this week has been crazy... it started out normal. i took pictures of
hailey (not many though, because it started raining) sunday afternoon.
they turned out pretty good :)
then came monday. my back started hurting on my right side. i
immediately thought it was my kidneys (because i know i don't drink
enough water and i drink absolutely too much coke zero) so i started
drinking water and taking cranberry pills.
by early evening, i was crouched over on my side in agonizing pain...
and
the pain seemed to spread. from my back into my right chest and arm. i
tried to sleep, but laying down was more painful than sitting up. i
found one pain pill and half of an ambien and knocked myself out for the
night.
tuesday morning i went to the doctor. they did a ct scan
of my whole abdomen and chest. they also did a urinalysis and drew
blood.
they didn't find any infection but they did find that my right lung is partially collapsed.
collapsed.
as in closed.
as in it is very painful for leigh to breathe.
i cannot lay down without being in pain. and i cannot talk very much because it takes so much breathe to do so.
the
doctor prescribed me percocet for pain, and a muscle relaxer. Also, an
antibiotic to help speed along the process of helping my lung to heal.
it takes one to two weeks for a partially collapsed lung to heal.
i
probably shouldn't be at school but i am. i don't have many sick days
left and i don't want to use them unless i absolutely have to.
the
pain in my back/side has diminished a great deal, so now all i am
dealing with is the lung problem. the muscle relaxer makes me sleepy so i
cannot take them during the day. the percocet makes me a little drowsy,
but nothing compared to the muscle relaxer...
si stayed with
jason's parents last night. i cried at one point because i missed him so
much :( but i know it was the best thing to do. i need rest and so does
jason. but jason had better be bringing him home today! i can't take
another evening without my baby si...
So... yesterday I made my first excursion out of the house with Si
without having Jason with us. We went to the school to turn in the sick
leave request. I decided to take the stroller so that I could just
stroll Si around instead of carrying him the whole time.
It was a good idea, in theory anyway...
Since
I picked up the stroller to put it in my car and to get it out of my
car, I haven't been able to move as freely today. I haven't been
experiencing hardly any pain for over a week and this is a sharp
stabbing burn in my abdomen.
From one side to the other and all throughout my incision.
So... yeah...
Not my best idea as of late...
I finally finished the letter I am turning in to the board requesting
my coworkers to donate sick leave days so that I can stay off from
work...
On August 10, 2013 I had a
C-section. Initially, the surgery went smoothly and Si was born at 11:32
am. That evening around 7 o'clock I was in more pain than I have ever
experienced in my life. I had every nurse on the floor in my hospital
room at one time. They even called the doctor who had performed the
C-section back to the hospital because of the amount of pain I was in.
After four hours of crying, begging, having an anxiety attack, and my
blood pressure plummeting to 65/30, they determined that I had a
hematoma in between two of the layers of stitches.
I was told
that they were hopeful that the hematoma would resolve itself over time.
This is not, however, how things worked out. I was released from the
hospital on Wednesday, August 14th. By Friday, August 16th my incision
had started to pour blood. I went back to the doctor on Tuesday, August
20th and found out that the hematoma that formed the night that Si was
born after my C-section has burst through my incision. And that is where
the blood has been coming from. I also found out that it will take much
longer for me to heal from this surgery because instead of remaining
sewn together, the doctor had to cut through most of my stitches and
pull out as much of the old blood from the hematoma as possible and pack
the wound with gauze. And my husband has to help me by packing the
incision with gauze two to three times a day.
I went back to the
doctor on Thursday, August 22nd for her to try to scoop out the blood
from the hematoma. Very painful is an understatement. After laying there
through agony for about 5 minutes (which I promise seemed much longer
than 5 minutes) she asked me about having surgery the following morning
to get the rest of the blood out. This means I would be put to sleep and
she would really be able to get in there and clean all of it out. So I
was scheduled for out-patient surgery at 8:30 the following morning,
Friday, August 23rd.
After being home for less than 24 hours, the
home health nurse called the hospital to have me re-admitted for pain
management and to be outfitted with a wound-vac. I was also given 4
units of blood because my hemoglobin level had fallen to 5 (a normal
level is 12). I have fought off two infections through all of this. I
have been admitted to the hospital a total of 3 separate times. A home
health nurse comes to see me at my house every Monday and Wednesday to
change the gauze from my open C-section incision and re-hook up my wound
vac. Every Friday I make a trip to Mobile to the Wound Care Center to
see the doctor there and have them re-evaluate my incision and redress
my wound.
I have been told by the doctor at the Wound Care
Center, that I will need a minimum of 2 more months off from work, and I
will exhaust my sick leave well before that time comes. I hope to
return to work by November 6th. I would much rather return to work
healthy than stay where I am presently, but to make that return a
reality, I would really appreciate any donated days my colleagues would
be willing to spare during this difficult time.
