“Delay is the deadliest form of denial.”
(C. Northcote Parkinson)
The lingering sickness has a will of its own. And fate played devilish tricks on me: I had my bags ready to leave the hospital, when I was called back: the bronchoscopy data also surfaced a positive PCR result for tuberculosis.
Was it a false positive or some contamination in the hospital equipment? Was it the true cause of my sickness? Were tuberculosis and vasculitis a painful pair to haunt me at the same time? I will never know the answer.
But the consequences were serious and immediate:
First, I was condemned to a six month treatment with strong antibiotics, which didn’t address my issue with eosinophils overwhelming my body. Instead side-effects of antibiotics added further damage.
Second and even worse: I was quarantined and on a black-list. I was monitored by the bureaucracy of medical authorities. For the time being, no hospital would admit me for further treatment dealing with the suspected Churg-Strauss-Syndrome. It was the end of September 2019. All progress was on hold.