My trip to the ER and OR!

It has been a crazy week for us! I will now share with you my frightening and crazy experience that landed me in the operating room!

Thursday morning I woke up with severe abdominal pain. I wasn't sure what it was; cramps (no, not my time of month), ulcer flare up (maybe, but this doesn't feel quite like that), constipation (no, been pretty regular), food poisoning (I haven't eaten anything that at least one other member of my family has eaten as well and they are all fine), etc. My mind was reeling trying to figure this out. None of my answers really fit all my symptoms. My pain got progressively worse and then around noon, I noticed my abdomen was swelling up. In one hour I went from normal to looking like I was 4-5 months pregnant! Then I completely blacked out. After blacking out I was shaking, cold, and numb. So I made a few phone calls. My friend, Heather, came and stayed with the boys for me (Andrew was napping). My friend, Zouri, came and took me to Urgent Care, and Nathan left work and met us at Urgent Care. I remember while we were sitting in the waiting room at Urgent Care that I said to Zouri, I am probably bleeding internally and will die before they see me! I said that because I was in so much pain! Little did I know that I was right! They finally called me back and Nathan went with me. The nurse took my vitals and went to get the doctor right away. The doctor said that the nurse told her she was worried about me and thinks I should be sent straight to the ER. The doctor took a look as me and agreed. So they wheel chaired me out to the car and Nathan drove me to the ER. I could barely walk at the point. I was in intense pain and very dizzy!

In the ER they did a CAT Scan and the doctor came in and said that I have blood in my abdomen, and that is what is causing all my pain, but they do not know yet where it is coming from. So I became very scared at that point. I am bleeding internally, but they don't know where from!? Meanwhile the pain and swelling was getting worse and worse. They gave me an IV for fluids and morphine for the pain. Even the morphine wasn't taking the pain completely away though. Our friend, Max, came to assist Nathan in giving me a blessing and Nathan made a few phone calls to assure that the children were taken care of for the night.

They did blood work, and an ultra sound to try to figure out this medical mystery. They finally decided that it was a hemorrhagic cyst that ruptured and was bleeding out into by abdominal cavity.

They said that many time these will stop bleeding on their own. So their plan was to keep me over night and closely observe me to make sure I didn't get any worse and to manage my pain. I didn't get much sleep Thursday night because the pain was so severe and the nurse took my vitals every half hour. My blood pressure is usually pretty low. Normal for me is about 105/80. But my blood pressure this while time kept going down. The lowest it got was 68/42! Not good.

Friday morning they checked my blood count again and it had dropped more, which meant I was still bleeding inside. So they prepped me for surgery.

They did a Laparoscopy surgery and stopped the bleeding. They said my cyst was the size of a silver dollar and they pumped a whole liter of blood out of my abdomen. I only have 6 liters in my body! That explains why I am so weak and dizzy and having massive headaches! And why my blood pressure was so low!

They couldn't drain all the blood and fluid so the rest will have to reabsorb and in the meantime, while my body is trying to heal itself, I will be in pain. Not as much as I was with my internal organs "swimming in blood" (those were the doctor's words) but there is still enough in there to cause great pain. I was told that blood is highly irritating to your insides. I believe them!

So I am home now trying to recover. I have severe abdominal pain, trying to let my body reabsorb the blood and heal from the stitches and surgery. I have severe headaches, dizziness, and weakness from the loss of blood. But I have some pretty good pain pills which are making me sleep a lot, so that is good.

We are so very blessed to have such wonderful friends here. We do not have family close by to count on in times of emergency like this but our friends are our family! We have had friends step up for childcare needs, driving the kids to things, and bringing in meals. It has been absolutely wonderful to feel all their love!

The hardest part of this is that I cannot run for a while. That totally messes up m training and my goal. Arg! And Nathan and I were going to take Nick on his first ever ski trip this coming Friday (there is no school) and now I probably won't be able to go with. That really makes me sad! Oh well, life rarely goes as planned. I have definitely learned that by now. Still stinks though.

Time to go lay back down now....before my head explodes!