It turns out I have blood clots in both lungs. Breathing treatments are helping expand my lower right lung and hopefully push the fluid against the cavity wall to reabsorb. If it doesn't work it will have to be taken out via thoracentesis. I am spending Thanksgiving here. Thankfully, my family is bringing their dinner up to be with me. I love them.
Posted by gwendolyn on November 28, 2002 at 03:32 PM
Well, so much has happened. I was doing pretty well with the no tube and eating liquids on Saturday. Sunday they tried me on full liquids (meaning tomato soup and pudding). I started to not feel very well Sunday night. My belly stayed too full and got kind of hard like things weren't passing the way they are supposed to, even for me. So we found out that it wasn't all my imagination and that I have a bowel obstruction. They don't think I will need surgery for this. They think it will work itself out and pass. It has been very uncomfortable for the last three days though. On top of that, I have been having pain in my ribs that wraps around from back to front for the last few days. I told several nurses and doctors over the last few days that something was really wrong and they all listened to me and decided that it was quite possibly either gas or just muscle pain from being in bed so much. I wasn't convinced but I did what they said and kept walking. Yesterday, I finally got one of the residents to listen to me and examine me and she ordered chest x-rays which showed fluid under my right lung and prompted a whole pile of tests to be performed on me STAT. At midnight last night I went through a CT Scan that showed I have a blood clot in my lungs. This is a very serious thing. It is very scary and now they are shooting me full of additional blood thinners and hooking me up to oxygen. I may have to take the blood thinners for a year. I hope that they work. This morning they sent me down for an ultrasound of my legs to try to find the source or additional blood clots and the tech didn't find anything. I hope this is the only one. I also hope that it doesn't hurt me. I have to have the fluid under my right lung taken out with a needle and cathetar. I am scared to death to have that done even though the doctor says that it won't hurt any worse than the pain I am already having from the fluid pressing on everything. It is making it almost impossible to breathe unless I am sitting up at a 90 degree angle. I was supposed to go home sometime between yesterday and tomorrow. I don't think I will even make it home for Thanksgiving now. I can't believe it. I hope I make it home for Christmas.
Posted by gwendolyn on November 26, 2002 at 09:11 AM
They took the tube out at 7:30 this morning. I am happy to report that I am doing quite well without it this time and haven't gotten sick. I have been pushing myself extremely hard today with the walking the halls. I absolutely exhausted my energy supply around 3:00 this afternoon and accidentally passed out sideways on the bed for twenty minutes. I did a few more laps and decided I give up and plopped onto the bed for the last hour and a half. I will walk later. Terry will make sure of that. I can't sit still for too long or my belly will get all swollen and pukey again. Gravity is very important to this process.
Posted by gwendolyn on November 22, 2002 at 05:11 PM
Update: I am now on week four in Hell. I don't know if I am getting better or not. All the doctors just keep coming in and poking at me and saying that we just have to wait. I have had to go through a lot of x-rays and CT Scans and stuff this week. No one has anything bad to report from the images. They just keep pulling this tube further out of my nose. So my stomach is staying fuller and I am not getting as sick as quickly. Today they finally gave me some anit-inflammatory drugs for the tremendous irritation this tube in my nose is causing. I have to say that it works pretty well. I am not completely painless now but I can swallow melted ice chips again with a lot of patience and effort. This is a step up as I had completely lost that ability.
Posted by gwendolyn on November 21, 2002 at 07:52 PM
Hello. It is me. I got moved to a regular room today. This is good news. My digestive system is still shut down and I am still having a lot of trouble expanding the lower part of my lungs which are still collapsed. I have a tube down my nose and throat draining my stomach that makes it impossible to swallow or breathe through my nose properly. It is causing a bit of a sore throat and sinus thing. I have a nifty vacuum suction thing I keep sticking in my mouth. Gross huh? :) my torso is kind of burning all over and sore at all of the puncture and incision sites. There are lots of tubes hanging out of my belly and arm. I have an ileostomy. I have a very long incision with staples. This all is incredibly overwhelming for me to deal with at times. Along with the morphine masked pain that seems to be neverending. I am attempting to reconnect with the outside world despite my difficulty with speaking with the tube. So if I haven't talked to you on the phone or haven't been able to talk long I apologize. I want to thank everyone who have sent cards and flowers and balloons and have called, emailed, and posted kind things. I will be in touch individually as soon as I can. Each day poses new obstacles and some days I handle better than others. I miss my children so much that everytime I think about it I burst into tears and it adds to the existing problems. There have been days when I was just ready to die. There have been days when I just sob and ramble about how not fair it all is and how I just can't do it anymore. There have been fevered incoherent days I don't remember. Most days I just keep trying to see the progress and not let the setbacks take over. This is the hardest thing I have ever been through. I hope they fix me. I hope they don't cut on me anymore. Terry tells me I am so strong. They aren't standing around giving me a choice. Hopefully, the worst is over. I can't imagine things getting much more horrific than they already have been. I have to go try to get comfortable enough to sleep now. Also, If you have babies hug them very tight right now and be so happy you are there for them. If you have a significant other tell them how much you can't live without them and act like every minute is your very last to be with them. Don't take anything for granted, including the air you breathe. I know I sound like a freak but you wouldn't believe what it is like to be in this situation.
Posted by gwendolyn on November 09, 2002 at 09:45 PM