So on Friday the 10th I was very excited to have a weekend at home with no plans since we had spent the last 2 weekends driving up to Oregon and back. Friday night was great, just relaxing at home playing our new board games and enjoying what I call that "Friday night feeling" (knowing you have an entire 2 days ahead of you with no work, no plans, and no responsibilities). Saturday morning I had some stomach pain but I just thought they were cramps or something like that because taking Advil got rid of the pain. It was pretty constant all day but it wasn't very concerning. However, things quickly changed that night. I kept waking up in the middle of the night from the pain and it was getting considerably worse. When the morning finally came, I knew something was wrong. The pain had escalated from a 2 the previous morning to at least a 7. I could hardly walk upright because it hurt so much, and my husband could tell something was wrong. My husband knows me better than anyone else, sometimes more than even I do, so he could tell right away I wasn't kidding about the pain. He could see it in my face that it was bad so we decided to head over to Urgent Care to get it checked out. The doctor at Urgent Care told me to go to the ER because it sounded like appendicitis.
Once we got to the ER, I was trying to fill out paperwork and I couldn't even get through it without almost throwing up from the pain (which I did twice at the urgent care). They got me in right away and it was almost 10am by this point. Few exams and a few tests later, they told me I had severe appendicitis and I was going to need to have surgery that night and stay in the hospital overnight. Immediate thought was relief that the pain would eventually go away and worried because hospital stays/surgeries are not cheap. I was in the ER from 10am to about 6 or 7pm until they officially admitted me into the hospital and moved me upstairs, then my surgery was around 9pm that night. I was discharged Tuesday afternoon and that feeling of coming home was wonderful. It was great being able to recover at home and not have to lay in a hospital bed all day.
The first couple days were hard getting around but I could tell I was getting better. I could tell I was walking around easier and it was easier getting up on my own. However, Friday night (the 17th) I was feeling warmer than usual so my husband took my temperature and saw that I had a fever. We called the hospital and they told me to come back in so they could make sure nothing was wrong. Once again, we headed to the ER, this time at night around 11pm. I got another CT scan and they found a hematoma (localized collection of blood outside the blood vessels, usually in liquid form within the tissue) surrounding where my appendix used to be. This immediately raised concerns about internal bleeding especially since blood tests were showing that my blood count was going down. Around 4:30am the doctors told me they wanted to keep me till around 7:30am so they could keep a watch on my blood count. At this point I sent my husband home to sleep since he had been awake with me the whole time. At 5:30am the doctors came in and told me I was going to be readmitted to the hospital because my blood count was going down. While it sucked hearing that (and the fact I was told I couldn't eat/drink anything just in case I would need to get another surgery), I was relieved cause then I could get out of the ER and into a somewhat more comfortable bed. I was told I should be moved upstairs around 6:30am so I waited. That one hour turned into several and come 1pm I was still in the ER. My husband had come back by that point and both of us were losing our patience. We hadn't see a doctor since 6am or so. I was tired from not getting any sleep, I was hungry, dehydrated (they hadn't hooked me up to an IV w/ fluids even though I couldn't drink anything), and I hadn't taken any of the antibiotics I was supposed to be taking. I was all over the place emotionally and I actually started crying at one point because I just wanted to go home since my husband did a much better job of taking care of me than the ER had at that point.
Now I understand that the ER has a lot going on, especially on a Friday night/Saturday morning. I know they have a lot of patients to see and take care of, and a lot more urgent cases than a post op surgery scare. My issue was that I wasn't getting the care I needed to help my body heal. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure sleep and fluids are necessary for recovery, both of which I wasn't getting in the ER. My husband (wonderful man that he is) stood up for me and basically demanded to see a doctor to see why we were being kept so long without answers. As soon as we voiced our displeasure, we were taken care of. The head nurse came in and explained why it was taking so long and the doctor came in and explained why I needed to stay. They moved me upstairs to the trauma ward (which made me think my case was more serious than they were telling me). Once I got upstairs the experience turned around dramatically. The nurses were super friendly and actually made me laugh quite a bit. They hooked me up to a fluid drip via IV so I could start getting something and gave me morphine for the ridiculous headache I had from being dehydrated. Later on I found out the next step was to get an ultrasound over the hematoma to see how much blood was in there. If it was just a little then they were going to basically stab a big 'ol needle through my belly and suck it out. If it was a lot then they were going to put a drain in (gross). Anyway, they did the ultrasound but didn't see any liquid at all (thank goodness) so they didn't stab a giant needle in my already hurting belly. They still kept me overnight again to make sure it didn't get worse, but I was home by noon on Sunday and back to work on Tuesday.
For the most part that brings me to where I am now. I am recovering nicely and while there is still some pain it isn't that bad. I'm not allowed to lift anything heavier than 10lbs for the next 2-4 weeks which is a pain. I also can't stand for very long before my back starts hurting from not being able to use my abs completely to hold myself up. Aside from all that though, I feel good.
Last but definitely not least, I want to thank my husband for how amazing he's been over the last few weeks. He was there with me in the hospital all day every day except for when he went home to sleep/nap and grab supplies for me. I would say he was more worried/stressed out than I was the whole time I was in the hospital. When I finally went home for recovery the first time he made sure I had everything I needed within grabbing distance to get through the day while he was at work. When I showered I needed help drying off because I couldn't bend over to get my legs so he would help with that, he was cooking dinner, making sure I was taking my meds, getting the groceries, and getting up for everything I couldn't get myself (which was quite a bit for the first few days). He even cleaned the entire apartment when I was in the hospital the 2nd time just because he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't even tell me he did that so it would be a pleasant surprise when I got home the next day. I can't say enough about how grateful I am to him for everything he's done in the last few weeks. My husband is the greatest, and I'm thankful for every day I get to spend with him.
I realize this post is ridiculously long but I felt like I needed to share what happened from my perspective. I didn't write this as a pity party but more just information on my experience. It was my first inpatient surgery so I wanted to have some way to write it all down and get it out of my head. Now that this post is out of the way I can get back to posting what I was originally going to use this blog for.
If you got this far, thanks for reading!
For the most part that brings me to where I am now. I am recovering nicely and while there is still some pain it isn't that bad. I'm not allowed to lift anything heavier than 10lbs for the next 2-4 weeks which is a pain. I also can't stand for very long before my back starts hurting from not being able to use my abs completely to hold myself up. Aside from all that though, I feel good.
Last but definitely not least, I want to thank my husband for how amazing he's been over the last few weeks. He was there with me in the hospital all day every day except for when he went home to sleep/nap and grab supplies for me. I would say he was more worried/stressed out than I was the whole time I was in the hospital. When I finally went home for recovery the first time he made sure I had everything I needed within grabbing distance to get through the day while he was at work. When I showered I needed help drying off because I couldn't bend over to get my legs so he would help with that, he was cooking dinner, making sure I was taking my meds, getting the groceries, and getting up for everything I couldn't get myself (which was quite a bit for the first few days). He even cleaned the entire apartment when I was in the hospital the 2nd time just because he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't even tell me he did that so it would be a pleasant surprise when I got home the next day. I can't say enough about how grateful I am to him for everything he's done in the last few weeks. My husband is the greatest, and I'm thankful for every day I get to spend with him.
I realize this post is ridiculously long but I felt like I needed to share what happened from my perspective. I didn't write this as a pity party but more just information on my experience. It was my first inpatient surgery so I wanted to have some way to write it all down and get it out of my head. Now that this post is out of the way I can get back to posting what I was originally going to use this blog for.
If you got this far, thanks for reading!
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