I've known people with sickle cell disease who are in and out of the hospital and I never had those issues. As a child growing up in the Islands, every time I went down into the sea they would literally have to carry me home because of pain. A doctor told me I had sickle cell trait, and I always went with that.
I remember going into emergency 18 months ago because I noticed my eyeballs were yellow. Everything else I have no memory of until 2 months later. I was in the hospital for 6 months, then rehab for 2.5 months. I was shocked when the doctors said, "You don't have the trait. You have sickle cell disease." When I came out of ICU all my joints hurt and I had limited mobility in my arms. Rehab helped to a certain extent, but I still need a...