ER, pain meds, "ugh"-ness, --Hey! We’ll stay strong . . . We are fighters!!

Well, a couple of days ago, I had thought to write an update and, well, I just didn't . . . I'm, once again, sick in bed, so I shall write...

I had beed doing just fine, recovering from surgery. The pain came back exactly one week after my surgery --but I just stuck w/ taking my pain meds and stayed on the road to recovery. I did, however have to go to see my doc that monday, last monday, bcause of the pains --he put me back on bc to help keep the cysts from forming again.

I went to my primary doc for my physical and lab results . . . turns out I have Hypothyroidism. :( Yet at the same time, :) , because it explains a lot of why I've been feeling the way I've been feeling for a very long time!! But that's just one more med I have to take every day . . . I'm looking forward to some positive results! :)

My Dad was released from the Hospital, and went back home, on Wednesday of last week (11/12). He had surgery on Monday Nov. 10th -they implanted an ICD (Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) *some-what similar to a pace maker. He is still recovering at home.

My mom hasn't been to work, to take care of my dad. So, she's been under a significant amount of . . . stress, I'm sure. Then I find out that their car had to go into the shop on Friday, I believe because it doesn't work. So, they'll get the car back on Monday --But they are w/out a car! Not a very good scenario . . .

Kryssa went to the doc on Tuesday because she had this bark-like cough attack at 2am, Tuesday morning, and was struggling to breath! :( *sounded like she was gasping through a straw --that's how bad the wheezing was. :( After we soothed and calmed her, her breathing got better but we knew something wasn't right and we didn't want to experience that again -so we took her to see her doc. Turned out she had Croup! :( So, she's been on breathing treatments around the clock (every 3 hrs for the first 3 days and now every 6-8 hrs until Monday . . . and then as needed); she had three days of oral steroids (twice a day) and she's been on an antibiotic. She has been getting better. :) Chris was able to stay home w/ her on Wednesday and Thursday of last week and then she went to work w/ me on Friday.

My first day back at work, after about 2 1/2 weeks, was on Wed., Nov. 10. It felt strange being back --almost like my first day there again . . . I worked through my pains and used my pain meds when I absolutely needed to.

I was supposed to get my stitches taken out tomorrow . . . which I have been looking forward to for a while now. But after my horrible episode this morning, I don't I'll be going in tomorrow after all . . .

I woke up at 6:19am w/ horrible stomach pains (something I've experienced before). But out of nowhere it turned into something I have NEVER experienced before. I got sooooo nauseated and then the pains were soooooo bad that my body turned pale and I was FREEZING inside my skin!! My bones felt like they were covered in ice!! Yet, my shirt and entire body was soaked w/ sweat! :( I panicked and called out to Chris that he needed to wake up that I was going to pass out. I sat on the bathroom floor trying to hold myself up in a sitting position but then I started to lose feeling in my arms and legs . . . I told Chris he was going to need to call for an ambulance. I have NEVER EVER felt like that and knew that if I passed out, Chris would freak out not knowing what to do w/ a sleeping 4yr old and a wife passed out on the bathroom floor . . .

I just remember praying to God to help me get through it and I was breathing as deeply as i could --in through my nose, out through my mouth . . . a few sips of water here and there and then the freezing feeling slowly faded away and the sweating stopped. I put my shoes on and told Chris to hurry and take me to the ER before I had another one of those episodes.

We tried leaving Kryssa w/ my front neighbor but we couldn't find anyone available to pick her up . . . I didn't know what to do. i couldn't just up and go to the ER . . . i called my mom but she said my dad hadn't been doing well and she couldn't leave him alone --plus she didn't have a car (still in the shop). I called Monica but she had to be at Church at 10am. I had forgotten that it was Sunday! I was soooo disoriented i really thought it was a weekday. I remember thinking to myself, "you're going to church this morning?! What's going on at church this early in the morn?!" ha ha. Well, then Chris called his dad but he said that he was up all night sick w/ a cold and couldn't come to watch kryssa!!! GEEZ! it was nuts. So, we just wrapped her up and took her w/ us. Chris dropped me off and then on his way home he got a call from my mom that he could take her to their house and they would watch her so he could be there w/ me.

I got to the ER around 7:45am this morning. I had no idea what was going on w/ me . . . the doc his initial exam and listened here and there and tapped here and there and when he got to my gallbladder, he told me to take a deep breath in and then he pushed! AHH! I just yelped out and started crying! it hurt sooo much and then he said that it seems like a gallbladder attack. I just broke down in tears because 3 days after my surgery in Jan. 08, I went into the hospital w/ similar symptoms and they thought it was my gallbladder then too!! I just thought to myself "TAKE IT OUT!! IF I DON'T NEEEEED IT, JUST PLEASE TAKE IT OUT!!!" well, after iv fluids, anti this and that medicine, and some morphine, I felt okay enough to just want to sleep. I started to feel much better. xrays and ultrasounds were done and everything came back healthy . . . so, the doc said that the only thing they can conclude is that it's "Gastroenteritis"
** " . . . also known as gastro, gastric flu, and stomach flu . . . is inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, involving both the stomach and the small intestine . . .The inflammation is caused most often by infection with certain viruses, less often by bacteria or their toxins, parasites, or adverse reaction to something in the diet or medication . . . At least 50% of cases of gastroenteritis as foodborne illness are due to norovirus . . .Many different bacteria can cause gastroenteritis, including Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium, Escherichia coli, Yersinia, and others. Some sources of the infection are improperly prepared food, reheated meat dishes, seafood, dairy, and bakery products . . .inflammation of the large intestine, may also be present . . ." ** -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroenteritis

So after 4 hrs of meds, fluids, etc., I got to come home. Thank GOD that we went to the ER because I was able to come home feeling so much better than I did when I first woke up. And then I got several hrs of sleep. Once the morphine wore off, I woke up and realized how the meds had actually helped. Chris will be getting home soon w/ my narcotics and anti -this and that meds. :) I'm looking forward to another round of those so the pains, gurgles, and nausea will fade away so I can function better and get some good rest. I am on a clear liquid diet for today and then tomorrow i can eat some rice, breads, soups and other things . . . the doc said it shouldn't last more than 3 days since I didn't get tooo dehydrated. Thank God!

another thing I was told, while I was there, was that the pains that I have been dealing w/ since late 2006, the same ones that reappeared a week after the surgery . . . the pains that I thought would go away after the removal of the cysts and endometriosis . . . well, I was told that some endometriosis patients suffer w/ chronic pains due to scar tissue! :( "WHAT?! . . . NO!!!" is what I thought as i sat there crying and listening to him say that just because they remove the actual live tissue, I could still suffer w/ chronic pains due to the scar tissue that forms. He went on to say that there are no treatments for that and that endometriosis is a life-long battle for the majority of endometriosis patients (he says he has seen his sister suffer from it). The thing he did recommend is to talk w/ Dr. Ruiz (my obgyn) to get a referral to see a specialist for pain management . . . so that I could get the pain meds I need for relief --and to get the right pain meds that won't damage my organs, I guess is what he was also trying to say. Because the pain meds I am currently on , they work very well, but sometimes I need to double up on them (which I have the okay to do so) but there aren't any known long-terms affects from those meds but there might be something to offer better relief for longer periods throughout my day so I can still function and go about my norm --morphine was one that he mentioned . . . all that was NOT what I wanted to hear!! I mean, the only way to "treat" endometriosis is to go through surgery after surgery to remove the live tissue . . . but when that tissue forms, there is no way of knowing! Ultrasounds don't show it!! So, if I kill the pain all the time, how will I know when it starts getting worse meaning that I might need another surgery to remove it again?!?! you see what I mean? I can't tolerate the pain anymore --yet if I cover it up, will I go too long w/out knowing that I need another surgery?! ugh! Wow! That was jaw dropping -dreadful news. I just laid in the bed, after the doc left the room to order tests, and I sobbed and sobbed and cried to God about it . . . I don't ever want to question God . . . yet I do find myself questioning how to 'deal' and cope w/ these parts of my life :( BUT on the way home I reminded myself that I DO have good health. It might be painful and not AS healthy as the person next to me . . . BUT my grandmother suffered w/ pain from cancer and watching her suffer through that disease was so heartbreaking. I CAN stay positive through PCOD and Endometriosis. I know I am human and I can only handle so much . . . I allow myself to breakdown and cry and hurt and feel those emotions when needed --but I WILL continue to LOVE the life I have been given and I WILL continue to be so-ever thankful for the health that I DO have! :D Praise God for the child we were able to conceive and Praise God for my loving and supportive husband!! :D I couldn't ask for a better partner to help me through this . . .

*enough about that already! ha ha ;)


So, once again, I'll be home, in bed . . . w/ the exceptions of eating times for Kryssa ;)

And LAST but NOT least: Please pray for my uncle! My mom called to see how I was feeling and I heard 'something' in her voice and when I asked how dad was doing she said "he's doing better" . . . then I asked how she was doing and then that's when she told me that my Uncle went into the ER this morning (1am) w/ chest pains and pain in his left arm . . . He had a heart attack and needed two stints ( I believe they are called) -he had two arteries in his heart that were clogged. So, he is in the hospital, recovering from his heart attack and the stint surgery . . . our family is getting attacked left and right....Please, just keep my entire family in prayer. I don't know what else to expect anymore. I know that God is our source and I trust that He will help us through everything.


Well, that's the update.


Hope you are doing well. I would love to hear from you and any news you might be up for sharing.

--be blessed


Mishelly

recovery update, prayer’s needed for my dad’s health, watching history in the making, +3

I had my surgery yesterday morning . . .

It was strange, I remember getting to the OR (I guess it's called that -or is it SR "surgery room"?) and looking around. I remember the anesthesiologist asking me where I wanted to go on "vacation" -while I slept- and then I remember moving from one bed to another and then the next thing I remember is waking up feeling like I couldn't breathe -my throat was so swollen from having the tube down my throat. Then I reacted to the anesthesia and my whole body was trembling out of control -like an adrenaline rush or major loss of blood, like shock almost . . . they had to put a 'porta-heater' over me and they wrapped my entire body (head and all) in warm blankets. They were instructing me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth . . .

I heard a nurse tell another that she has never known anyone to wake up so soon after surgery. I woke up in 20 minutes! Last time it took me about an hour. I think I was just looking forward to that exact moment for the last several days -that moment when I wake up and know it's all over and that I would start feeling better from that point on!

So, the doc cleared away the golf ball-size cyst and then their was another significantly large one on my other ovary along w/ some smaller ones. Then I heard what I had been so afraid to hear . . . I have endometriosis. :( My ovaries were attached to my abdominal wall -not where they belong!! (no wonder I was in soooooo much pain and just not well anymore!) So, my doc burned off that endometrial tissue and pulled/put my ovaries back where they belong . . . I'm just so sad about the news. I don't understand. It wasn't there 10 months ago --BUT I am thankful that I HAD to get the surgery again already/so soon because it could have gotten soooooooooo much worse! Even Chris is so sad about it because he has been on this "baby high" and we are both praying that this doesn't get any worse between now and the time that we start ttc again . . . We just might have to adopt sooner than we thought. Only God knows! --I don't know how more of these surgeries I can go through.

So, God willing my recovery continues well. I'm super sore and have several air bubbles putting a lot of pressure on my insides and right lung/rib cage. :( (from the gas that they put in my belly). But I'm moving a long quite a bit better than I did after the last one. I got a scare today because I started w/ a fever around 11:30am. Even after I took my prescribed tylenol (w/ codeine) and my temp still never got below 100.4! :( Thank God it's back down to between 99.0 - 99.4 tonight. The doc says he'll call tomorrow and if it's not down to 98.6 that I have to be admitted. God willing things continue to go well. I'll probably never want this surgery again if 2 out of 2 times I end up in the hospital w/ an infection because of this surgery . . .


Other news in our household is that we are now +3 for a while. :) My niece and her 2 baby girls have moved on in for a while. So, now we are a family of 6 (ages: 27, 26, 20, 4 and 2 yrs old, and one 9 month old) We'll have some great times and some trying times (I'm sure) -I'm very happy to have them here w/ us. :)

Also, if my bulletin didn't work w/ getting posted: My dad is in the hospital (we don't know for how long he'll be there). The CT results show that he had a mild stroke. He has lost some of his vision. :( My poor daddy! Please Please Please keep him and my mother (and my family) in your prayers. We greatly appreciate it.

I will post any other updates when I can.