Diane Bemister is back tending to her three Bernese mountain dogs, growing dahlias and doing all of the other things she enjoys at the Highlands hobby farm she shares with husband, Garry.
But it took some time to get her life back to normal after an attack of vasculitis, an autoimmune disease that leads to inflammation of the blood vessels.
In her case, which developed in late 2021, she suffered heart failure and had serious lung and kidney issues. She was in a medically induced coma for three weeks, followed by a month in the intensive-care unit.
It was actually an extension of the ICU, because the unit itself had so many COVID-19 patients at the time, Garry said.
Diane said vasculitis was a new word for her and Garry. “We hadn’t heard of it before, so it was really quite a shock.”
She said she had always been healthy and active, and her condition “was very much out of the blue.”
It also turned out to be rare — the Bemisters were told that only one to two cases of vasculitis are seen each year at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Garry said a medically induced coma was decided on to get Diane’s immune system under control “and take over the body’s functions and decisions.”
“Her hemoglobin levels were dangerously low,” he said. “At one time, she had 12 intravenous tubes running into her.”
Diane spent a total of 71 days in the hospital, and during her treatment she had a steady stream of magnetic-resonance imaging and CT scans to monitor her brain and other organs.
“We can’t even count how many,” Diane said.
With that, the Bemisters gained first-hand experience of the importance of state-of-the art imaging equipment at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals to serve all of Vancouver Island.
Diane hopes that telling her story and stressing the vital aspect of medical imaging can help garner support for the Victoria Hospitals Foundation’s ongoing Imaging is Power campaign. “Anything that can bring it to anybody’s attention is a benefit.”
The campaign has an $11-million fundraising goal, aiming to raise money to refurbish three existing MRI machines and purchase a new CT scanner, SPECT/CT scanner and C-Arm.
The MRI machines are from 13 to 22 years old and used more than 2,000 times in a year. Reconditioning them will bring them up to current standards at one-third the cost of buying new ones. The new CT scanner will replace a 15-year-old model, and will provide better images more quickly.
Diane is grateful to be able to return to doing the things she loves to do, but in the aftermath of her lengthy hospital stay, she had to overcome losing much of her muscle control.
“I couldn’t move, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t do anything.”
Doctors didn’t know how long the effects of the vasculitis would last, but at 72, Diane has been able to make almost a full recovery.
“Every one of her doctors says the same thing, that she’s lucky,” Garry said.
In particular, her kidney function has come around extremely well, he said.
Donations to the Imaging is Power campaign can be made online at victoriahf.ca, by calling the foundation at 250-519-1750, by visiting the foundation offices at Royal Jubilee, or by mailing a cheque to the foundation at Wilson Block, 1952 Bay St., Victoria, sa国际传媒 V8R 1J8.
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