Dear Friends,
I've been running this blog post around and around in my head for several days now... I'm still having trouble with my attention span, along with a myriad of physical complaints... so the words have stayed in my head until today... or tomorrow... or whenever I finish this missive and get it published.
Mr. G (THE most wonderful husband in the world, my knight in shining armor, my best friend, my everything in life) has done his best to keep you wonderful "friends I have never met" up-to-date as much as possible, and answering your questions as much as he could. If he seemed vague at times, it was because he felt it was up to me to give you the details of why I've been MIA for the past several weeks... and today I have summoned up the strength, stamina... and attention span... to let you wonderful people know just what's been going on in my world recently.
I thought about trying to be witty and creative by starting out with a story of what could have been a "near death experience" I had while I was in the hospital, but was more likely a drug-induced hallucination (those were some GOOD drugs!)... anyway the world (or heaven?) was made up of beautiful purples and lime green colors and sunflower yellow light... I could hear my Mama's laughter, and someone was blowing a gentle cool breeze over me and I was so comfortable... and there was a clock... with all the right parts, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell what time it was and even that was wonderful... because the pain was gone, and I was buoyant and bubbly with delight... I wanted to stay in that place and never come back... but reality came quickly enough...
I thought about explaining how the deadlines where I work are so vital each week in a small weekly newspaper office with a small staff and especially ONE particular Tuesday and Wednesday of each month it's vital for the entire (4 person) editorial staff to be there to get the BIG paper out to the printer (half Tuesday, half Wednesday).
I thought about pointing out that through several life changes and job changes over the last few years, Mr. G and I found ourselves without medical insurance and how we've been very careful for the last two years to pay CLOSE attention to our bodies and keeping doctor visits to a minimum (I hate doctors anyway, too many are in the business for all the wrong reasons and I have a problem with that, so I only go when absolutely necessary!) We try to stay healthy and keep enough money ahead in case we need a doctor, but we are realistic enough to realize that in a real emergency, we might not be quite prepared enough.
Instead of telling you all that in any kind of witty, clever way (I just don't have it in me yet!)... I have decided to present you wonderful, caring friends with a timeline of sorts of the past several weeks and how the scariest thing that has ever happened to me personally has played out... here goes...
April 17, Tuesday (major deadline day at work)... I worked the entire day, even though my stomach just didn't feel right... it felt swollen and achy and tight and it hurt, almost like late stage labor pains. After work, I drove home, got a heating pad, took a couple ibuprofen and lay down... After Mr. G arrived home from work, made himself some dinner because I just didn't feel up to cooking, and we watched a bit of TV, we headed to bed, I was still very uncomfortable and within an hour or two began the throwing up phase... every 15 minutes to half hour I threw up until there was nothing left inside me and yet I still threw up... dry heaves, yellow bile, green bile... nasty... by morning the vomiting had slowed down but I still hurt and felt horrible... stomach virus, I thought... and there was no way I was gonna make it to work... even on a tight deadline day...
April 18, Wednesday... I stayed home. Mr. G went to work... I spent the day in quite a bit of pain, the only relief I found was soaking in a hot bathtub which I did... several times that day... and slept as much as the pain and nausea would allow... I didn't eat or drink anything all day... I couldn't... it came right back up. When Mr. G came home and saw how bad I felt, he tried to feed me some broth and as much liquid as he could get me to take. By bedtime it was clear that I was in too much pain... too much!!! At Mr. G's insistence, I got in the car and was taken to the local ER at a small hospital near our home. By the time we arrived, I was in so much pain I couldn't walk into the ER and had to be taken in by wheelchair. (Folks, you gotta understand... I DON'T GET SICK and even if I do I GET OVER IT QUICK... Mr. G was beside himself scared to death) The skeleton staff at the tiny ER ran blood tests, I peed in a cup, after 8-10 tries due to my severe dehydration, they found a vein and began running fluids through me... they tried several pain meds, the first two or three didn't even begin to touch the pain I was experiencing. They found a urinary tract infection... I was prescribed sulfur based antibiotics, pain pills, and nausea meds and sent home.
April 19, Thursday... Silly me insisted Mr. G go on to work, that I would run pick up the called in prescriptions and start on them... I never made it... I spent another day in between hot baths and pain waiting for Mr. G to stop on his way home to pick up the meds... the pain became manageable as long as I took the pain pills... the antibiotics immediately caused yeast (thrush) in my mouth... a white coating that also became bloody and painful within a few hours.
April 20-22, the weekend, Friday-Sunday... Spent the weekend taking the pain pills and antibiotics, sleeping, ingesting liquids only and making the decision by paying attention to the fact that my body was NOT getting any better really... I would call my local doctor on Monday.
April 23, Monday... Called local doctor... would not be able to see me until Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. Another day of hot baths, pain meds, sulfur drugs...
April 24, Tuesday... 2 p.m. the usual long wait at the doctor's office waiting room. Mr. G had taken time off to take me to the appointment, I couldn't drive... after a bit of explaining what had transpired over the preceding week, Dr. Rhoe agreed with me... something was going on besides a UTI and I needed more tests at a more up to date facility... We arrived at Providence NE Hospital about 5 p.m. for an ultrasound and CT scan of my abdomen (Dr. Rhoe and I were both thinking possible gall bladder problems, I was hurting in the upper right area of my abdomen... at least that's where the pain seemed most intense, I hurt all over).
Things get really fuzzy for me after this point... I was given some super strong medication to keep me comfortable while they tested and probed...
I'm still not sure why it was so difficult to diagnose... some say the UTI masked it, others say other things masked it... who knows... but after several hours, they found out what was causing all the trouble...
My appendix!!! And not only did I have simple appendicitis, my dear appendix was abscessed and it had ruptured, filling my entire abdomen with its poison...
I had a feeling over the next little while of being wheeled like the wind from one place to the other and finally to the operating room for an emergency appendectomy around midnight... and no simple laparoscopic surgery would do in my case... I had to be cut from stem to stern (an inch above my belly button to the top of my pelvic bone) so the surgeon could clean out all the spilled poison and abscesses.
After a successful cleansing of my insides, the anesthesia team began bringing me to wakefulness... another complication...
They explained to me later that apparently my body had been so traumatized for so long and had worked so hard to survive that it was just too tired to fight any more after the surgery was over...
I couldn't breathe on my own... they kept trying to wean me off the ventilator and I kept stopping breathing, my lips turning blue. They tried again and it happened again. Finally it was decided to keep me on the ventilator and I was whisked to ICU, where I spent two days with the ventilator helping me breathe and another day in ICU after I was taken off that breathing machine, before I was put in a regular room for a night or so, then home to continue my recovery.
That's my story... I almost died twice... once due to my appendix rupturing and filling my body with its poison, then the not being able to breathe... but thanks to a wonderful surgical team, wonderful nurses, a strong, healthy constitution, a supportive husband who was with me every step of the way, prayers and love from my dear family, friends, and workmates... I'm still here... and getting better every day. It's taking time but I'll be back to normal before we know it!
I had to go back for another test a few days after I came home from the hospital due to some complications... I began running a fever that wouldn't go down... the doctor feared pockets of abscess could have developed... but there were none and I was simply put on another course of antibiotics to help rid my body of any residual infection... the fevers lasted over a week but have finally settled down the last day or two.
I haven't been online since I've been home from the hospital because I have had almost no strength (but it's been gaining a bit every day), it's been difficult to sit up at the big computer for long periods of time, and the incision in my tummy has made using the laptop difficult... PLUS I guess all the meds, the pain, and the fever have wreaked havoc on my attention span... I'm like a three year old with ADD! Can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time... I'm working on that.
I've missed all my wonderful Facebook "friends I've never met" and plan to begin over the next few days to get online for a few minutes a day and build back up. I wanted to get all this down in one post first and that's been a struggle over several days... I wanted you all to know what's been going on... Mr. G has read to me all your well wishes, questions, concerns, and precious love and support. You all deserve to know what has kept me away.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you friendship and patience...
Still kicking, just not so high or hard just yet!
Canning Granny
