Have
you ever
heard of lupus? Well, I'm Jessica, and I'm nine years old, and that's
what
I have. Here's
how it all started.
When I was
eight years
old, I was sick for a very long time. I got poked a lot and it hurt,
but
I got used to it. I learned that I had something called pericarditis.
That's
a problem with the heart. I learned that it's not fun when your heart
doesn't work like it's supposed to.
Then I
turned nine.
That's when I found out that I had lupus, and that's when I learned
that
it was lupus all along that caused the problem with my heart. It was
really
hard for me when they were figuring everything out. I had a kidney
biopsy done and the doctors told me some bad news and some not so bad
news.
They said that I had severe kidney damage-for a normal kid-but that it
was only average damage for a kid with lupus. Well at least it wasn't
two
severes, right?
About that
time, when
I was in the third grade, everyone except my friends teased me and said
that I looked fat, I guess because I had always been skinny. I wasn't
really
fat. The medicine that I needed to take made me look that way, that's
all.
I was sad, so I asked my mother to come in and talk to the kids about
lupus
and about what I had been through. She's a nurse, so she really can
help
kids to understand things.
Now only
one kid teases
me!
Teasing is
really mean
because it hurts people's feelings, like mine. I hope that if you tease
anyone, well then you'll apologize afterwards when you think about it.
I know that sometimes kids tease because they just don't understand and
they feel scared. That's what happened in my class anyway.
My friends
are really
understanding and I can share my secrets with them. They always stick
by
me and they never tease. They don't care if I have lupus or not. You'd
like them!
Now I get
along with
my life as if nothing happened. The medicine helped me feel like my old
self, and I can play soccer, which I LOVE, and do most anything else. I
think that my family and my friends helped me the most during the past
few years. I'm writing about all this because I thought you might be
curious.
If you'd like to know some more, I hope that you'll write me a
note.
If you do,
I'll tell
you about my brand new dog, too. I got a German Shepherd puppy for
Christmas.
We call him Zeus, even though his real name is Zeus's Comet. He's real
cute, and I love him so much! he likes to play with my other dog,
Maggie,
who's a Great Terrier. They used to fight, but they're friends now. In
April, I get to take him to obedience training. I had a really tough
time
right after Christmas, and had to go to the Intensive Care Unit. Am I
ever
glad that I'm better, now!
Want
to see what I'm up to now?
Want to learn
about lupus?
Joan Fleitas,
Ed.D.
Associate Professor
of Nursing,
Lehman COllege, CUNY
Bronx, New York 10468
Last updated:
August 12, 2006
