My name is Shawnta Shelton and I am from Colonial Beach, VA
but currently reside in Richmond, VA. I am 25 years old and the only child to
both my parents, but have the best support system ever from my parents, family,
friends, and sorority sisters.
My journey began back in March of 1999. A lot of changes
began in my family and home and it began to affect me drastically. My mom
noticed instead of me going outside with my friends after school to play I
rather sleep, my appetite changed (lost of weight), and I began to have joint
pain. One day my mother was going to wash my hair and as she began she noticed
I had lost patches of hair in random places. She began to get worried and made
me an appointment with our family doctor. He checked me over and ran some test.
The results of my test showed that I was anemic and he said my blood count was
very low. He shared with my mother that he would like for me to see a rheumatologist
because of my joint pain and because of my blood levels. He set us up to see
one. Granted at the time I was young so
I really didn't understand everything going on. My mother, stepfather, and I
went to see a rheumatologist and she ran many different test on me and
scheduled for another visit. Before my next visit I got hospitalized. I was hospitalized
for a week because my blood count was extremely low and the doctor was worried
if I was even going to make it. I cried for days on end because I didn’t
understand what was happening but I had my mother by my side to wipe my tears.
After my hospitalization I found out that I had lupus where it affected my
kidneys and parts of my brain.
As time
progressed on I continued to have doctor visits and on medication consistently
and having to deal with inflammation because my legs and feet would swell along
with staying out of the sun because I would get the butterfly rash on my
face. In my journey with Lupus I
switched doctors because I felt that my first doctor wasn't putting her best
efforts forth to try different things with my treatment. Now I am pleased with
my doctor she has given me different methods to deal with my inflammation.
I have been battling with lupus for
14 years and each day is different but I am continuing to press because it is
pointless to give up because I can’t change nothing or anything that has happen
to me. I have been through every emotion there is from crying to laughing to
screaming to questioning why me but I know that everything has happen for a
reason so therefore I SMILE and continue my JOURNEY……….
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