Kris Aquino gives health update, asks for prayers for 'long battle' ahead
Television host-actress Kris Aquino gave her social media followers a health update, stressing the “long battle” ahead while expressing her gratitude to doctors, family, and readers for their prayers.
In an Instagram post on Monday, July 17, the “Queen of All Media” shared photos undergoing home service blood extractions and a lengthy series of text art cards which explained her medical situation.
According to Aquino, the allergens in her blood have gone down, and her total allergen count has never reached such a low level.
“Mataas pa rin compared to a normal healthy person but for someone coming from the thousands, to be finally be below 500 is something to be grateful for,” she wrote.
While it’s common to get colds, coughs, or a bad headache, Aquino revealed that she has been having unpredictable side effects to the medication.
“2 to 3 hours after my shot my BP gets elevated; after 6-8 hours I start to feel deep bone pain which lasts for the next 3-4 days. I’m not complaining - at least I have access to medication that can help save my organs,” she stressed.
“With treatment, there’s a 70% survival rate after 5 years, but with no treatment, after diagnosis the survival rate goes down to less than 25%,” she added.
Aquino pointed out that it’s difficult for doctors to treat her as a patient, because she can’t take pain relievers because she’s allergic to most, while steroids have an adverse effect on her.
“Most feel, I’ve been here for more than a year and yet nothing has really happened,” she said, detailing the different autoimmune conditions she has been diagnosed with.
She shared that the next cycle for her biological injectable will be on July 24.
“The dosage I’m on right now causes me to be so exhausted, feeling like I have the flu, and struggling to get out of bed…I can only imagine how much harder it will become - that’s also the start of when I will have limited contact outside,” she wrote.
In the main caption of her Instagram post, Aquino also shared her struggles as a mother going through treatment and not being able to help her son Bimby, who started having a bad cough and sore throat which led to a fever starting Saturday night, July 8.
“It was the worst feeling in the world as most parents would agree, when your family doctor says you aren’t allowed to go near your son and help take care of him because you’re undergoing immunosuppressant therapy using chemotherapy medication,” Aquino wrote.
The actress said she “felt her heart crumble” when she heard that it was Bimby’s third bout with pneumonia, as assessed by their family doctor.
“My bunso has had asthma since he was 9. But as a baby all the way until he was in grade 1 Bimb suffered from skin asthma and from childhood til now he has many of my environmental allergies,” she wrote.
She expressed gratitude for her eldest son Joshua for “stubbornly” taking care of his brother while she could not help.
“Thank God matibay kuya’s resistance, hindi sya nahawa ng kahit ubo o sipon,” she said.
According to Aquino, Bimby finished his prescription on Saturday and is “90% recovered.”
Kris also remained thankful to readers and asked for continued prayers for her remaining battle ahead.
“One thing is very clear to me - buhay ako ngayon dahil hindi kayo nagsasawang isama ako sa prayers ninyo even though most of you have never even met me in person,” she wrote.
Since June 2022, Kris has been in the United States for her medical tests and procedures for her autoimmune diseases.