The rest of the story ....

..... I'm trying to remember (now a week later) if anything else majorly eventful happened for the rest of my hospital "visit".

     The 3rd day was Saturday.  After the night from hell, so thoughtfully given by Dr. Dirt Bag, one of my doctors came in around 6:00 a.m. and inquired as to my level of pain and how I wanted to handle it.  I was still pushing a button every 10 minutes, not knowing if this was accomplishing anything, but also a little fearful to stop pushing it, just in case it was helping.  I told him that 6:00 a.m. was not really a good time for me to talk about our next pain management plan and asked if we could talk later in the day.  He said yes.  

I think everyone managed to leave me alone until 9:00 so yay for 3 hours of dozing.

The nausea that arrived every night around 6:00 or so always hung around the following morning until around 11:00, so breakfast was never really consumed, although I did give it the ol' college try. 

 

I think that I pushed the button around 7:00 a.m. and within a few minutes felt a whole LOT more nauseous than before.  I decided that was the last time I would push it.  I didn't know for sure what was causing the nausea but I knew I couldn't take much more of it.  I wanted the pump removed and told the nurse the next time she came in.

After making the mandatory phone calls the pump was removed later that morning.  That was extra special because now I wouldn't have to have someone push a pole behind me whenever I hobbled into the bathroom or went on one of my power walks.

The doctor also decided to switch around the pain meds, removing one, reducing one, increasing another and adding a new one.  No wonder I was in a fog most of the time .... unfortunately it was usually a pain-filled, nauseous fog.

I forgot to mention that sometime in the middle of my first night in the hospital  (not long after the whole "your-blood-pressure-is-so-low-you-MUST-be-dead" fiasco) the nurse came back in:

 

Her:  "I came in to check your pump and to give you the extra pain meds (injected into my IV)."

Me:  "OK, thank you."

Her:  "Oh ... I forgot ...... I'll be back in a minute with your Heparin injection."

Me:  "OK.............  ummmmm ..... wait!  When you say "injection" you DO mean that it will go into my IV, right?"

Her:  "No, I have to inject into your body.'

Me.  "Dang!   Oh well ...... ..... no big deal, really."

Her:  "Yes, well ....... I have to inject it into your stomach."

Me:  "WHAT?!!  Are you kidding me?  Why??"

Her:  "You have to have one every 12 hours.  You had one soon after surgery but you probably don't remember it (no duh!).  I'm sorry.  I hate to have to do it, but I have to."

Me:  "In my stomach??!!!  Can't you put it somewhere else?!"

Her:  "No, I'm sorry ..... it's needs to be in a place where we can grab some skin and it needs to be in the core.  But it's a small needle and it's really not as bad as it sounds."

Me:  "Really?  HOW MANY OF THESE HAVE  YOU HAD?!!"

---- OK ---- not really ..... that's what I wanted to yell, but instead I said this ......

Me:  " ..... O.K.   By the way, you should check my blood pressure NOW!  I'm sure you'd all be quite pleased."

And so began the stomach injections.  They really weren't all that bad, depending on who was giving it and how she gave it.  One of the nurses is lucky she didn't lose a limb when when she just suddenly shoved it in and made me almost fly off of the bed in pain and surprise.

Back to the day .....

I had a few visitors on Saturday, but it was mostly a quiet day.  

I did my walk, breathed through the torture device, and kept the fact that my chest still hurt when I breathed deeply a secret.  And I tried to doze whenever possible, which of course was never all that possible.  There must be a camera in every room so that everyone knows just the moment when a patient is starting to drop off in to a deep sleep ....... because, I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE TIME that happened, someone knocked on my door.  EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

My friend L came to stay with me that night (poor L .... little did she know that all hell was going to break loose in her own life on Monday and she'd end up staying in the hospital with her husband!).  L arrived just as the nightly nausea arrived.  Poor L.

I think it was mostly an uneventful night, other than the 3 hour vitals checks, and the pain and urge to vomit.  Other than that, completely normal!

 

Sunday morning I felt less foggy but still incredibly nauseous.   So the doctor was called again and the meds were switched around again.  I think it was very much like a game of "Musical Chairs" ....... whenever the music stopped, one med was left out.  

In reality, it was probably a whole lot closer to "Eeny Meeny, Miney Mo".  

The nausea started backing off around 11:00 or so.  I'm guessing that's when it left to go harass another patient down the hall.

My mom drove in (all by herself .... a HUGE achievement, HUGE!) and spent the day with me.  Some time that afternoon things started to go horribly wrong.  

The nausea was better but suddenly the pain started climbing.  And climbing and climbing.  It was horrendous.  On a scale of 1 to 10 (I really, REALLY got sick of the 1 to 10 scale!) it became a 15 and would not stop.  I could not find a comfortable position, I couldn't move to make it stop .... all I could do was bite my sheets to keep from screaming.  The nurse felt horrible and didnt' know what to do.  She kept calling the doctor to see what was going on and what she could give me.  She just kept apologizing over and over every time she came into the room.  Bless her heart ..... I told her it wasn't her fault.  

My mom felt horrible, too.  Tough time to be a mom.

The nurse came in and injected something into my IV and told me she could only give this once every 24 hours.  I don't know what it was ..... but it did nothing.  Zip.

She came in about 30 minutes later, having talked to the doctor again and gave me an injection of one of the drugs they had stopped the day before.  She told me to give it 20 minutes.

At 20 minutes my mom threatened to go all "Shirley MacLaine"  out at the nurses station (see "Terms of Endearment") on everyone.

I asked her to please refrain.  And told her that it would probably start working soon.

She gave it 10 more minutes.

Before she went out of the room I told her to tell them that it "might" be working.  I had gone from a 15 to maybe a 13, so it was doing something, but I was still in way too much pain.  I wasn't sure what to do ..... I did feel "drugged",  so I knew the meds were working, but "drugged" and in a huge amount of pain, so they weren't working the right way.  

My mom said that when my nurse saw her coming she immediately picked up the phone and started dialing the doctor's number.  Must've been the insane "Shirley" look she had on her face.

The nurse soon came back in, still apologizing and telling me she was trying one more med and then she was going to insist that the doctor come in so that he could see what I looked like.  Guess that means I didn't look like I was faking it.

Whatever she gave me at that time ..... slowly started working.  Slowly, but I was grabbing on to anything at that point .... and slow was just fine with me .... as long as it kept working.

And it did.

Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief .... especially that poor nurse.

I had blood taken a couple of times that day ..... by the "blood suckers" as one of my doctors labeled them.  Evidently I was low on magnesium because suddenly the nurse was back in the room with the IV pole.  Ugh.  But fortunately I only had to be hooked up until that bag was done.

Ever had an IV infusion of magnesium?  If not, I hope you never do.  

After about 20 minutes of it running my arm started aching.  And then burning ..... it hit suddenly and the pain increased by the second and started radiating up my arm.  It was very strange and painful and made me wonder if this was "heart attack" arm pain.  The nurse came in and turned off the IV.  She said it was the magnesium.  It hurts .... quite a bit, so it has to be given very, very slowly.   I guess she maybe forgot that when she started it?

She gave me a 30 minute break and then came back and re-started it .... at a slower rate.  She adjusted it one more time and then it didn't bother me again.  After a few hours I was freed from the pole again.  

I managed to get a little lunch down and kept it down.  

It was an eventful afternoon.

That evening my friend D stayed with me.  My companion, nausea, came back into the room right on schedule and stayed throughout the next day.  

But I made it through the night with no IV drugs for pain or nausea, the last hurdle to cross in order to go home.

Monday morning we started talking about getting the hell out of Dodge, in spite of the nausea.  I went for a couple of walks to make everyone happy and to show them that I could get around at home, without the walker.  My latest doctor, the sadist, didn't want me to use a walker at home.  Fine .... I probably wouldn't have used it anyway, though I would have agreed to, if that got me home quicker.  :)

Mom and Nat came up to help get things going and to load me up.  Meanwhile, I had just checked my work e-mails and found out that L's husband, R,  had had a stroke at work that morning.  I think my blood pressure went through the roof.  Mom and Nat came in, D left to go check on R.

I started texting our pastor, who was on his way to that hospital, to ask for updates.  

So I'm trying to get ready to go, trying not to throw up, trying to hobble around the room without a walker, and trying not to panic about R.  

Our pastor and our DCE walked over from R's hospital to mine (the Houston Medical Center is SO convenient!) to let me know that R was doing well ..... they had been able to give him the "stroke" meds within the 3 hour window of time that's required and he seemed to be responding well.  Thank God.

So we got back to the task of going home.  My mom and I had to watch a video about taking care of surgical drains (we gave it two thumbs down) before I could go.  Gag.  Really.

Then the nurse had to come in and show me how to "strip" the drains.  Gag again.

The last thing, after everything was signed and the meds were picked up from the pharmacy, was the removal of the huge IV in my forearm (they had already removed the one in my other arm).

I was very happy to see that thing go.

I think we were out of the door by 1:30 or so.

Here's Mom in the waiting area for Nat's car:

This is the new age wheel chair .... I guess.  I rode in one of these huge contraptions.

By 3:00 I was home ...... and, kudos to me ...... I managed to NOT throw up all over the back of Nat's car (which took a WHOLE LOTTA energy!).

I was so glad to be in my own home ..... but not as glad as Gabby was when she finally saw me!  Gosh, there's nothing better than someone, or something, being over-the-moon-excited at the site of you!!

Here are my kids at SING.  Three of my friends took Son #3 to see it last weekend, and to make sure the girls were taped.  Son #3 met them there and he had camera duty.  I'm so grateful to A, D and K for taking Son #3 and for going to support and cheer the girls!! 

                                 D2, S1, S3 and D3:

    Yesterday the kids and I (and C, their friend and roommate) went to meet another friend,M, for lunch before he had to drive back to St. Louis.  It was my first outing (other than the doctor on Friday) since I've been home.  It was fun and very tiring, but mostly fun.

Son #3 has been wanting to go to this restaurant for quite some time.  And really only for one reason --- they throw the rolls at you.

I'm not all that fond of having food thrown at me, plus it's a 30 minute drive, so this was his first time to go.  I think he enjoyed it just enough ..... enough to like it but not enough to go again.  :)

                           S3, C and D2
                       Son #3, after he scored a catch:
                                    

                                                Son #1 and me:

                          Daughter #3 and M:
            

                   Son #3, re-enacting a catch (we are a theatrical family, ya know):

     OK.  You are now all caught up with me ...... well, as much as you can be,  I suppose.  I don't think that even I am all caught up with me!

     I had hoped to go to church this morning but am still having quite a bit of pain ..... some due to the infection, I think.

Hopefully that will get less and less every day now.

     Son #1 took the girls down to get on their ship this morning.  I've received a couple of texts from them ..... they are very excited, of course.  They were able to upgrade their room to a balcony stateroom on the top deck.  Sigh.  I wish I had gone with them.  How hugely restful would that have been ..... laying next to a pool all week?  

     Oh well ...... at least I'll be here to get the drain taken out on Wednesday!!!

And now I think it's time for a nap.

Happy Sunday.