Who is Seonai?
Seonai Gordon is a 40 something female battling TB. She is originally from Scotland, with no patriotic feelings therefore considering herself as a human being, address; The World. She is well travelled, quite smart and has never knowingly hurt another person in any way.
Seonai is a former nurse, turned journalist and you can Google her name - 'Seonai Gordon' - to read some of her other articles. She welcomes emails but cannot claim to be in a position to offer medical advice. She can, however, put you in touch with the right people if you ask.
Remember in my last column I was kind of talking about feeling wiped out. well shortly after that I ended up in hospital with a chest infection. That's one of the things about having TB or MDRTB or even worse HIV/TB. You become much more vulnerable to infections. At the moment I don't have access to Internet at home so I use an Internet Café. In there, lots of people cough and sneeze so I probably pick up their bugs really easily.
Anyway I am absolutely sorry about the delay with my column this month and after a quick skirt around what happened I'm going to give a brief insight into the Park Bench Chronicles.
Again I urge all of you involved with TB to take things into your own hands if you feel ill. I started to feel ill as you know, a few weeks ago. I called my TB nurse but, due to government cut backs she's busy and only works two days a week. I left messages, she talked to my consultant and he said he didn't think I needed to be admitted to hospital. I called again and said I was desperate. I was by this time lying on the floor, weak and temperature going up and down, my energy was near zero. I KNEW in myself that I needed help. Eventually via my TB nurse and my GP I was sent to Accident and Emergency at the local hospital.
I waited four and a half hours in A&E at the hospital and then was admitted to a side ward, again with nurses popping in asking if they should wear a mask or not. I was started on intravenous Augmentin, high dose, on the Thursday and by the Sunday I felt great. I felt like myself and ready to go home, I know my body now and that's what I am urging all of you out there to do.
So. the park bench stuff is all about not being able to breathe enough to make it between park benches and how important they are in my life. I have to plan out my daily travel according to park benches. On most benches I meet people who have a story, or they ask me my story, it's all very interesting and educating. But it doesn't always work out.
Sometimes, as I approach my usual bench, someone gets there first and takes the only free space and then my heart sinks because I'm desperate to sit and I can't just sit down on the ground as I'd never be able to get back up - the TB drugs can make you feel very stiff.
Currently, my life depends on park benches. I have to calculate where I can sit down in relation to where I am going to walk. I am sort of getting used to it, but a year ago this would have been alien to me, I want to cry when I think of that. A year ago I could walk anywhere, have the strength to do anything, lift things and take part in normal life. The TB has ruined things in that way but. park benches are a tremendous help.
They come in all shapes and sizes, some are in parks, some in the street, some at bus stops and some of them are in special places that you keep quiet about. It's a bit like TB - it comes in all shapes and sizes. As well as the lungs, it can affect many parts of the body and has many different strains, including the drug resistant type. Mine is very advanced, I've had it three times now and the damage is extensive. There is a large hole in my right lung and the damage in the left one causes extreme shortage of breath - hence the benches.
By telling the people I meet on park benches that I have TB I feel I am doing a small part towards a greater understanding of the disease.
- Seonai’s World /Column 8/ 27-09-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 7/02-09-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 6/ 22-08-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 5/ 15-08-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 4/ 08-08-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 3/ 30-07-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 2/23-07-07
- Seonai’s World /Column 1/12-07-07
To contact Seonai by email click here
