Complications and a Midnight Ride
The last three weeks have had challenges, but overall I felt like I was on a positive trajectory. This week I hit a bump in the road and had to have emergency surgery due to a medical complication. The short story is that I'm doing much better now, and will likely go home from the hospital this weekend, but you can read more of the long version below.
On Wednesday it felt like spring, so I laced up my sneakers and went for a nice, muddy walk around Hall's pond. This was probably the most "normal" I'd felt in a few weeks- walking outside by myself, taking photos of nature, and listening to podcasts! When I got home I ate lunch and that's when the terrible stomach pains began. I'd heard about people having gas pains, and I thought that must be it, so I started walking around the apartment, marching up and down the stairs in the hallway, and doing some happy baby yoga poses to relieve the gas. My dad encouraged me to call the ostomy nurse and she added that I should drink hot tea in case food was lodged in my intestinal tract. Two cups of tea later and probably a days worth of Fitbit steps I was still doubled over in pain so we drove to the ER.
My pains started around 12:30pm and I checked into triage around 4:30pm. On all those tv shows it seems like going to the ER means you'll be immediately whisked away and treated, but we ended up in the waiting room for another 1.5 hours. I kept questioning my answer to the pain scale. I really hate that thing. Rating your pain from 0 to 10 based on the worst pain you've ever had seems so subjective. Plus I never say 10 because there must always be something worse. My pain was coming in waves and when it was active I felt like a 9 and in between waves was about a 5, so I told them I was a 7. I'm sure it would not have gotten me seen faster if I had said 8 or 9, but my monkey brain was all over the place! When a bed opened up, I was brought in.
That night is somewhat of a blur to me, but my parents stayed with me for hours. I had a CT scan and was eventually admitted to the hospital. They wanted to give my blockage more time to see if it would resolve itself and if not they'd have to operate the next day. At some point I decided pain medication would be a good idea and I don't know what took me so long. Everyone says don't be a martyr and it is so true. Pain meds are sometimes exactly what you need. In my case the morphine made me say some really silly things, but it felt like I was floating on a cloud and I was able to finally unclench my jaw and take a nap.
The ER is on the west campus and I needed to go to the east campus, so later that evening I was woken for my midnight ride. The EMTs helped me onto a stretcher and I was distracted from motion sickness in the ambulance by my EMT who had read in my records that I worked in Westwood. He told me he had gone to Westwood Public Schools! Small world!
Thursday was another day of waiting and seeing. Without any output from my stoma, the surgeon decided he needed to "take a peek" and they went in laparoscopically on Thursday evening. They thought it could be scar tissue, food blockage or a twist in the small intestine. I wasn't as nervous as my first surgery, but it was a bit disappointing to feel like I was going backwards just when I was making progress. Still, I was really ready to not be in pain, so I went with the plan.
Turns out there was a twist in my small intestine, so they fixed the twist. These things happen and I didn't do anything to cause it and there's nothing I can do to prevent it from happening again. The recovery is going well. I have some abdominal pains where they performed the surgery, but the flow of poo is steady again. Yesterday I started on liquids after not being able to eat or drink since Wednesday afternoon. Water was so delicious! Today I'm back on solids and I will likely go home from the hospital today or tomorrow.
Special shoutouts to my parents and sister for hanging out at the hospital with me while I winced, napped, and held my IV pole on walks to the solarium! ❤️❤️❤️ And thanks to everyone who has been sending messages and positive, healing vibes. It feels so great to have such a supportive community!
On Wednesday it felt like spring, so I laced up my sneakers and went for a nice, muddy walk around Hall's pond. This was probably the most "normal" I'd felt in a few weeks- walking outside by myself, taking photos of nature, and listening to podcasts! When I got home I ate lunch and that's when the terrible stomach pains began. I'd heard about people having gas pains, and I thought that must be it, so I started walking around the apartment, marching up and down the stairs in the hallway, and doing some happy baby yoga poses to relieve the gas. My dad encouraged me to call the ostomy nurse and she added that I should drink hot tea in case food was lodged in my intestinal tract. Two cups of tea later and probably a days worth of Fitbit steps I was still doubled over in pain so we drove to the ER.
My pains started around 12:30pm and I checked into triage around 4:30pm. On all those tv shows it seems like going to the ER means you'll be immediately whisked away and treated, but we ended up in the waiting room for another 1.5 hours. I kept questioning my answer to the pain scale. I really hate that thing. Rating your pain from 0 to 10 based on the worst pain you've ever had seems so subjective. Plus I never say 10 because there must always be something worse. My pain was coming in waves and when it was active I felt like a 9 and in between waves was about a 5, so I told them I was a 7. I'm sure it would not have gotten me seen faster if I had said 8 or 9, but my monkey brain was all over the place! When a bed opened up, I was brought in.
That night is somewhat of a blur to me, but my parents stayed with me for hours. I had a CT scan and was eventually admitted to the hospital. They wanted to give my blockage more time to see if it would resolve itself and if not they'd have to operate the next day. At some point I decided pain medication would be a good idea and I don't know what took me so long. Everyone says don't be a martyr and it is so true. Pain meds are sometimes exactly what you need. In my case the morphine made me say some really silly things, but it felt like I was floating on a cloud and I was able to finally unclench my jaw and take a nap.
The ER is on the west campus and I needed to go to the east campus, so later that evening I was woken for my midnight ride. The EMTs helped me onto a stretcher and I was distracted from motion sickness in the ambulance by my EMT who had read in my records that I worked in Westwood. He told me he had gone to Westwood Public Schools! Small world!
Thursday was another day of waiting and seeing. Without any output from my stoma, the surgeon decided he needed to "take a peek" and they went in laparoscopically on Thursday evening. They thought it could be scar tissue, food blockage or a twist in the small intestine. I wasn't as nervous as my first surgery, but it was a bit disappointing to feel like I was going backwards just when I was making progress. Still, I was really ready to not be in pain, so I went with the plan.
Turns out there was a twist in my small intestine, so they fixed the twist. These things happen and I didn't do anything to cause it and there's nothing I can do to prevent it from happening again. The recovery is going well. I have some abdominal pains where they performed the surgery, but the flow of poo is steady again. Yesterday I started on liquids after not being able to eat or drink since Wednesday afternoon. Water was so delicious! Today I'm back on solids and I will likely go home from the hospital today or tomorrow.
Special shoutouts to my parents and sister for hanging out at the hospital with me while I winced, napped, and held my IV pole on walks to the solarium! ❤️❤️❤️ And thanks to everyone who has been sending messages and positive, healing vibes. It feels so great to have such a supportive community!
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