Im not Being Dramatic, Im Sick Part 3

Its the much awaited final part of my appendix story!!!!

As I am sure you know I survived my appendix rupturing and my emergency surgery and other than being tired all the time I am doint well. Today I would like to take the time to wonder how it is anyone can recover t in a hospital.

Dont get me wrong the hospital staff was awesome and they took very good care of me except I couldnt get any rest in the place. I am a girl that recover quickly if I can get some sleep. I bet I could have left the next day if I could have sleep for 8 hours staright but no they dont allow that at hospitals.

Let me create a picture for you.....its 9PM and you are just starting to doze off when you hear this horrible noise. You look over and your sweet BF is snoring away!!!! But wait this is your hospital room if anyone is suppose to be snoring it should be you. You try to send him home but he wants to stay with you. But 10 minutes later he is snoring away again. So after taking a picture you beg him to leave so you can go to sleep.

Then just as you are falling asleep the following things happen:

• 10PM: Aide comes in to tell you she is leaving and to see if you need anything else.
• 10:30PM: Nurse comes in to get IV antibiotics ready to start at 11PM.
• 11PM: Nurse comes in to start IV antibiotics.
• Midnight: Nurse comes in to switch IV back to saline solution.
• 1AM: Nurse comes in to take vital signs to make sure I am not dead.
• 5AM: (I got about 2.5 hours of sleep) Lab tech comes in to take more blood.
• 7AM: Nurse comes in to take vitals to ensure I didnt die yet.
• 730AM: My liquid breakast arrives.

Thank goodnes I was released from the hospital later that day I was exhausted and really need to rest.

At Least my Hair Looks Good

You may have noticed that once again I have been absent from my blog and my tweets are few and far between. I guess the world was not done with my family. In fact I would be surprised if there was an Emergency Room in Northern Utah my family hasn't visited in the last few weeks.

As you know my appendix ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery right before Thanksgiving and we all thought that was scary but things did not stop there oh no. That was only the beginning of ER visits for my family.

Since mom was scheduled to have a hip replacement surgery we decided to have our stocking decorating Christmas Party early so here we were all over at moms when my sister (very dramatically) says to my step-dad, "Whats wrong with your face?" As we all turn our attention to him we notice his face his droopy and his speech is slurred. So my sister and mom rush himthe the local ER were they inform us its not a stroke but Bells Palsey.

The following Monday mom has her surgery as scheduled only that evening my sister notices my dad is worse so she takes him back to the ER (which luckily was down the hall from moms hospital room). After the Dr telling us again it was Bells Palsey my sister took him home very unsatisfied with the answers we are getting. After more appointments and tests that we insisted on the determined he had a stroke.

Just when we thought things were moving forward and people were getting better my mom texts me and says:

• MOM: Grandma T is being transported to the hospital. She is having a heart attack. Your sister is with Pa. I will let you know what is happening.

Suddenly my life is like a bad soap opera. I immediately drive through the treacherous canyon. to go sit with my mom and niece while my sister takes my step-dad to the Emergency Room to be with his mom who ended up getting life flighted to a hospital in a bigger city.

Just when we thought everything was quite again (grandma is doing very well they were able to clear out the blockage, place a stint in her artery and place a temporary pacemaker) we had to (and by we I mean my sister) rush my sister to the Emergency Room. Yup hospital staff now knows us by our first now. Moms leg was swollen and the Drs were worried about a blood clot. Luckily they didn't find one.

Needless to say December has been a rough month for us. I want to skip it and go straight to 2012. Nothing bad can happen in 2012 except that world ending thing. But after everything we have been through that doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

I am Not Being Dramatic, I am Sick: Part 2

After arriving at the hospital (and the girl who checked me in was overly happy to see me...Oh yea the clinic just called about you) a nurse takes me to my room and as we are passing the bathroom she asks if I would be able to give a urine sample. I would really like drugs before I have to move but more important I have not had anything to drink beyond a few sips of water I doubt I could pee (why do I always blog about pee) at that moment.

They install me in a room and start doing all the fun stuff they do, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen levels and heart rate After they gather this info they give a little something something to take the edge of but not get rid of the pain. Soon they are hooking an IV up to my arm....or at least trying to hook one up. Apparently the first one the nurse tried to use was defective. Yes that's right defective and soon blood is dripping out of my arm all over the place.

This caused me to start turning gray again and I am immediately given oxygen (love oxygen its amazing I am going to start demanding it every time I go to the hospital or Doctors office) and the nurse takes out my bad IV and tries to give me another one and not having much success she calls another nurse to come help her (apparently the apparatus they use is a new design and they really don't like it).

Soon the ER Dr comes and starts asking me all the same questions the other Dr at the clinic asked. I was slightly annoyed (I am still in pain) that the two places didn't share more information with each other but I calmly (this is really out of charter) answer all the questions. The ER Dr tells me that the problem could be anything (duh Google told me that). He would like to do more blood work and run some tests on me. He explains that he would like to start with an ultrasound because he does not like to do CAT Scans on woman in their child bearing years if he can avoid it because of the radiation.

I would like to take a moment here and ask why is everyone so concerned for my unfertilized eggs. Those things are 36 years old, any that are still viable are apparently strong little suckers and a little radiation is not going to hurt them. And if I am lucky the radiation will kill them and I will be infertile.

Soon the lady from the lab is here to take more blood. Only know my blood is not flowing like an avalanche coming down the mountain (name that song) and it takes forever for them to collect their 3 vials of blood. After a little more time a very nice tech comes to take me away to have the ultra sound. Which was a new experience in pain.

After 30 minutes the Dr came in said everything from the ultra sound looked good. No Ovarian cysts, Gall Bladder, Kidney or Liver issues. Now that they have ruled out all those things he would like to do a CAT Scan. I call my mom and tell her this and although she is not convinced I am sick she asks if I want her to come to the hospital. I tell her wait after they decide whats wrong.

After the horrible Cat Scan the Dr comes in and says "Your about to give birth to....a very inflamed appendix We have called the on call surgeon and he will operate on it tonight." And as the Dr is telling me this nurse comes in and gives me morphine. I have never been so happy in my life....I have morphine and oxygen. Its the best combination of happy ever.

I am soon calling both parents and my mom makes me cry. Yup that's right I am laying in a hospital bed about to have major surgery and my mom made me cry. Now I realize my mom was teasing me and trying to make me laugh but the morphine was doing its job and I cried instead (sorry if I made you feel bad mom).

About this time the surgeon comes in and tells my that my appendix needs to come out immediately the CAT Scan showed some fluid in the area and they are worried its perforated (which is a nice way and less threatening way of saying it burst).

Now mom and step-dad are with me and they are getting ready to wheel me away and I start worrying about my nails. My polish was all chipped and faded and I was freaking out that I wouldn't be able to get a mani/pedi any time soon. I am not kidding I cant make this stuff up I am moments away from going into surgery and I am worried about my manicure. I need therapy!!!!

Did I mention this whole time that The BF was in the room with me except for leaving briefly while I was getting an ultra sound to go get something to eat. He never left my side. He made me laugh and kept me calm the whole time even offered to sneak me ice chips when they told me I could not have any.

Tomorrow all about waking up in the middle of surgery....okay really slept right through it. Tomorrow will be why I hate hospitals

Last Time I did this I Ended Up in the E.R.

Last night I packed a box of books and DVDs. As I was tapping the box up I had what I am know calling PTSD flashback but others may call a memory of taping up boxes last summer. Then I started to remember all the accidents that occurred last time I moved.

The shelves falling on my foot (I swear my foot started to hurt and turn purple at the memory of the trauma), falling down the stairs, scrapping up my leg, furniture falling on me bruising the whole side of my body and my grande finale hitting my head and ending up in the E.R.

As Tigger, the cat I was saving, and I stare into the bathroom mirror, the same mirror where I first inspected my head wound, I still see the fading scar running horizontally across my forehead. The shock and pain comes rushing back and I feel faint. I sit down on the floor and take a deep breath.

I no longer want to move.

Call Me Grace

I do not come from the most graceful of families. In fact we are all klutzes and its amazing that we haven't died out due to our accident prone nature. One time my mom step down off a bus and twisted her ankle so bad that it was the sizes of 2 softballs. My brother once hit a parked car while riding his bike. My sister crashed through a glass door and my dad once fell and cut his head on a chain saw. So as you can see we are very accident prone.

And I always have a new bruise from walking into walls, furniture or tripping over my own feet. But the last few days have been extreme even for me. Two days ago I was moving a bookcase when not 1 but 2 shelves fell out of the book case and hit my foot. Okay so they both didn't hit my foot, one landed on my foot and the other landed on the shelf that landed on my foot. In my defense I had forgotten that this book case didn't not have shelves that attached but rather were sitting on brackets. My foot immediately started to turn purple and swell. For the last 2 days it has become deeper shades of purple and it is now painful to walk.

And then last night....I fell down my stairs. I only fell down 2 steps and was not injured I just laid on the floor laughing while my dog, Tashi, ran upstairs to get my mom. She's such a good dog.


Then while moving some boxes upstairs, I bumped into something. I am not sure if it was a shelf, drawer, box or rubber tote (mostly likely a shelf) but a few minutes later I looked down and not only was my leg scratched and bleeding but it was also turning a nice shade of purple. So I slapped a couple of band aids. Luckily I always pack the 1st aid kit last.


 Did this stop me....I bet you already know the answer is NO. I didn't not slow down for a minute. While moving a piece of furniture it started to tip and instead of letting it fall I decided in a moment of brilliance to stop it with my body. YES I SAID MY BODY!!!!! This has caused major bruising on my arm and my thigh.

At this point you would think I would call it a day. Sit back and watch TV, eat some dinner, drink a bottle of wine and relax. But apparently I was not done. Oh No!!! I decided that my already accident prone day was not complete without adding a trip to the ER. 

Tigger who is not a whiny cat was having some stress from the move and was meowing and hiding in a closet. As I bend down to comfort her I whacked my head on a shelf (are you detecting a theme). Immediately my head starting bleeding. I am all by myself with a head wound. I walked quickly and a bit dazed to the bathroom to see how bad I was cut.

At this point I started crying knowing I need to go to the hospital but knowing I couldn't drive. So I did what any girl would do I called my MOMMY to come and get me. Who after loading me in the truck started laughing at me...WTF!!!!! I'm bleeding and she is laughing. Ever time she looked at me she would laugh, I'm pretty sure she pointed at me and laughed at some point.

I was holding a bloody wash rag to my forehead on my way to the Emergency Room and my mother is laughing at me. Soon after arriving at the ER I started to go into shock(Im a bit dramatic) because I started to get sick and the nurse ended up putting me on oxygen.

I ended up not getting stitches (although I was pretty sure my mom was going to start arguing with the Dr. about that). The wound was already closing so it was decided to put some Dermbond and steri strips on my forehead and a tetanus shot in my arm.

It has been suggested that I move into a bubble, I think a better idea is wrapping me in bubble wrap. I have bruises from my forehead down to the top of my foot. An intervention may be necessary.