet.

After coming to Canada, I had severe pain in my stomach, and then I had a breathing problem (The hospital said it was a panic attack). For both reasons, I went to the hospital, and after observing one night, they let me go home by saying I was OK now, and they didn't know why the problem had occurred.

Then I had pain in my feet and couldn't stand up in my workplace. My son somehow held me and made me walk to my car. I went to the hospital again, and they checked me. They said I had a planter fascist. I started taking painkillers and went to an orthopedic doctor. He made a new shoe for me with a machine. But my pain was still there. He said this is not only for planter fascists. You might have some other problem too. But my family physician didn't take any action for that pain. I left the job.

Later, I move to Toronto. My new doctor said I have arthritis. He also sends me to a heart specialist. The heart specialist said my heart sometimes started beating very fast and then became very low. He gave me some medication, too.

After three years, my doctor said I had to stop taking that painkiller. It will ruin my heart. I told him that without medication, I can't move from my bed, and Tylenol doesn't work on me. He checked my heart medication and said, OK, go on with your medication. But I was scared. My body is becoming more weak day by day. I had reduced my painkillers from 14 to 3 per week. Now, I am in pain for almost 24 hours. When I can't resist the pain, I start taking other painkillers.

I don't want to go to a doctor anymore. But I know I have to... I want to know precisely what is wrong with me and how to cure it. If it is not curable, at least they should tell me that clearly. Help me to live a good life.