Functioning with a chronic disease like lupus, or with a permanent handicap, is a matter of adapting, Mayor Darlene Kordonowy says.
“The disease has taught me a lot,” she said. “You do the best you can with the circumstances you have to deal with.”
Kordonowy was reflecting in the wake of a lupus “flare” last week that resulted in her being airlifted to Virginia Mason hospital after an episode of high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat.
The episode began, she said, when she felt “peaked” after a night with little sleep, when she and her husband were discussing whether it was time to put down their 16-year-old dog.
As she was leaving a morning meeting with interim police chief Matt Haney, she began feeling dizzy, so, at Haney’s suggestion, she drove to the fire station on Madison Avenue and asked to have her blood pressure taken.
“I had rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath, but I’ve had those symptoms before,” she said.
The blood pressure continued to climb, so fire department personnel suggested that she take the ferry to Seattle. But when the pressure climbed even further, the fire department called a cardiologist, who suggested a shot that sometimes, but not always, will relieve the symptoms.
“I felt better instantly, and the blood pressure came right down,” Kordonowy said, “but the doctor had said to give the shot and bring me in, so they did, and I didn’t argue with them.”
Kordonowy said she was examined, monitored briefly, then released. She stayed home Tuesday, but returned to work Wednesday, and conducted a City Council meeting that evening.
Kordonowy has had systemic lupus for years. While the disease can attack internal organs and joints, the mayor says she is a “lucky lupus patient” in that her symptoms are relatively minor, and can be reduced with medication.
“In the past, I had episodes of severe joint inflammation and pain, and periods of overwhelming fatigue that sleep doesn’t replenish, but I haven’t dealt with that in four or five years,” she said.
The medication did cause side effects, including lesions on her larynx that produced a case of severe laryngitis that caused her to miss work during the Christmas holidays and into the new year.
“The doctors adjusted the medication, and those symptoms disappeared,” she said.
Pointing to her many activities during periods when her symptoms were more severe than they are now, Kordonowy said she is confident she can handle the mayor’s job. The key, she said, is that the job, which is nominally three-quarter time, does offer some flexibility, and generally permits her to rest when necessary.
“The lupus does not interfere with my job,” she said. “The job does produce stress, which can aggravate the lupus. But the disease keeps me a little more honest. I don’t take for granted how much energy I have.”
