37. Wala ka sa Lolo ko. When he was seriously ill, he came up from behind the Lord Jesus and touched His cloak, and he was healed.

10 October 2020

Bout with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.

Mark 5

Jesus Heals a Sick Woman

27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 

28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Mark 5

34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

I contracted Stevens-Johnson Syndrome or SJS in August 2008.

The above verses are among the bible passages I meditated on during the long period I suffered from said illness which was nearly fatal in my case.

I will dwell on my faith journey towards healing; then in the closing, I enjoin you to pray with me for the Lord to heal our land, to heal our people, to heal our country, to heal the world, to heal the earth.

SJS is named for Albert Mason Stevens and Frank Chambliss Johnson, American pediatricians who jointly published a description of the disorder in the American Journal of Diseases of Children in 1922.

The most common cause is certain medications such as lamotrigine, carbamazepine, allopurinol, sulfonamide antibiotics and nevirapine.

When I recovered physically from psychosomatic depression late 2005, before flying out for a job in Kuwait, I went through medical formalities, I had high PSA (prostate-specific antigen).

Around July 2008, when we had already moved to Quezon City from Lipa in 2006, I was to leave for work for another company in the Middle East, when my urologist convinced me to undergo prostate biopsy. I yielded after I consulted our family doctor in Lipa, telling me risk is 5% probability of experiencing afterwards UTI or Urinary Tract Infection.

I suffered UTI and had to change antibiotics three times with the last one, Co-trimazaxole, to be taken for 21 days.

The biopsy was negative.

The worst happened when I contracted severe drug allergy to Co-trimaxazole or Bactrim. I was hospitalized, I cannot remember how long. Diagnosis was SJS; fortunately respiratory rashes did not persist otherwise I could have been a vegetable or six feet under the ground.

I left the hospital bloated, with liver and kidney damage due to IV fluid and drug overload. I developed anxiety and suffered severe abdominal spasms.

Bactrim. This medication may rarely cause serious (possibly fatal) allergic reactions and other side effects such as a severe peeling skin rash (such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome), blood disorders (such as agranulocytosis, aplastic anemia), liver damage, or lung injury.

This medication is a combination of two antibiotics: sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim. It is used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections (such as middle ear, urine, respiratory, and intestinal infections).

Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, also known as co-trimoxazole among other names, is an antibiotic used to treat a variety of bacterial infections. It consists of one part trimethoprim to five parts sulfamethoxazole.

Sulfa Drugs: Another class of antibiotics are the sulfonamides, and they are also a common cause of allergic reactions. Sulfa antibiotics, with the brand names Septra and Bactrim, typically cause type IV reactions, rather than anaphylaxis. A usual symptom would be a widespread rash that begins a few days after starting a course of the drugs.

I suffered rashes over my whole body including the face and scalp.

“The vast majority of patients who have a type IV reaction have a very mild reaction,” says Mainardi. A fever or other feelings of being unwell may indicate this reaction is becoming more severe. In the more serious cases, organs such as the liver, kidneys and heart can be affected. The most severe form, called Stevens-Johnson syndrome, has a high mortality rate.

Una sa akin...depression, that's when I became a Christian at age 44. Then SJS due to severe allergy to antibiotics in 2008, rashes over whole body except the mouth and respiratory system, then even hepatitis C and my kidney was affected due to drug overload, was even given steroids.

....am still alive....and for that, the Lord I praise, the Compassionate God I will always praise.

Earlier, medication was through intravenous fluid for extended period that I lost body electrolytes.

The worst that could have happened is I died from infection, meaning the antibiotics worked, albeit with severe allergy complication.

Recovery had been very slow. The full energy, I should say, came back around 2016, or about eight years later, as you will see me in this YouTube video.

Let me describe what I went through, as in my reflection 1 October 2017.

___________________

The Book of Psalms had been a particular book of prayer for me at a time of adversity. In 2008, I suffered severe drug allergy to antibiotics in the course of urinary tract infection after prostate biopsy. I came home from the hospital recuperating from liver and kidney damage due to drug overload, and with deficiency in body electrolyte. I would suffer leg cramps and stomach spasms, and would pass out. At bed, I would ask my wife Marlou to pray for me; I was then anxious if I would regain consciousness. It recurred for weeks, so later it was my son Paolo whom I would ask to pray. Paolo was in college, my daughters Vannie and Patty were working already. Thinking that Marlou and Paolo were lost for words for prayers, I asked that verses from Psalms be read to me.

Years earlier, I already went through adversity, I was out of work and got ill, with the children starting college. I recovered then, I came about a passage in Psalms that spoke to me in my innermost being; I was then on flight home coming from work in Kuwait.

Psalms 118:18 The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

I was in tears, relishing the goodness of God, the grace of God, the undeserved favor God gave me, God having me survived and God restoring my life and my health that I was gainfully employed, tears of joy and gratitude.

LORD, You are my shepherd, I lack nothing. You make me lie down in green pastures, You lead me beside quiet waters, You refresh my soul. LORD, You guide me along the right paths for Your name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23). This I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

_____________________

Indeed, in spirit I touched the cloak of the Lord Jesus and I was healed.

Someday, my children's children will say, wala ka sa Lolo ko, when he was seriously ill, he came up from behind the Lord Jesus and touched His cloak, and he was healed. Amen.

Now, as we close, here is part of my 31 July 2020 reflection on same above verses.

Lord, there is so much suffering in our country, so many people are sick, there is so much discord among our leaders. Lord, please heal our land, have mercy on us, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Unless we change and become like little children coming to our Abba Father then our prayer come to naught.

Lord, hear our prayer, have mercy on us, heal the sick, heal our land, heal the world, heal the earth. Amen.

2 Chronicles 7

14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Amen.

Dear Friend, I request you to kindly share this for encouragement to those wavering in faith, and for more of our people to pray for healing for our land.

The Lord bless the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17). Amen.

Maraming salamat.