So....I know a lot of you already have the general idea about how our weekend went. I am so so so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who have expressed concern and support for me. And since I've been getting a ton of calls, texts, messages on facebook, etc. about what happened and where I am at today, I figured it would be easier to write up a little post.
If you read my last post regarding my health, you would know that I have been dealing with a few issues. I had been seeing a doctor to work on bringing my hormone levels up. Back in March I had started taking all of the hormones. I went almost 70 days without a period. Knowing it was a very slim chance, I got a blood pregnancy test from our general family doctor. The test results came back negative. I was not surprised. Then in May, I had started bleeding again. I bled and bled for 36 days straight. Since I had already gotten a negative blood test, my doctor figured it was just my body trying to level out. I had a couple of small flare ups last week. You can read more about it
here.
On Friday around 5 AM, I was hit again with the strong stabbing like pain in my uterus and close to my appendix. I tried everything to ease the pain. I had to work the weekend and was trying to get someone else to cover my shift. But who wants to work on a weekend? I went into work and the minute I walked through the door, my manager said I was really pale. By this point I had already taken 2,000 milligrams of ibuprofen. I knew something was wrong. When I looked in the mirror I had dark brow circles covering my eyes and just looked sick. Within the first hour of my shift, I could hardly stand up. My sister felt my arm and commented on how icy cold my skin felt. My managers noticed I was getting worse and sent me to sit down while my sister called my dad to come pick me up. All I wanted was to go to urgent care for pain medicine. By the time I was in my parent's car and just leaving the parking lot, the pain hit harder than ever. It hurt too bad to breathe. My head was spinning around and I was sweaty. I started crying to my dad about the pain. Then all of a sudden I was throwing up on the floor of the car. Twice. My dad knew instantly that I needed more than urgent care. He sped until we got to the emergency room, thinking it could possibly my appendix.
We got put in a room quickly and the tests started. I kept asking for water but nobody would give it to me. They just started drawing blood from my arms. I was dehydrated since I had just thrown up the only thing I had eaten for the day, my usual green juice. I started panicking again because I couldn't breathe or sit up. I thought I was going to faint. Finally the nurse got me IV and medications. When testing for my blood pressure, I was lower than I should be. I just felt so dizzy, weak, and thirsty. "How about that water now? Please just give me water." I would say to the nurse.
The ER doctor came back in later and simply said, "You're pregnant." No. No. I couldn't be. That's impossible. I just had a blood test taken. There is no way. I argued and doubted him for a bit. My husband was in denial as well. The doctor told me that it was probably a tubular pregnancy, meaning the fetus was developing anywhere outside of my uterus. We got some ultrasounds done and sure enough, the ER doctor was right. There was in fact a baby growing inside of me. But things were not going the way they should. I was quickly prepped for an emergency surgery since the baby had ruptured. Luckily my dad and Jimmy gave me a wonderful blessing since I was scared. Before I knew it, I was being wheeled into the operating room. The pain had all come back again. I was freaking out and the last thing I remember was the nurse asking the Anesthesiologist what to do. The next thing I remember was waking up with nurses all around me, petting my hair and rubbing my face. I had woken up crying and shaking, and could not stop scratching my face. Finally I was wheeled into my tiny room. Jimmy was always on the uncomfortable chair right beside me. Once I was hooked up to everything I needed, I was able to get a little rest. The nurses checked in on me every hour. My blood pressure kept dropping and no matter how many hot blankets I was wrapped in, I was still cold. Finally, I was able to warm up and give them some more blood. My blood pressure had stopped dropping but it was still low.
I had learned that if I had not gone to the hospital when I did, this could have killed me. The doctors were telling me about how there are women in my situation who didn't make it in time to live. It could have easily been fatal.
The next morning I got a briefing of what happened during the surgery. I had been cut open in a few places on my tummy. The first thing the doctor saw was blood. Lots of internal bleeding. He drained 400 ml of blood out and said he knew there was another 200 ml in my body. I had lost a lot of blood. I was told that I was right on the border line of needing a blood transfusion. I had my IV and some stranger's blood ready to go in case I needed it. My doctor was amazed at how well the surgery went. He said that even though my baby was one of the biggest ones he had to take, it was also one of the smoothest surgeries he had every performed. He asked me how I was able to keep up with all of the lost blood from 36 days of bleeding. I told him I eat a lot of healthy meat. He liked that. My doctor explained to me that the baby had grown to be the size of my uterus and fist. It had in fact been in my fallopian tube which was the size of the pointy end of a pen. He was amazed that my tube didn't break at all. My doctor still ended up having to remove my fallopian tube since it was so damaged and scarred. I was told that I could still get pregnant with one tube. He also explained to me that I was having such a hard time breathing because of all of the internal bleeding. The blood was irritating my lungs and had caused inflammation.
From there on out I was just in my recovery phase. Jimmy was always beside me, holding my hand, braiding my hair and giving me encouragement. We had a ton of visitors and sweet words sent to us. My happiness was lifting up when I realized I could in fact get pregnant. Let me repeat that. I CAN IN FACT GET PREGNANT. Jimmy and I were ecstatic about the news. When you have been dealing with inftertility, this is great to hear! I was still getting pumped with pain killers and other medicine, along with the IV. Having support from everyone is making the process so much easier to deal with. Jimmy and I were ready to go last night. We got permission from my doctor. He said that if I could prove that I was able to walk, go potty, and eat some food without sending it back up, then I could most likely go home. I was ready. With help from my nurse and Jimmy to get me out of bed, I was able to walk with hardly any support. I also went potty and later ate three inches of my Subway sandwich that Jimmy's brother brought for us. Apparently three inces is more than a lot of people would have been able to eat.
My doctor and nurses were so impressed that they let me go home!
I am still in some pain, especially where my fallopian tube had once been. We are working on getting some color back to my skin and getting my body the nourishment it needs. Jimmy and I are currently staying at my parents so I can be taken care of while he has to go back to work. I see a little progress being made. I was told to plan for a six week recovery, then at eight weeks I will most likely be able to go back to my previous day to day activities.
Whew! I did not realize just how much I wrote on here! I wonder if anyone actually got to the end of this post??? Haha.
I want to say THANK YOU to everyone of you who has helped me out this weekend. I am so amazed at how loved I feel. From here on out its just doctor's appointments and healing. So thank you again to so many of you! If you have any other questions, I am pretty open about this. But I'm tired so I think I will lay down for a bit! :)
