Fiona's Health - Progress

Hi there,

Here is an update on Fiona's Health. As you may have read in the previous post, Fiona has been very unwell and went to Sumitivej Hospital in Bangkok and back to Cambodia. Two weeks later, with a deterioration of her condition, we returned to Bangkok, this time to Bumrungrad Hosptial. There were a myriad more neurological and cardiology evaluations. The Doctors have ruled out anything serious (amazing what that does for ones sleep!). Today, a week from entry hospital, the doctors are still not yet sure what the exact problem is.

Fiona's strength has improved since she came to hospital. But she is still weak and fatigues quickly. The symptoms that commenced 6 or so weeks ago are still prevalent, blank moments, vagueness, fatigue, dizziness and a chronic headache. There were a myriad of other symptoms that surfaced in the last month, but these have largely ceased under the doctor's care. As her strength improves she has been doing small amounts of exercise.

Some of the possibilities are not so nice to consider, but have needed to be evaluated because of both the cognitive and physical impairment Fiona is experiencing. Anything from Dementia to Fibromyalgia to Chronic Fatigue. The test for Dementia was important to diagnose if her condition was something she would have full cognitive recovery from. This appears to be the case, while she is slow, forgetful and not always aware of what is going on in her non immediate surroundings, these symptoms will reverse with time.

Fiona had a setback on Wednesday when she collapsed in the room after returning from a short walk. However the doctors, who have prescribed some medication based on her symptoms, have adjusted these. Fiona will need to be stable without the blank moments and dizziness before she is released. We hope that this will be at least early next week.

Fiona will then still require some time to restore physically. As exertion exacerbates the problems and she becomes unsteady. Further the symptoms related to cognitive function, her

short term memory, absent mindedness, awareness of activity in her surroundings, lack of concentration when holding conversations for any length of time and doing computation may take even longer to recover.

Fiona has had two unrelated tests while in hospital for potential concerns and awaits the result of a skin biopsy and a colon biopsy.

Still Fiona's spirits are high, she attempts short walks and now feels she can concentrate enough for prayer journaling and reading small articles in the Digital Camera magazine which she blew the budget buying (lol) as we came through Phnom Penh airport.

Thank you for your paitence. While the Hospital has wifi, our room is the last in the hall and from Fiona's bed the signal is not strong enough for her to maintain a reliable signal. Nor has there been much to add from day to day, it is indeed a slow process.

Thank you for your prayers. Fiona looks forward to recovering and easing back into life in Cambodia sometime soon.

Blessings

Graham and Fiona Brown

Fiona's health, a call for prayer

Hi all,

Well this particular post is to advise you that I am unwell and to ask you to pray for our family.

In July I started to have micro blank moments... okay I don't know if there is a real name for it.. Just a sensation that i was "not there" for a moment. They are so fast that I do not lose consciousness. So I contacted my doctor, though by the time I met with her I was weak, headachy and vague.

So I went to Hospital for a Neurological / Cardiological evaluation etc. It was not the most productive visit. We did find some heart issues which were not the cause. (Bicuspid Aorta Heart Valve, Syncope - Heart Related) Thankfully the brain MRI and 30 min EEG were clear. We were sent home with some medicine. My health back here did not improve, rather it deteriorated further, but we didn't know if these new symptoms were medicinal side effects or due to a yet undiagnosed cause. Believe me, there were some pretty freaky side effects. So we consulted our doctor here and she took me off the medicine. The freaky side effects have now gone, thankfully. But the weakness, pain, nausea, blank moments and a myriad of other sytmptoms have emerged or worsened.

So now, 11 days after leaving hospital, we are waiting for a new referral to return to hospital.

Now, I didn't mention that I have to leave the country to get access to appropriate medical facilities. We go to Bangkok, Thailand, so yep more passport stamps.

This whole process has been incredibly stressful on the family. The unknown of what ails me, whether it is serious or not is a concern that has seen both Gray and I employ some pretty pathetic coping strategies at times. We seriously thought about flying me back to Australia. However we live and work in Cambodia, there are excellent facilities in Bangkok and I would rather walk through this with Graham than without him. Flying our family back was not an option. As I posted on fb, I feel like I am running a race that I can't put out of, even though I am spending most of the time lying down.

We know though that God is not up there saying to himself "Oh dang! Fiona is sick, I didn't plan on that, what shall I do?" So we can but look forward to the purpose that he is working out through this, whatever the cost.

Your prayers would be appreciated. I hope to update the blog once we have some news.

Blessings

Fiona