Sweet n Salty

Back at it, again!

I was discharged Saturday afternoon. But I had a gut feeling that I had left too soon and that it wouldn't be long until I was back... and I was right. They over hydrated me on fluids during my initial stay, so when I went home, I had a overload of fluid and it was starting to fill my lungs. There was a cracking-rattling sound every time I would breathe. I was short of breath, and was slowly feeling like I was going underwater. But like a stubborn idiot, I tried waiting it out, hoping the issue would resolve itself.

I also hadn't had a BM (bowel movement) in almost a week (granted, I hadn't eaten a lot either - I was on a full liquid diet while I was in the hospital, and didn't have much of an appetite otherwise), so I resorted to doing some home enemas on Tuesday. Come Tuesday night, I was coughing and wheezing for air. We decided to call 911 to get me seen as soon as possible. Luckily, the doctor working the ER that night is my absolute favorite. He came in almost immediately to see what was going on, and ordered blood cultures, and an X-ray of my chest. When the tests and imaging came back, he was surprised that (get this) I WAS RIGHT. Apparently he had been skeptical that that was what was going on with me, but the X-ray and the blood work showed that I was flooded. I became the talk of the ER amongst doctors that night.

Of course, he wanted me admitted again, so they could empty the fluid and continue to treat my colitis. I wasn't going to disagree with him - I felt like absolute shit. So they wheeled me up to a room and gave me Lasix, a drug that makes you pee A LOT. They also continued the IV antibiotics that I was taking at home. I asked them if they could start and aggressive bowel-care regimen to help clean me out!

Over the past few days, I've been getting round the clock IVs, pain medication, and Lasix. On Wednesday, I still hadn't had a bowel movement, so they gave me a couple packet of Miralax, milk of magnesia, and prune juice with melted butter (OH GOD). When all of that didn't seem to work, I had to resort to one of my least favorite things... an enema. I really don't know why in God's name, celebrities CHOOSE to do enemas to help them lose weight because it's degrading, embarrassing, and downright uncomfortable! It was a mix of saline, hydrogen peroxide, epsom salts, and glycerin. When ALL OF THAT seemed like it was barely working, they gave me a shot of Relastore in my stomach. It's a medication that wakes up the intestines that have kind of 'fallen asleep' as a result of chronic pain med use. THAT finally seemed to do the trick. I had an abdominal X-ray this morning, and they said I'm just about cleaned out!

They also did a chest X-ray and more lab work yesterday, and they said that I am fluid free! I can tell because I can breathe SO MUCH EASIER now; there's no more crackling in my lungs when I breathe. Plus, I was pretty bloated before, and I think that a lot of that was fluid retention from all the excess fluid that was just floating around in my body, unable to be absorbed or excreted.

I did have a hiccup with my port though. When I went into the ER, my port was still already accessed since I'd been doing IV antibiotics at home. The ER was able to give me pain medication, but when they went to draw blood, nothing happened. They kept trying, but they were getting no blood return. Which meant there was probably a clot in the way. My nurse didn't want to keep messing with it and cause any damage to my port in the process. Which meant... I had to get poked, for them to draw my blood. And they wanted to get blood cultures, which meant I had to get my blood drawn twice, from two different sources. So the nurse picked the most painful spot that she could... my wrists. I know she wasn't deliberately trying to cause me pain, because she just kept apologizing over and over

When I finally got up to my room (at 2 in the morning), they tried deaccessing and reaccessing my port. Meaning, they just pulled out the needle/catheter/line that was already in there, and put in a new one. They flushed the new line with saline, but when they drew back, they still couldn't get any blood to come through! Which meant that if they wanted labs drawn at any point during my hospital stay, I was going to have to get poked again. Which I did, a couple of times.

Finally, yesterday, they decided to address the situation a little more aggressively, so they flushed a clot buster into the line, to try and break up whatever was on the other side, blocking the flow of blood from coming it. It would take the clot buster a couple of hours to work. What I didn't know, was that meant when it came time for pain medication, they wouldn't be able to push it through my port. Well, I was due for my pain medication, and my pain was escalating quickly but they couldn't give me anything. I ended up curling in half and crying from pain and frustration. They tried giving me Oxy pills, but they didn't help with the pain, and they just ended up making me itchy. So the charge nurse on the floor came in to get an IV line started on me, something that I had gotten the port for so I wouldn't have to do again because I don't have any viable veins left! But I was so desperate to pain relief that I agreed to do it. Four excruciating pokes later, I had an IV in my right forearm, and they gave me pain medication and benadryl.

They kept trying to pull blood from my port to see it the clot buster worked, but they had to administer a second dose to help with the first one. A couple more hours went by, my day-shift nurse left, and my night-shift nurse came on board. Once she was settled in, she decided to try working on my port a little more. I was so disappointed when she flushed the line and still no blood return. She flushed it again, and then there was a flash of red, and the syringe filled up with beautiful, bright, crimson blood! My blood! I yelled for excitement. I don't know if I've ever felt relief quite like that. Because if they couldn't get the port working... they might have had to gone in more invasively (surgically) to fix the problem.

So now, all the problems that I came back into the hospital with (over hydration, backed up intestines, a clogged port) have all seemingly been resolved! They have my discharge in the works, and then I think I can finally, confidently leave here and not come back (for a while anyways - I just can't seem to stay away for more than a month). I know the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is set my stuff down and say hi to my babies. Then I'm going to grab a bath bomb, and a face mask, and go relax in the tub, and soak off all the grime that's gathered on me for the past week, while I've been in the hospital. I know that's a long time to go without bathing, but sometimes, with chronic illness, you gotta roll with the punches, and sometimes those punches mean you're not in the right place mentally, or physically, to do even the most basic of things.