Rough Week

Well this week hasn't exactly gone as I had hoped or planned, but glad it's over and things are improving again. Slowly, but surely. The week started out fine. My mom came and stayed with me Monday and I was doing pretty good. I told her she didn't need to come Tuesday and that I would be fine by myself. Tuesday morning I was feeling really good. I had even been taking less pain medicine for the last day or so. Around noon I started to feel kind of sick and get a stomach ache. I was sure it would pass soon because I had felt similar to this lots of times since the surgery, usually after eating. I laid down while I waited for it to pass, and took some pain medicine and nausea medicine. But it did not go away and just kept getting worse and worse. I fell asleep for about an hour but woke up with it still being really bad. I noticed that hardly anything had been put out from my ileostomy all day. Around 2 Chris called me on his break at work to see how I was doing and I just started crying and asked him to come home. He came home right away and stayed with me. I was in so much pain and just crying and crying. I called my mom and she said it was probably a blockage (it is really easy to get them with an ileostomy, it happened to me a couple times last time I had one) and that we should go to the ER. Chris had been asking me if I wanted to but I kept saying no, hoping it would clear on it's own. Finally I gave in and we went to the hospital. When we got there, there were several people in the waiting room of the ER and I thought we were going to have to wait a long time, but they called me back first. I think they could tell I was really sick. I was so relieved. They got an IV started on the first try (although it was right at my elbow, a terrible spot) and gave me something for pain and nausea, which made me pretty out of it (which I was ok with). My mom and little brother Kyler came. They did a CT scan and said that it looked like I had an obstruction. They said if it didn't clear it was possible I would need surgery, which scared me to death! They put an NG tube down my nose which went down my throat into my stomach (pretty miserable to have), but the idea is that it sucks things out and helps clear the obstruction, also helping with nausea and pain. They admitted me. The first night was pretty miserable. They were giving me pain medicine every hour. It was painful to move. I could only have sips of water and ice and was very thirsty. The next morning they gave me a PCA pump which controlled the pain a lot better and I started to feel lots better. By that afternoon I got up and went for a walk. The dr said if the NG tube started clearing up and putting less out then they would remove it that night or in the morning. I was getting really hungry. He let me eat a couple popsicles and they tasted so good compared to the water and ice I had been having. For dinner that night they clamped the NG tube and gave me a Full Liquid tray to eat. After a couple hours I felt fine and was not having nausea so they removed the tube around 10:30 that night. That night I slept much better and was hardly pushing the button for pain medicine. The next morning the dr said I could try a regular diet and if I felt well that night, then I could go home. I also had a pretty low red blood cell count, it was 7 and should be at least 12, so they decided to give me a blood transfusion. They also removed my staples that day on my incision, which was nice. My mom was there with me that day so Chris could go to work. I had the blood transfusion, ate regular food for lunch and dinner, was back to oral pain medicine (which I was hardly taking any of) and felt lots better so we got to go home about 6:30 that night. I was very happy it was such a short stay this time, and that there was no surgery! The dr didn't really know what caused it. He said most likely a combination of things, such as dehydration and pain medicine were likely contributors. Also just because I had had such a big surgery and was so sick going into it, a complication wasn't that out of the ordinary. Really I have been very lucky, considering how sick I was, that it wasn't worse or harder than it has been.

My mom asked if I wanted her to come stay with me Friday but I told her I would be fine by myself. I told her she could stay home for once and get some things done. Friday turned out to be a really rough day. I was so exhausted that it took so much energy to do ANYTHING. I was very emotional and kept crying over little things (such as not being able to open the container of potato soup my sister had brought us the night before). I talked to my mom and told her I was fine, but I wasn't.

I was also frustrated because I was waiting for the dr in SL to call me back. I had called them first thing in the morning because we were worried about me ileostomy. I am having a little problem with the skin being separated from it. I sent them a picture of it last week and they said to watch it, and then the next time I saw it it looked worse. The same thing happened last time I had an ileostomy, but it was all the way around it. At least this time it is just on one side. Last time the dr ended up just stitching the skin back to it and then it was fine. It happens likely due to steroids, which can compromise healing. Anyway, about 3 or 3:30 my mom texted me asking if I had heard from the dr yet, and I just picked up the phone and called her crying. I felt so alone and I guess you could say I was feeling sorry for myself. She kept offering to come see me, but I didn't really see the point when Chris would be home around 6, but finally I decided I couldn't stand to be alone any longer and so she said she would get in the car right then and come. Her and Kyler showed up about 35 to 40 minutes later. I was in bed and they both just crawled in bed with me and let me cry for awhile. Eventually I felt better and Kyler cheered me up by showing me some funny videos on You Tube of Brian Regan and the show Call of the Wild Man. My mom made me half a turkey sandwich and some lemonade. About 5:30 the dr called and told me that they weren't worried about my ileostomy and that it was normal to happen sometimes. They said if it gets to be too big of a pain then they can see me sooner than the 25th (which is when I have a follow up appointment in SL), but otherwise they would look at it then. I felt better after talking to them. I wasn't too worried about it, mostly it is just a pain to deal with. Anyway, we just sat and talked until Chris came home. My mom and Kyler left pretty soon after that. I cried some more to Chris and he just let me complain. I was feeling like I had a huge setback and was frustrated that I was so tired, that I still cannot fully use my arm, that I was feeling short of breath, even when just sitting or lying down, and was feeling lonely. He gave me a blessing and some good advice. He made me spaghetti for dinner which was the only thing that sounded good, and made a cute picture on the computer that had a monkey on it that said "Hang in there." (I should have posted the picture of it but didn't think about it)! We had a nice dinner and I was feeling lots better. Chris went to Redbox and got a movie which we watched cuddled up in our bed. It turned out to be a stupid movie, but it was nice to do just the same.

All weekend I have still felt very tired and not able to do much but sit and lay down, sit and lay down. I am getting very tired of it but am trying to be positive now. I know that I will get better. I have had a little bit of a hard time seeing my friends and family post things on their blogs and facebook that they are doing for fun, with the weather warming up and all. I have felt a little jealous. It has been 6 weeks since I have been to work. I hope I can go back soon. I know that once I get my strength back I will feel so much better and can't wait for summer and being able to do fun things again.

My mom is coming again tomorrow and I am glad. I am so thankful for her and all she has done for us. The lady that she takes care of fell right about when I went to SL, and went to a care center to get her strength back, so my mom hasn't had to worry about missing much work. It has been a blessing that she has been able to be with me so much.

Well I did not intend for this to be so long, but oh well. Here's to a better week!