So if you haven’t already heard I spent basically my first 4 days of 2013 in the hospital. Fun fun, I know. I am mainly writing out this story for my own personal records so this post is probably going to be more like a novel than a summary. Okay here we go.
My Unexpected Hospital Stay
On New Years Day (Tuesday) I woke up with a pain under the edge of my right ribcage. We still had company in town (our friends from New Mexico) in the morning and the rest of the day Brandon and I were bound and determined to completely un-decorate from Christmas and tidy up the house. With all that said, I tried my best to ignore the discomfort of the stabbing pains and tried dulling it with some ibuprofen. Since I am very stubborn and would rather avoid having to make a trip to the doctors I went on with my normal plans. Wednesday morning Brandon was off to work and my Mother-In-Law came over with my niece in tow (she was babysitting her for the day) to have a special ‘cousins’ play day.
The pain was still very much present but a bit different from the day before. I felt extremely bloated, really bad indigestion, a bit nauseas and lots of pain in my back by my right shoulder blade. Again, my stubbornness won and I tried my best to muster through the day as planned. By time Brandon got home from work Wednesday night I could not take the pain anymore. He even noticed that my tummy was swollen right in-between my ribcage. After a few tears and talking it over, I decided to head to the ER to have it looked at. When I checked in (7:40pm) everyone was saying it sounded like I was having gallbladder issues. They immediately hooked my up to some IV fluids and started giving me some meds for the excruciating pain I was having. After about an hour or so they took me back for some blood work and an ultrasound. After about another hour the doc came in to discuss what was going on. She started by explaining that my ultrasound looked good, which ruled out any problems with my gallbladder. A bit stunned, she went on to say that my blood work results were showing that I had Pancreatitis (which is diagnosed by measuring your lipase levels). Normal Lipase Levels are somewhere between 200 & 300 and mine were measuring 1470. So from there she went on to say that pancreatitis is not something you can fix with meds, that you basically have to continue to monitor my lipase levels and hospitalize you for pain management bc the pain can often be intolerable (hints why I went to the ER in the first place). At about 11:30pm Wednesday night Brandon came to the ER to pick me up and drive me to the hospital they were going to admit me to bc I really didn’t want to be transported via an Ambulance. By about 12:45am I was all checked in/admitted to my room and Brandon headed home to be with the kids and to relieve his Mom. Basically all day Thursday I was in the most pain (next to being in labor) that I have ever been in. I spent the entire day getting pain medication every 2 hours on the hour and I was on a very strict ‘DO NOT EAT’ diet, yes as in NOTHING. Luckily I had lots of wonderful visitors to keep me distracted…
They each got a sucker when they came in to distract them from ‘worrying’ about seeing mommy in the hospital.
My Mother-In-Law, My Aunt Bev, My Aunt Rose, My BFF Melissa’s Mom Elizabeth & My good friend Tammy all stopped by to check in on me during my hospital stay. I am truly blessed. After the first 24 hours (about 9:00pm Thursday night) they drew some more blood to see where my Lipase Levels were. The next day (Friday) about 1:45pm the doctor came in and said my Lipase Levels were back down to 197 (crazy how fast they dropped). In order for me to go home I had to be on a “Full Liquid” diet to see how my tummy would handle eating again to make sure my pancreas didn’t have another flare up from eating actual food vs. nothing but IV fluids. That meant it was going to be another full day in the hospital. They also did an MRI on Friday night to make sure I wasn’t having any underlying issues since it was very strange for someone of my age and with no gallbladder or alcohol problems to be having pancreatitis.
I spent all of Friday watching TV, Catching up on pointless celebrity gossip magazines that people were kind enough to bring me all while trying to choke down some hospital food,
Yum….not.
On Saturday, a day full of lots of waiting waiting waiting, the doctor finally came in about 3pm to let me know that my MRI was clean and I was able to go. FINALLY. He said my recovery would take about 5 days to feel ‘normal’ again and that I really needed to take it really easy for the next few days. I was finally released and checked out of the hospital at 6pm Saturday night. Thankfully I have an AMAZING set of in-laws here in Colorado who all stepped up to the plate without being asked to and helped Brandon and I out with the kids so Brandon didn’t have to take off more than 1 day from work. My Mother-In-Law stayed with the kids all day Friday & Saturday which was a complete God Send so I didn’t have to worry once about my children's care while I was away. My Sis-In-Law came over once night to give my Mother-In-Law a break and baked some homemade pizza’s with the kids which I was told was a huge blast. We also had a wonderful neighbor/friend bring over a meal along with Brandon’s Grandma & Aunt who also made us some food to help out while I was gone. Brandon’s Dad came over Sunday morning and watched the kids until nap time so I didn’t have to do much but rest in bed while the kids had fun with Papa. After naps on Sunday my wonderful Mother-In-Law came back over to help me out with the kids until Brandon got home from work. I am completely humbled & overwhelmed by the generosity, love and help we received while I was out of commission. Not only by my in-laws, but my family back in NM too. My Mom quickly purchased a plane ticket upon me getting sick and got here Monday Morning. She stayed for a week to help me out around the house & with my kiddos while I was getting better. She was a HUGE help. I also received a wonderful Get Well gift basket from my amazing sister and some really pretty flowers from my Aunt Rose & a beautiful daffodil plant from my friend Tammy.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all who sent me a get well gift, sent us meals, helped care for my children and came to visit me in the hospital. I am SO grateful for each and everyone of you and could have NEVER gotten though this without your help.
Boy was I thankful to be home with my babies.
A Health Update
Per the hospital doctors orders upon releasing me I was to follow up with my Primary Care Doctor in a week. This past Friday I went to meet with my doc for my follow up. His results kind of took me for a loop. After he read, reviewed and re-reviewed my hospital stay records for a few days he was very confident in saying I was ‘Misdiagnosed’ with Pancreatitis while I was in the hospital. He said with Pancreatitis your Lipase Levels spike really high (like mine did, it was 1470 when I was in the ER) and then gradually come back down. Well, with mine, my lipase levels were back to 179 less than 24hrs later. He said Lipase levels can be thrown ‘off’ or can get triggered with things other than pancreatitis although that is typically the main cause. He said what he believes happened is that I passed a Gallstone upon going to the ER (hints the pain and extremely high lipase reading) and by time they did the ultrasound and MRI the gallstone was gone so they didn’t really have anything to diagnose me with other than pancreatitis. Ugh. Needless to say, he went on to tell me that “Gallbladder Problems” are one of the most commonly misdiagnosed medical problems out there, that they are often confused with gastro issues which I have suffered from my whole life to some degree. Any who, he believes that I have been having gallstones for sometime now and have been passing them off as gastro issues and this one was the worst I have had and that is why I was in so much pain. With all that said, he is referring me to a surgeon to get a second opinion and to discuss having surgery to remove my gallbladder.
Now where does that leave me. To sum things up quite honestly a bit confused and frustrated. I am very happy it is my gallbladder than my pancreas for the main reason that you can live without your gallbladder but not your pancreas. But on the other hand, surgery (minor or not) was really not on my radar of things to do this year :( Any who, all and all I am doing better, I am down about 5lbs, my tummy is still extremely sensitive, and I have a pretty low energy level but all things considered I am doing worlds better than at the beginning of the month. My appointment with the surgeon is next Tuesday the 22nd so I will make sure and keep everyone updated on what it going on after talking things over with him, but the more I read into gallbladder issues I am about 95% sure that is exactly what is going on and has been an ongoing undiagnosed issue for quite sometime now. I guess we shall see what happens next week.
My Mom’s Trip
A little background. My Mom has been working as an inspector for a company called IES since my Grandmother passed away back in 2011, before that she was my Grandmothers primary care giver for 3+ years. Any who, she was working through a temp agency up until about a year ago when they hired her on as-needed part time. I have to admit her schedule is pretty cool. She basically works when they need her sometimes a week strait and then off for a week or two, a few days 1 week off the next, 1 day here 1 day there. Any way, at the end of December they said she could have the whole month of January off! How neat. With that said she has been really wanting to come up and spend some time with us this month while she is off. What better push to make her way up here than her baby being hospitalized, huh? She got here last Monday (two days after I got out of the hospital) and just left this morning. Before she came, I kept saying, “I’m fine I really don’t need the help.” Talk about eating my words! I was fine and I guess I didn’t “need” help but O MY GOODNESS was it great to have her here and to have help!!! It’s true, nothing makes you feel better like having your Mom around. She was truly SO helpful and all 4 of us just LOVED having her here. I am SO SO SO grateful to have such an amazing, loving, kind, nurturing mother who is there for me no matter the distance or circumstance. Since the week was busy and lots of time was spent healing I didn’t get a lot of pictures, but here are a few pictures from this past week (minus the two Birthday parties we attended this past weekend, that is for a separate post)…
I have such a beautiful Mommy who my kids absolutely adore!!!
We had morning dance parties,
Which almost always consisted of sips of coffee in between. Thanks Mom for creating an addict?!?!?!?!
Nana had a few doctors appts this week too!
Nana got to watch Autumn at gymnastics!!!
The kids and I took Nana shopping one day for her Birthday that is coming up this month! Happy Birthday to the BEST Mom/Nana EVER!!!!!!
Brandon and my Mom got addicted to some old show they found on Hulu called Firefly and were couch potatoes every night after the kids went to sleep. Guess they deserved the down time after caring/dealing with me over the past couple weeks :)
And this morning lots of tears were shed as we all had to say our Goodbyes. Hopefully the kids and I will make it back to NM in March for Owen’s Spring Break from school.
A HUGE ‘Thanks’ to everyone for the help/well wishes during this crazy start to the New Year. Guess we can only go UP from here. And THANK YOU Mom for all your help! We love & miss you like crazy!!!!!!!!!!
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