Life was rolling by just fine. Great job, great lifestyle, endless sunshine out here in Bahrain. No taxes!!! Or at least it was until April this year (2001).
I was participating in a security seminar in Kuwait when I found myself in the embarrassing position of having to go to the bathroom every five minutes. The pain became unbearable and I even ended up wetting my pants on the way back to the Company Apartment.
I somehow made it through the weekend (Thu/Fri) and turned up at the Bahrain International Hospital on the Saturday morning. Even though I've lived here for five years, I didn't have any medical history at all so I had to register as a new patient.
My B/P was a whopping 160/110 and by Monday evening I had had blood tests, 24 hour urine tests, C/T scan of my kidneys and X-Rays. By Monday evening I knew I had Polycystic Kidney Disease.
I was 35 years old with a 38 inch waist that had grown progressively over the last seven or eight years from a 32 inch waist. Amazon.com and the internet became as invaluable as the Doctors. I put myself on a strict low protein diet and cut out all tins, tubes, jars, and packets. Everything I ate was prepared by myself.
My B/P came down slightly to 140/90 but then as my waist levelled out at 32 inches just three months later (Down from 89Kg to 75Kg), my BP started to rise again. I think my record was 212/132 at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxfordshire and I was just bringing my brother in law in as he had fallen over. (I got so stressed out waiting six hours for him to be attended that I ended up being attended to instead!!!!!)
Anyway now I'm on 25mg of Tenormin and 5mg of Norvasc. This seemed to bring my BP down to an average of 135/80. That is until now. As I'm sitting here writing, it's 150/101.
What's happened to change that. I'm sure it's the results of my MRI scan of the brain. 10% of Polycystic Kidney Disease patients can form aneurysms on the brain. People with family history (my mum died aged 54) have a higher chance.
I have a 3mm aneurysm in the centre of my brain. We have no vascular neurosurgeons in the country. I've booked myself on a flight to go back to the UK next week for 10 days. I'm no longer valid to receive treatment on the National Health as I no longer reside in the UK so I don't know what I can achieve in the next couple of weeks.
If anybody can suggest names of doctors, or even just names and telephone numbers of Hospitals. I would really appreciate it.
I can only see signs of encouragement from this wonderful list, but right now all I know is that yesterday ended last night, tomorrow is only a possibility, and my daughter who is four years old, more than likely has the same illness.