First Hospital Scare
Everyone kept telling me that our first year of marriage was going to be the hardest and if we could make it through that year then we could make it through anything. Well I really started this year of hardships off correctly, considering I just spent the last week in the hospital.
I have been having problems with swelling of my legs and feet and shortness of breath on and off since October. My doctor told me in October it had to just deal with my stress level from the wedding planning and the fact that my thyroid numbers were abnormal. So I was told to watch what I eat, take vitamins and start a thyroid medication. He also gave me a pill to help with my water weight gain (that did not help what so ever)
Needless to say, this did not help. Things kept getting worse, all of my family on both sides were freaking out when they saw me around the holiday. I apparently looked like the walking dead. So finally after another appointment with my doctor and a trip to the immediate care (both of which were nothing was figured out) my doctor finally decided that on the 16th I needed to go get a cat scan of my chest (with the iodine, seriously the worst and strangest feeling in the world for me). Well after waiting in the lobby for an hour for the results I get a call from my doctor saying I needed to head to the hospital as soon as possible because they found blood clots in my lungs.
So here I am in the middle of the doctor's office lobby bawling on the phone and terrified. My mother in law had to handle the rest of the call and drive me to my apartment so I can get my husband and gather a few things for a hospital stay. I contacted both of my parents on the way and my mom was there at the admissions doors waiting for me once I arrived at Wesley.
First couple of days were scary. First day I had to deal with all the admission stuff: IV, blood work, finding out about the blood clots in my lungs. The second day I had to get another cat scan of my stomach and area to only find out that I had more blood clots in my renal vein (associated with my kidney). And since they found the clots in the kidney area the third day they started looking into problems with my kidneys themselves. I found out on the third day that I had some sort of disorder that I developed called "minimal change disease" that was causing my kidneys to push all of my protein out to my urine. And this was causing all the other problems, the swelling as well as the clots.
After finally figuring out what I had we started me on high dosage of steroids for the kidney problem and blood thinning pills and shots for the clots. The last three or so days consisted of me being moved finally from the Cardiac Care ICU to a normal room and getting large dosages of my medication. I was woken up every hour during the night for blood work, medication, shots, and vitals to be checked. Needless to say I never got any real sleep and I was constantly uncomfortable. Not to mention everyday I was there I had to have blood work done at least once, but most the time twice. One day I had to give blood work 4 times. It was miserable and I was constantly in pain from it all.
I was told that I was going to be able to leave on Saturday afternoon to only find out on Saturday that my INR level (blood thinning level) wasn't high enough and I had to stay another day. They then told me that I could leave Sunday afternoon but was told Sunday morning that I had to stay until 4pm to get my shot done. Ended up not leaving Sunday evening until around 5.
Needless to say, one of the longest, boring and yet most stressful weeks of my life. But I am so grateful for all the friends and family I have in my life and for all the support that they gave me while I was there. I always had visitors and people checking up on me and that was so nice.
I still have alot to do outside of the hospital and I can't even begin to think about how much all of this is going to cost me. I have like 20 pills that I have to take everyday and I have a doctor's appointment at least once a week as well as blood work that needs to be done and check once a week. It is going to be a long road to a full recovery but I am glad that we are finally on the right track to knowing what is wrong and what my steps need to be to get better.
I have been having problems with swelling of my legs and feet and shortness of breath on and off since October. My doctor told me in October it had to just deal with my stress level from the wedding planning and the fact that my thyroid numbers were abnormal. So I was told to watch what I eat, take vitamins and start a thyroid medication. He also gave me a pill to help with my water weight gain (that did not help what so ever)
Needless to say, this did not help. Things kept getting worse, all of my family on both sides were freaking out when they saw me around the holiday. I apparently looked like the walking dead. So finally after another appointment with my doctor and a trip to the immediate care (both of which were nothing was figured out) my doctor finally decided that on the 16th I needed to go get a cat scan of my chest (with the iodine, seriously the worst and strangest feeling in the world for me). Well after waiting in the lobby for an hour for the results I get a call from my doctor saying I needed to head to the hospital as soon as possible because they found blood clots in my lungs.
So here I am in the middle of the doctor's office lobby bawling on the phone and terrified. My mother in law had to handle the rest of the call and drive me to my apartment so I can get my husband and gather a few things for a hospital stay. I contacted both of my parents on the way and my mom was there at the admissions doors waiting for me once I arrived at Wesley.
First couple of days were scary. First day I had to deal with all the admission stuff: IV, blood work, finding out about the blood clots in my lungs. The second day I had to get another cat scan of my stomach and area to only find out that I had more blood clots in my renal vein (associated with my kidney). And since they found the clots in the kidney area the third day they started looking into problems with my kidneys themselves. I found out on the third day that I had some sort of disorder that I developed called "minimal change disease" that was causing my kidneys to push all of my protein out to my urine. And this was causing all the other problems, the swelling as well as the clots.
After finally figuring out what I had we started me on high dosage of steroids for the kidney problem and blood thinning pills and shots for the clots. The last three or so days consisted of me being moved finally from the Cardiac Care ICU to a normal room and getting large dosages of my medication. I was woken up every hour during the night for blood work, medication, shots, and vitals to be checked. Needless to say I never got any real sleep and I was constantly uncomfortable. Not to mention everyday I was there I had to have blood work done at least once, but most the time twice. One day I had to give blood work 4 times. It was miserable and I was constantly in pain from it all.
I was told that I was going to be able to leave on Saturday afternoon to only find out on Saturday that my INR level (blood thinning level) wasn't high enough and I had to stay another day. They then told me that I could leave Sunday afternoon but was told Sunday morning that I had to stay until 4pm to get my shot done. Ended up not leaving Sunday evening until around 5.
Needless to say, one of the longest, boring and yet most stressful weeks of my life. But I am so grateful for all the friends and family I have in my life and for all the support that they gave me while I was there. I always had visitors and people checking up on me and that was so nice.
I still have alot to do outside of the hospital and I can't even begin to think about how much all of this is going to cost me. I have like 20 pills that I have to take everyday and I have a doctor's appointment at least once a week as well as blood work that needs to be done and check once a week. It is going to be a long road to a full recovery but I am glad that we are finally on the right track to knowing what is wrong and what my steps need to be to get better.
The giraffe that my Daddy got me, we put my extra hospital band on him
The flowers my sorority sister Kym brought me
The cake pops I got sent to me from a Hamilton family friend
The balloon that my Mommy got me
The flowers my sorority sister Erica brought me
The fall risk band that they made me wear, Payden adored this. He says I should wear one everyday
Giraffe and balloon from my sister KC
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