So anyway, here's my story:
I had been feeling kinda weird all weekend, that's why my mom, Adia and I came back to Eugene early. She went home Sunday and I printed the Christmas letters, addressed the cards and ordered the pictures. I must have known something was going to happen. I woke up around 6:30 to a slight tummy ache. I was hoping it would just go away like the last two did. Scott was getting ready for work and I told him what was happening. Adia was still asleep and I really didn't want to wake her. He left around 6:45, but had his phone in his pocket. I called him less than 10 minutes later. He hadn't even reached the end of the block. He raced back because I was in tears. I normally don't cry over pain unless it's really really bad.
We walked into Adia's room to change her diaper before we left. At that moment she woke up crying too. I picked her up and we snuggled (my last snuggle with her for awhile) We changed her, loaded the diaper bag and left. We got to the ER about 7:15. The triage nurse acted like I had no idea what I was talking about, even though it had only been 6 days since our last visit. She even recognized Adia. We were taken back at 7:30 and waited until 8:30. The doctor finally sees us and by then the pain has diminished greatly, but there are still stabbing pains under the ribs on my right side. That hadn't happened last time. He presses there and it hurt, which was also different from last time. He leaves and we wait again. It's then a little after 9:15. The nurse puts in an IV (only took 1 try, thank god!) and takes some blood. I'm back in pain again so he gives me something. The second it hit my brain, I wanted to die. My whole body felt like lead and the room was spinning. I will never ever ever get meds during labor!
He leaves, we wait forever and the doctor comes back around 10:15 to tell us my bloodwork looks fine. The pain meds had suddenly worn off too and I've got stabbing pains again. He tells me that I can go home with major pain meds or he can call my surgeon to see what he thinks. Umm.. hello? Are you an idiot? I have bad stabbing pains, I was here 6 days ago and obviously going home isn't going to make it better. I don't think he believed it was anything serious. Well, he called my surgeon who told him to admit me immediately. (I wish I could have seen his face. I'm sure it was priceless. That guy was an ass!)
Another nurse comes in and hooks up some saline. Then I get admitted to the hospital and it becomes a long waiting game. My pain started to subside and I had to pee every 2 hours from the saline. Keep in mind, Adia's with us this whole time. She hasn't taken her morning nap and she's thrown all her bottles on the floor. She has nothing left to eat and is totally bored. The only saving grace was the window in my room. My mom arrived at noon to rescue Adia. From then on it was just Scott and me. I can't even begin to describe how much I missed Adia.
All I had was a dull ache and lots of time to wait. I haven't eaten anything since 6:30 the night before and I'm not allowed to eat anything either. Around 2, my surgeon drops by. He has 2 other surgeries scheduled for that afternoon so mine will be after those are done. He just smiled when he saw me and said, "I guess you didn't make it." (found out later that he's the chief of surgery for his field) He assumed we'd be in between 5:30 and 6.
5pm comes and goes and my tummy's doing flips. We're getting close. My nurse, who was also my mom's nurse after surgery 2 years ago, is an awesome guy. He kept dropping in to check my pain and make sure I was relaxed. He kept telling me that he'll let me know the second he knows anything. He also had to keep helping me out of bed to pee. I hate saline drips. At about 7pm, a surgery nurse shows up to get me. They gave us no warning, but I just wanted it over and done with.
Scott walks with us almost the whole way. We say "see you later" and "I love you." The nurse was funny about that too. He called the area the "parting of the ways" and makes sure you say your "see you laters" because it's not going to be goodbye. They park me in the hallway outside the OR. I'm blind since Scott has my glasses, but everyone's smiling and cracking jokes. I see the anesthesiologist who asks a million questions and tells me everything's gonna be great. Then he asks an OR nurse to put on those socks that prevent blood clots. She pulls up the sheet and sees my fun socks. I was wearing my rainbow socks with nonskid tread. I wore them when Adia was born too. She ended up putting them over the other socks because she didn't want me to lose them.
Then I'm wheeled into surgery. Everyone's being really goofy and making jokes. It's really light hearted. You could tell they were trying to relax me, but I was still a little freaked. With my last surgery I didn't have a breathing tube or a catheter, but this time I had to have both. I was not looking forward to the after effects of either. I wiggled from my bed onto the table and then the anesthesiologist started my IV with some anti-nauseas. He told me to take some good deep breaths of oxygen and that's the last thing I remember before waking up in the recovery room.
I thought I was dying. I honestly couldn't breathe. My chest still gets tight just thinking about it. I think I've discovered my greatest phobia. I started coughing and wheezing and couldn't get a good breath in. I had like 5 people on me, trying to get me to breathe. Someone had their hands on the sides of my head, holding it back to keep my airway open and there was a oxygen mask pressed to my face. It took 10 minutes, but I was finally able to breathe on my own. Within 15 minutes I was talking to the nurse, but I was still exhausted. Not long after they wheeled me back to my room. Scott was asleep on two folding chairs and looked totally uncomfortable. The CNA brought him a recliner to sleep in after seeing that.
They took my vitals for the next hour and gave me oxygen. I got up to pee almost immediately. I didn't know I could pee so much. It was almost as bad as after Adia was born. Pretty soon I just had the IV hooked up and was drinking fluids. My nurse said I could have anything I wanted to eat as long as I could keep the water down. I was so hungry, but fell asleep instead. He also gave me percocet. I didn't get much sleep all night though. I was awake every 2 hours to pee.
Shift change happened around 11:30 and I was sad to lose them. My night nurses were nice though and were good about getting me back and forth from the bathroom. I got more percocet around 4am. I still couldn't sleep though. Every little noise would wake me. Around 7:30 I saw my surgeon again. He let me know that everything went perfectly and he couldn't have asked for a better surgery. It was also a very good thing we did it when we did. I had a gallstone impacted in the gallbladder neck. All I could think was no wonder my pain lasted so long and just kept coming back.
I was supposed to get my IV off shortly after that, but when they found out it had been over 36 hours since I last ate, they wouldn't take it off. Then they brought me some food. My RN and my CNA were totally on different wavelengths though. When I woke up, my throat was killing me from the tube. I was having a hard time swallowing too. My RN said she was going to bring me a clear liquid diet to make sure I wouldn't puke. I could only imagine how painful that would be. Well, the CNA brought me french toast and sausage. Say what? I knew I wasn't queasy, but sausage? I don't even eat sausage normally. I couldn't swallow the french toast even though I like they're french toast. Scott ended up eating it and I had them bring me yogurt and pudding. That was a little easier to eat.
For the next 3 hours we waited to get discharge. There's a new procedure that really slows things down. The pharmacy's supposed to approve all prescriptions. The pharmacy's the slowest part of the hospital. I puked twice in labor because they were so slow to bring me prevacid. They also couldn't find my prescription for Percocet. It was given to the trauma nurse, but then they couldn't find it. By the time we were discharged, it was almost time for me to get my next does of percocet. I hadn't noticed the time so by the time we walked to the car (yes, they let me walk), my right shoulder blade was starting to hurt. By the time we got to our pharmacy, I wanted to die. My percocet had completely worn off. Scott hauled ass, but our pharmacy was backed up too.
I ended up taking one in the car, thinking it would be enough, but I had to take another when we got home. I changed into roomier pjs and headed for the couch. Adia was really excited to see me. I feel so bad because for at least the next week, I'm not allowed to pick her up. It breaks my heart. She's really confused too.
Scott gave her dinner and a bath, all by himself. I'm even less help than I was with a broken arm. Then she drank 3oz and we thought she was asleep. We were wrong. She's now up and wanting to play. I just wish I could play with her. This is by far the cruellest torture.
And no post would be complete without my swollen belly:
1 comment:
OH honey, I hope you are feeling better.
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