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January 30th I was sitting at the computer and started getting abdominal pain. I told Andy and he just suggested I take some medicine and lay down a while. After about 15 minutes I knew that was a lost cause. I called the OB and he said wait 30 minutes and if it wasn't gone come on in. I think I lasted 5 and told Andy I needed to go to the hospital. I vaguely remember crying on the way out the door saying it hurt so bad. I knew it wasn't the baby, with past experience I knew it was my intestinal issue and I was scared because this was the worst it had been.
When I got to the ER I could walk or barely stand, and they raced me into a room. The OB came in and ordered an IV and blood work. It seemed like eternity but yet a blurr. He said I had pancreatitis and was insist ant I was an alcohol or drug abuser to have such an inflammed pancreas. Andy was insistent I didn't drink, smoke or abuse drugs of any type and that I was 23 w pregnant at the time. They started pumping pain killers into my IV but the only thing they did was make me dry heave uncontrollably.I don't remember much else other than the pain until about noon the next day when it started to subside. They took me down for a CT scan. My sister was there, (Thank you!) and she was busy holding my hand and I could see she was nervous. I must of looked like HELL! Next thing I know a surgeon comes in, introduces himself and said that he looked over my scans. He said I needed emergency surgery now. I was in shock, first off I was pregnant and that was a concern and option I wasn't willing to loose. He looked at me and said, "If you don't have it now you will die, and if you die so does the baby". Andy was about 5 minutes away and I called him, he showed up and the Dr then again went over the findings. Andy told him to do it, and next thing you know I am being wheeled to the OR.
I woke up in alot of pain, but much more bearable than the night before. I had this huge bandage on my stomach and I could tell it went from under the breast bone to past my navel. My first thought was for my baby girl. They had only given me about a 25-35% chance of her making it through the surgery. Like a mad woman I was feeling around trying to see if she would move to reassure her tortured mother she was okay. Eventually she did, and with a sigh I started crying knowing she was my miracle my survivor. It didn't take long for me to realize I was contracting every 8 minutes for the last hour so the nurses came to check me and everything was still okay. I was not on an OB floor because they were not capable of taking care of me at the time. I was in an intermediate ICU. After about 2 hours the contractions stopped.
Dr. Rose ( love him!!) came in to talk to Andy. when they opened me up I had extensive adhesion's that had wrapped around the small bowel and obstructed it which caused the other end of the obstruction to inflame. He had to remove all my intestines out of my cavity and drain infection out of me and cut out all the adhesion's and then put me back to gether again. Just like humpty-dumpty, LOL. He also took out my appendix, he said he didn't want anyone else having to go back in there.
This is what it looked like when he was done.
I spent 9 traumatic days laying on my back in the hospital before they kicked me out. I lost 20 lbs and alot of my spirit. At one point they said I was leaking amniotic fluid. Next thing I knew I had doctors and nurses shoving medicines and such into me so fast I had no idea what was going on. They determined I had possibly nicked the amniotic bag during surgery and it had leaked but repaired itself. The ultrasound showed I still had plenty of fluid left. I have to say this was the hardest thing I have ever had to come back from in my life. There were days I didn't think I could do it and almost gave up. If it wasn't for all the support from my friends, family and member's from church I just might have. I had the sutures and staples in for 2 weeks and I will attest that those red nylon sutures do HURT! they pull on the skin horribly. I was grateful to have them taken out. It didn't take long for me to realize I was having another issue arise. About a week after I had the staples removed I noticed a spot on the incision starting to well up. Past experience told me it was fluid built up. They sent me for ultrasounds and test to make sure I hadn't ruptured the abdominal wall so they could open it back up and drain it. So.. As I layed on another table again the dr. opened my incision to drain it and let it heal from the inside out. When he was done it was 7"x4"x3" in dimensions with a tunnel near the top. Because of this I was sent home in bandages and told to expect home health care nurses to be arriving soon. At this point they decided to hook my up to a wound vacuum. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is an evil contraption where they put a sponge in the wound and seal it off and hook a vacuum up to it to suck off all the drainage to encourage it to heal. You get the privilege of carrying around this machine everywhere you go with about 10 foot of hose hanging out of your clothes. NOT FUN! As of yesterday I am not vac free!! I had it for 7 weeks, 7 weeks of pure PITA!
I am happy to report that I am doing better, still weak and have no stamina but better. I immediately had Andy take a belly pic to see how huge I was since I felt like a baby elephant. I am amazed at how big I am. I am in my 34w of pregnancy and moving right along. I have a Cesarean section scheduled for May 21st 2009 if I make it that long.
I have to say, my rock was my dear husband, he was my shoulder. I could see the stress in his eyes and the fear. He was so patient with me, helping me up, shower, dress and held my arm as I walked. There was many times I broke down and he would just hold me and listen. I will never be able to pay him back for what he has done for me. I am grateful for his love and compassion, and that he is my eternal companion.... I love you Andy!
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