The Mysterious Illness-Myasthenia Gravis
by
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My frustration with the lack of concrete diagnosis for my condition made me decide to research different diseases with the symptoms that I was having. The first one I looked up was “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.” I found similarities to some of the symptoms I was having. I then looked up “Graves Disease” and thought that I could really be suffering from that because of the heaviness of my eyelids and the fact that I had problems swallowing. My final resolve was to wait and see. It turned out that within four days I literally couldn’t see. I was working at an adult institution for a teacher who was on maternity leave. Although this was happening I continued to work because every morning I had better vision and more strength after a night’s rest. On Thursday I went to work but by 9:30 a.m. I stood before the class and could not see the students clearly. For the rest of that day I squinted my right eye in order to do most of my work.
At lunchtime I took a nap. This gave me a little strength in the eyes but not enough to last until dismissal at 2:30 p.m. I had no strength in my muscles and had to resort to using my left hand to brace the right hand in order to write on the board. I was anxious for dismissal time. How was I going to drive home with my eyelids shut? I somewhat glanced under my heavy lids and saw the cello tape dispenser on the desk. A thought came to my mind and I decided to put it into action. I rolled off two small strips unto my highlighter and put it in my pocket. As soon as it was 2:30 p.m. and the students left, I hurried downstairs to my car. I did not want any staff member to see my dilemma. In my car, I unrolled the first piece of tape and taped my right eyelid to my eyebrow and forehead to keep that eye open. I started my vehicle and drove off. I used my right hand to maneuver the steering wheel while I used my left hand to keep the left eyelid open. On the way home at times I had to practically jerk the left eye for it to focus. There were bouts of double vision and so at stoplights I would close the left eye to give it a few seconds of rest still allowing the tape to keep the other eyelid in place. I later found out that I was experiencing ptosis. Thank heavens I reached home safely.
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About the Book
The writer suffers from a rare autoimmune condition called Myasthenia Gravis. It is a neuromuscular disease in which the body generates an immune system attack against its own skeletal muscles. 14 out of every 100,000 persons in the
When the muscles do not receive the message from the brain because antibodies destroy the chemical, the muscles become weak and cannot perform. Stress, tiredness, depression or just fighting a cold can trigger an attack.
She has struggled out of a wheelchair and given up the walker and a cane after facing postoperative morbidity. The removal of her thymus had engendered excessive bleeding which caused both lungs to collapse. There was no way possible short of a miracle for her to survive, and is glad to be able to write about it. Her daily struggles are now manageable because she has accepted and embraced the change of life.
About the Author
Hazel’s introduction to published writing started in the ninth grade in high school. Her first publication was a poem in the school magazine for which she was the editor in 1971. Since then she has written many articles for local and community organizations. However this book is her first major publication. Hazel has been an educator for three decades. She presently works as an adult educator at a technical institute in