From Toyota to Bowel Obstructions

We had a very eventful, both good and bad last week. The good being that Scott bought his brand new Toyota Tundra and is in LOVE. I'm so over the moon happy for him. He's wanted a truck for so long, and finally treated himself to his dream last week.

Insert the ugly part which is where I thought I may be starting to obstruct while we were at the dealership. I was confident that I was ok since I was able to eat and drink without problem. This is something that doesn't happen with a "normal" obstruction. So after a few hours at the dealership and driving around to show some of our family/friends our new toy I felt pretty good. I even went home and ate a giant bowl of cereal and had plenty of bubbly and gurggly sounds so I was pretty happy.

The next morning I woke up feeling like I was having contractions. Not cool. I was feeling super dehydrated too (classic) so I headed to work had one of the Nurses start a quick IV on me for some fluids. It didn't do a thing for me unfortunately.

I worked most of the day then decided to head home after lunch and just relax to see how I felt. No doubt it was progressing horribly. I called my Nurse at Hopkins and she suggested I go out and buy the Miralax/Gatorade solution and drink the entire 64oz. of joy...(insert sarcasm here). Ok so it's actually not bad at all and I like Gatorade, my nerves were just shot.

So after drinking all of that liquid I thought I was going to explode, correction...I WISH I would have exploded but nothing. Then I knew I was in trouble and needed to get myself in gear for the ER.

We get to the ER and by now I'm just a sobbing mess in so much pain and having so much anxiety over this impending doom of an ordeal. Scott had to go park so I walked in the front door to be greeted by a tiny elderly lady offering me a wheelchair because "you're pregnant and can't breathe" hmm, well you got part of that right little cute lady. My stomach was sticking out so far I really did look about 6-7 months pregnant. The pressure was so bad that It was taking my breath away. Really just not a good combination I must say.

Skip ahead a few hours and lots of pain medication later. I was finally comfortable but the usual tricks of my obstructions weren't working. I got scared. Fast. Then came the dreaded statement that had I not been drugged I may have just lost it..."You need an NG tube" gah!!!!! I had a horrific experience when I was 19 with an NG tube and really wasn't trying to relive those memories but alas I did.

The Nurses were great and so supportive, but still missed and it took 3 tries for the NG (a blood bath horror scene and a lot of vomiting) to be successful. Once it was in about 500cc of fluid came off my stomach. Ahhh. I had visitors the next day but I can barely remember to be honest. I was upset, drugged, emotional, snappy (apparently) and miserable and I barely remember any of it now.

Vaguely I remember a doctor coming in to tell me that they were going to have a surgeon come evaluate me. I've had about 6 obstructions and never had to have surgery. Apparently my small bowel and colon heard those words and got scared. A few hours later I was home free if you know what I mean ;)

Luckily I was discharged from the hospital on Friday after going in Wednesday night. Not too shabby considering how bad this one was, and how bad it had the potential to be. All in all I'm so grateful to be home and NOT recovering from bowel surgery right now. It could have been a lot worse than it was, I recognize that.

After not eating for almost 4 days I'm happily indulging once again, but of course being careful :)

In The Hospital (Pneumonia)

Well the Asthma exacerbation has turned into a little bit more. I went running on Wednesday evening and when I was done the 2 miles I thought I was going to be kissing the pavement. Whoa I could barely move air at all. So I decided to give it over night to see how I did. Thursday morning I called Hopkins first thing and give them a heads up. Immediately they wanted me to be seen. I left right from work and when I got there I knew that something was going on for sure. It felt just like when I had pneumonia in 1998. What a drag.

I did the PFT's and they listened to my lungs, lots of junk and rales in the bases, which landed me an admission. My FIRST adult admission ever I must say :( I know it's the best thing, but it's been tough to be here I must admit. Especially not being used to this at all is so weird. Each new nurse that I meet is puzzled that they don't know me. I guess that should make me feel good.

So I got the PICC put in this afternoon. I'm having TOBI and Cefipime infusing on me, as well as oral Bactrim. The PICC is apparently too far in my heart (In the Right Atrium) and it needs to be in the Superior Vena Cava. Now I'm just waiting for the IV team to come in and readjust me as needed so I can get my meds again.

I miss home, I miss the dogs, and just hope I can go home soon. We're waiting for Home IV care to be set up. However it being Friday, and everyone has left for the day I might have to stay over the weekend :( Fingers crossed that's not the case. Everyone has been great, and the well wishes I've received on Facebook, and texts mean the world to me.

Positive thoughts.

Recovering

So today I'm just relaxing, taking it easy, and recovering. All in all I'm feeling much much better and I'm very grateful for that. I'm really sore though still...my ribs, neck, and back are killing me. I'm sure that's from throwing up my insides for more than 12 hours (sorry for the TMI).

Me and the dogs are hanging out and being lazy, and who'd have thought we're pretty good at it ;) We went to Mc Donald's to get my favorite...sweet tea!...they just love going out for rides. And they look so cute with each of their heads hanging out each window in the Xterra. Other than that I've spent the morning watching Food Network (since I'm addicted), playing online, and hanging out on the back deck while the pups run around and play outside. The weather is so nice here in good old Pasadena today, it feels like fall! I love it, because that is my absolute favorite season.

Well tomorrow is back to work and I'm actually happy about that. I like having my normal routine, and actually feeling productive. Thanks to everyone for their text messages, phone calls, myspace messages etc. I truly feel so so blessed to have such great people who care so much.

911

Oh what a night. Last night Scott and I went to Easton to help my grandmother. On my drive home from work to meet Scott, I noticed my stomach was acting up a little, but I thought it was nothing. We get to my grandmother's house and are talking and helping her around the house and I start to feel worse. Granny and I went to Ledo's to get carry out and I had her stop at the local Rite-Aid so I could run in for some medicine. We get home I take some stomach meds, and we sit down to eat dinner. Now for those of you who don't know me, I love food, I love to eat, if it were a career I'd eat all day for the money and enjoy every second of it. YUM! I took only one piece of pizza and was stuffed. Uh-oh! So we hang out at my Granny's a little bit longer, while her and Scott are on her computer I'm laying on the floor writhing in pain. I told Scott "come on we have to leave somethings wrong." We barely made it out to Rt. 50 and we had to stop on the side of the road about a million times so I could be sick. We called Hopkins and told them what was going on and they said to go to the nearest ER. We tried to drive it, but I was getting worse and couldn't handle the pain. So luckily our friends Dave and Shubhangi live right off of Rt. 50. We went to their house...at this point I can't stand up straight and can barely walk. They call 911 and the ambulance comes to get me, luckily Scott rode up front. We get to the hospital and I'm restless, it was awful.

Because of my CF I do have a history of having bowel obstructions. I had one at age 9, and one at age 19...i kind of have an every 10 year history unfortunately. I knew that's what it was. It is by far the worst pain I've ever experienced in my entire life. They finally put an IV in me and gave me Dilaudid which knocked me out and took the pain away for a little while. I was getting Zofran for nausea around the clock, but I just kept vomiting. I was sent down for an abdominal X-ray which was negative. They finally put me in a room, and made me drink horrible Barium. That came right back up to. I went down for the CT scan of the abdomen which did show that I did have an obstructed small bowel. OUCH! So yet another round of Dilaudid and Zofran. So I ended up being able to get a little bit of sleep finally once there was nothing left in my body to vomit. Yuck. This morning the doctors came in and said they were going to transfer me to Hopkins, and have a surgical consult. Then by the fate of the universe, the obstruction reversed itself THANK GOODNESS!!! So they watched me for another hour and hydrated me a total of 3 Liters of Normal Saline. I ended up being able to go home, avoid surgery, and avoid a transfer to Johns Hopkins Hospital. I'm home now, absolutely exhausted but I know how bad this could have been and it wasn't. I'm also happy that Scott was by my side the whole time and was absolutely wonderful. He's the best. Also a big thank you to all of the text messages, and phone calls, and concern from everyone. I truly feel grateful and loved.