Hello everyone. My name is Sierra. I am a mother of 3 beautiful children that are 10, 2.5, and 1. I’m a very hardworking, dedicated, caring, and strong woman.

Back in September, I was dealing with a lot of gastrointestinal issues that I never really dealt with or experienced before. I was dealing with some excruciating stomach pain that would have me hunched over and/or curled up in the fetal position in bed. On September 29th, my mother drove me to the hospital after work due to the severity of the pain. Once triaged and monitored by the doctor and giving her the rundown and getting bloodwork done, I was told I had cholecystitis and needed surgery. But because I had used my Kaiser insurance, the hospital had me transferred to their sister hospital, Virginia Hospital Center. I spent the next 5 days in the hospital in pain, poked and prodded only to not get the surgery Inova Hospital told me I needed. CT after CT, MRIs, ultrasounds, endless bloodwork, and even an endoscopy revealed that my gallbladder was inflamed and I had gallstones. I was put on a strong antibiotic the whole duration of my hospitalization and when I got home I suffered with diarrhea. I couldn’t understand why when I wasn’t eating anything. I went to see my primary care doctor and she ordered a stool test and those results came back positive for C. Diff and E. Coli. Not one, but two infections that could’ve been different for me had I not spoken up for myself.

As time went on, I started to notice other new symptoms within myself. I was always tired and extremely fatigued, I had developed a tremor in my right hand and couldn’t write, chronic headaches, full body pain, my face had become covered in dark marks randomly, muscle weakness, I was sensitive to lights, I couldn’t control my body temperature, and my hair had started falling out rapidly. Just by me being in the hospital that week and having multiple tests run on me, my ANA test came back positive as well. It was a 1:40 and then went up to 1:80 and then 1:320! I asked my doctor about that and could I get seen by a rheumatologist and once I did, she ran her own tests on me and it was discovered that I have Lupus SLE. I now also was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia as well. My body was fighting itself every day and I had no idea.

My stomach pains became worse and worse as more time passed until it sent me to urgent care and I was told I need to have my gallbladder removed. I was going to keep having these severe gallbladder attacks if I didn’t. I have missed almost 3 months of work due to my gallbladder attacks, the two infections, and my Lupus. I haven’t worked since September 29th. I finally had my surgery on November 24th and have been trying to recover and heal as best as I can without really triggering my Lupus flares. Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially when I’m worried about rent, bills, etc. I am forever grateful for my support circle of family and friends who check in on me. But times are a little hard right now and help is needed.