At this point I was really hopeful that I would be going home today. My surgeon said I was ready to go and almost pushing me out the door it seemed. I finally got to see my incision.
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| This is what I had gotten used to looking at for the past couple of days. The tube coming out of my stomach is the wound vac. |
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| This is what I saw when everything was removed. 14 staples and 4 open holes. WEIRD!! Please excuse my nasty looking stomach, they had to shave a large portion of my abdominal area before surgery since they were opening me up. |
Mom needed to run a couple errands and so Wayne stayed with me for a couple hours. I didn't like being alone, especially in case any doctors or important people came in because I was having a hard time remembering everything. During this time the pharmacist came in with my nurse, and explained that they were going to administer my loading dose of the new medication I was starting for my Crohns Disease, Humira. I had no idea what I was in for. They pull out 4 pens full of meds and proceed to explain that these will be given today in my thigh, two in each side, and I will take 2 doses in another 2 weeks and then 1 dose every other week from then on out. Those shots hurt SO BAD!! I cried! I was holding onto the bed as tight as I could and just praying it would end soon. There is no way I was going to ever do that again, it was awful! (Luckily they also make Humira in shot form and so I am able to give myself shots instead of the pens. It's much less painful thank goodness!)
Mom came back awhile later and then they stayed with me until Kevin got off work. We were hoping I would be going home the next day and since it was Friday night and Kevin wasn't working tomorrow he stayed the night with me instead of mom. It was so nice having him there, but really weird with mom gone. She had been there almost non-stop all week, for everything, and I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to go home without her there. It was that night that I realized how grateful I was for her and everything she and Wayne had done for me and sacrificed in the past week to take care of me. Talk about amazing parents right there! I just love them so much!
Saturday
Saturday morning was going good until I got up to walk for the first time, (I had to walk 4-5 times each day which felt so good actually) and felt a weird stabbing pain in my right side around my ribs. I didn't even want to mention it to anyone but it hurt with every breath I took and I was worried it was something bad. I told my nurse who said she'd let my doctor know. She listened to my lungs but didn't really say much about them and left. Shortly thereafter my GI came in and asked about my eating and then my pain. He listened to my lungs and said he wanted me to have a chest ex ray because he was worried I could have fluid in my lungs. If I did I would not be going home, again! I was so disappointed and immediately wanted a blessing. I had learned to rely heavily on the powerful priesthood blessings. I had received about 7 that week so far and I knew that without them things would've probably gone a lot different and been even harder. I called mom and told her what was going on and she said she'd come up as soon as she could get showered. I then called my sister Natalee who sent her husband Adam to the hospital right away so he and Kevin could give me that blessing. As soon as we got done with the blessing radiology came to get me and go downstairs for my ex ray.
That morning I also knocked my phone off the tray that rolls over my bed and I ended up cracking the screen, like bad!!! It would hardly do anything and what it would do I couldn't see or control because the screen was so busted. One more thing, really? It was not what we needed. I really relied on my phone and so we started figuring out what we were going to do. We decided that Kevin would take my mom's old iPhone to Verizon and see if they could switch me to that phone for now. It was ideal but the easiest solution at this point.
Luckily, I didn't have any fluid in my lungs but I did have fluid around the right lung which was most likely due to inactivity over the past week. He said I had to use my breathing machine (pictured below) and that that would help the fluid to disperse and the pain lessen. Whew, we dodged a bullet there! The GI wanted me to have an iron infusion before going home because it was really low as well as my potassium and phosphorus levels. Basically I was malnourished and I could tell he really didn't want to send me home yet. He said he'd check back in later. The OB came in and made me promise to keep eating but that she was okay with me going home as long as the GI said I could. One more to go!
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| The breathing mechanism |
After my ex ray Adam stayed and visited for awhile and pretty soon my mom, then Natalee and Brody showed up. Kevin left with Adam and Natalee to go grab some lunch and mom stayed with me for awhile and helped me get cleaned up. It was all just a waiting game at this point. People/visitors were in and out all afternoon but none of them were my GI telling me what was going to happen. Kevin brought me back two tacos from Taco Bell and I ate about 1 1/2 of them and then we decided he would take a load of stuff home and go to Verizon. Well, going to Verizon was a huge headache and he basically had no authority to do anything because he wasn't the account manager, I was. We tried everything we could think of, even the sales rep at Verizon tried to help us but his hands were tied. We couldn't even switch the phones. It was so frustrating but we decided we'd deal with once I was out of the hospital. For now we would just make the best of having one phone.
The tacos seemed to satisfy my doctor because when he came back a few hours later, like 7pm, he said I COULD GO HOME but that I STILL HAD TO EAT EVERY 2 HOURS. What?? This wasn't going to be easy, but I knew I had to do it, for me and the baby. I had to wait to get the rest of my tubes and things out as well as my discharge papers and prescriptions. Usually this takes forever, but I was home by about 830pm and boy was I happy to be home. After being there for 9 days I had accumulated quite a bit of stuff so Kevin took a large load out and then another load when I went down to the car. I had hardly seen the outside world in 9 days, besides through a window, and that breath of fresh air and sunshine was so nice! For awhile I had been worrying about how I was going to sleep at home because it was pretty painful for me to lay flat. I just figured I'd be living on our couch and have a bunch of pillows propping me up. It seemed like the only solution. I was in for a little surprise though..
We walked up the stairs and I was panting about halfway up, my legs were so tired and wanting to give out on me, and it was then that I realized just how much strength and energy I had lost and that I had a long road ahead of me. I walked in the front door, needing to sit down and saw a brand new, wonderful power recliner just waiting for me!!! My 4 awesome parents had all gone in to get me this chair, knowing it was the only way I was going to be able to sleep and relax. It was another, of many, prayers answered. I was so grateful, I even cried. To me it was the biggest, best gift and I was so grateful my mom had thought of it. I hadn't mentioned my worries to anyone but someone just knew what I needed. Once I got settled Kevin left to go to the grocery store and then to pick up all of my prescriptions while mom stayed and got things a little organized. We also had a delicious meal from our Bishop and his wife waiting for us in the fridge. We were being so taken care of and I was so overcome with gratitude.
Something I forgot to share is that I have a sister on a mission in Fresno, CA. My dad and stepmom had told her what was going on and this is what she had to say.
"I'm worried but I know she'll be okay. I have the promise from God that my family will be protected. And I know." When President Evans set Abby apart as a missionary, he promised her that her family would be protected while she was gone.
My baby and I received protection from Heaven this week and I know that now more than ever! Talk about a tingling down the spine, overcome with emotion, kind of moment. It's something I'll always remember.
Stay tuned for part 3 which will tell about life post-hospital/surgery...coming soon hopefully!
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