They say it’s not about the destination, but rather the journey.
I’m going to be honest – the destination is pretty spectacular too!
Five years ago on the first Friday of April, I took myself to the hospital just like I did the first Friday of every month. It was my monthly infusion day when I was hooked up to an IV to kill off parts of my immune system and blood cell stimulators. My friends helped me make-light of it by calling it my “reboot” day.
I really did not want to do it, but I did not have any other options available. All of my Lupus meds were not stopping the progression of my illness, regardless of how many times we increased them. Almost every organ had been attacked, leaving behind internal scarring. My daily neuropathy and seizure episodes were increasing in intensity and frequency, causing me to face the reality that I would soon not be able to work or drive. I already had a titanium plate connected to a whittled rib bone holding together one side of my jaw, and the other side was beginning to disintegrate as well. I was informed that I would eventually need to have another rib bone extracted and a matching plate installed, which would come with numerous functional complications. They said the only way to avoid or postpone the next surgery would be to “control the Lupus”. Then they walked out of the room as I cried, knowing no one knew how to do that.
I went to my infusion that April morning in 2013 hoping for that elusive control, yet this particular round of treatment was different. After my infusion the previous month, I jumped into a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) nutrition plan in desperation to grasp onto what little was left of my life and honor my promise to “try anything to stop this”. People around me noticed a difference within the first several days. My seizures and neuropathy had lessened, allowing my body to finally achieve some rest. I was able to slightly decrease the dosages of some other meds over the next few weeks. However the April infusion did not go well and caused a set-back. Oddly enough it was not a Lupus flare, but rather a healing body reeling in agony in response to a chemical attack against the first healthy cells it had made in years. So it became my last infusion.
Over the next couple of years I dug deeper into the WFPB nutritional approach to recovery. I met other patients who had overcome many illnesses and addictions as well as doctors who had done the same for their patients and even their own personal debilitating auto-immune diseases – all simply by changing what they put onto their plates. People who were once practically crippled were now running marathons. Although they could not inspire me to run (no one can), they taught me valuable lessons about nutrition, hope, perseverance, and beautiful/miraculous victories.
Last year for my birthday (four and a half years into this journey), I finally fully weaned off Lyrica. It had been initially prescribed for the neuropathy and then continually increased for that symptom as well as the seizures that later developed. Six months since stopping that medication, I have not experienced either symptom. This could not be achieved with the cocktails of meds I was administering just five years ago. Yet simple and clean plant-based nutrition used as strong fuel for my body had healed decades of old wounds.
I wondered how much time would have to pass for me to experience my next victory (or if another would ever come). However this past month managed to shock me to the core and challenged every doubt I had let pass through my mind. While life had me overwhelmed, recovering from two injuries and an annoying cold/cough everyone passed around, life also handed me a glorious miracle. I was able to wean off the last small amounts of Prednisone and Plaquenil. Just a few months ago I would wake up to mass rashes and infections when I missed more than two or three days of the meds, but that did not happen this time. Decades of damage from illness was being reversed right before my eyes without any toxic pills. This was a very different kind of reboot than I had experienced in the past. I found myself falling to my knees and sobbing uncontrollably.
Over the past few weeks I have been secretly celebrating with my family and the man who introduced me to WFPB nutrition – and ultimately saved my life. For the first time in two decades I am 100% Lupus medication free!
Today, on the five year anniversary of my last infusion (and any hospital treatment or admission), I can celebrate with everyone the magnificent freedom from meds and an agonizing chronic illness. I am whole again and cannot stop paying this beautiful gift forward.
Shared with permission: Joyce Hale
