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AChocolateJewel's Blog
AChocolateJewel's Blog

Made it through the holiday
posted on 12/26/06 5:40 am
Just got out of the hospital after a 7 day stay.  Lord knows I wouldn't wish what I went through on anyone, not even an enemy.  It all started on Wednesday (1 week & 3 days from Christmas) at work...my stomach started getting a familiar gassy feeling...it had been a year since I had an episode and I thought for sure I had gotten this thing under control so I wouldn't need surgery.  Well, I got up and walked to the shoppette on base with a co-worker who is also a dear friend and she knows my story and what happened a year ago.  Well, walking didn't help...we were going there looking for prune juice so I could popp and hopefully relieve some gas pressure.  No juice there so she drove me to the commissary...
got the juice...
sipped on a full cup of it...
waited about thirty minutes...
stomach kept getting bigger and hurting even worse...
waited another 15 minutes...
stomach stilled bloating, cramping and then I threw up!
I knew then I was in a world of trouble...
I tried to be a trouper and stay at work but things kept going down hill...
she took me home and the cramping started getting horrible...
we went to the emergency room and they immediately took me in the back...
back there they made we wait and the cramping got excruciating...
I was crying, sweating, praying, vomiting, crying cramping and hurting like hell...
I knew then I wasn't going on my vacation to Tucson that coming Saturday and may even be in the hospital and this was all before the doctor said a word...
the doctors were giving me all types of shots to help with the pain and nausea/vomitting and it wasn't working...
I was there from Noon to 7:30 and it wasn't until then that I had enough meds in my system to keep me calm with no pain so they sent me home...this time I didn't get the tube in my nose...man I was even going home with no hospital stay...
I'd dodged a bullet or so I thought...
well, at home once the meds wore off around nine the pain came back with a vengeance...
like an idiot I battled the gas and cramps and sheer pain ALL NIGHT LONG...
silly me did that because...
1.  I wanted to go on my trip to see my baby 
2.  I had a doctor's appt the next day with my primary care doc and i'd tell her
3.  Being a single parent makes you some kinda super woman and you wanna be with your child(ren) and take care of them even when you can't take care of you...go figure...
I was so sick that whatever I was there to see the PCM for she threw that out the window in search of a way to treat my current hellish problem...
I started throwing up and they rushed me to get a CT scan..
last time I had a CT I was so dehydrated they stuck me 10 times trying to find an IV site...i'm a hard stick anyway...
couldn't get the scan because I WAS DEHYDRATED they tried 8 times and decided to admit me..monitor me...and give me fluids to help out so they could plump up my veins...
once in my hospital room they shoved an NG tube down my nose, through my throat into my stomach and I knew I was in for a long haul, that tube hurt like hell and I cried like a baby and it pumped my stomach with a vengeance...
then began the continuous sticking looking for a vein...
I'm a size 16 and my body composition should be petite like a size 6 or something but I am not there yet so the veins are buried under my extra flesh thereby making them hard to find...
they stuck me and finally got an awful site on the inside of my left wrist and it stayed a day before it blew...
they stuck me the next day on the back of my right forearm after trying a few places on the back of my hand and coming up empty...
that one lasted 2 days, my arm swole up 2x it's size and was throbbing so then they went on a hunt for 2 hours looking for a vein...
not a one would pop up so then decided at that point to do an "A Line" that means they go in deep into an artery line to get a vein!!!!!!!!!
(one location for an artery line is in the groin area!!!!!!!
they gave me some lidocaine to numb up the area but it didn't work 100% and the doc stuck me 4 times and came up empty!!!
Lawd Jesus is all I could say, so they decided to do a central line...
they brought in a surgeon from the surgery clinic to do this very dangersous line...
he was a baby and you could tell he was cocky and insensitive!~!!!!
he used the lidocaine and started sticking in the tubing right by my clavicle (that bone we ladies love to see right under our necks as a sign that we are losing weight)...
it went it okay at first until he had to push in further which went right past where the lidocaine numbed it and then all I felt was sharp pain and digging, I screamed bloody murder and he shot me to numb it again...
well after digging in my flesh and attaching this tubing they have to sew it into place so it won't come out...
he began sewing it down and the needles was going into the flesh oustide of the numbed zone so he had to numb me a third time...
so between the stinging of the lidocaine and the sheer pain of the insertion I was worn out...
they gave me some morphine to sleep and I dozed off into la la land...
couple of hours later on I woke up feeling nauseated...
the nurse and tech were taking my vitals and I told them I felt nauseated...I hadn't thrown up again since they admitted me because they were giving me stuff for nausea...
OMG the nausea stuff had worn off, I warned the nurse and tech they scrambled for a bucket but were too late and I threw up...
okay throwing up ain't so bad right...true...unless it is YOUR OWN POOP coming out of your mouth!
Good goodnes it was doo doo coming out of my mouth!
I was horrified!!!!!!
it flew all over the bed, got on one of the techs and it tasted just like crap smells...
needless to say I cried like a baby and thought to myself  "Lord don't let me die"...
they gave me nauseau meds through my nose tube directly into my stomach...
cleaned me up...
let me brush my teeth and gargle...
gave me morphine and I slept again...
I had two more episodes of throwing up crap and I thought for sure it was an awful sign...
my doc was a young asian man who they said is great...but...
he was extremely self confident, negative and slightly condescending...
he had no idea that I was as well read as I am on the body and I wasn't going to allow him to do surgery without allowing my body an opportunity to heal itself...
my church family was great during all of this and it just so happens that the Colonel who is the SGH ( apparently some very high position in the hospital) is a member of my church and he knows me from singing at the church and he is the man working directly on my medical board package!!!! 
well the colonel got invovled with my medical care and we also have a gastroenterologist at the church (both of these guys are black!!!) who is prominent in the city of Ocean Springs and he got involved with my care and they both were talking with the young doc who was treating me...
so during one of his daily visits he was talking and eluded to the fact that I know Colonel Gasque and Doctor Dillan and they know me by name and are involved with my care and how he is treating me....
in essence what he was saying is "I'm a Captain and you are a TSgt and these guys are higher up than me, how the hell do YOU know them and they know you by name?!?!?!!!!!"...
I explained to him that we all go to the same church and he was floored and I was grateful to God!!!
Well the young doc was skeptical about the suggestions of the two black docs and he was pleased to tell me that, but he decided to take there suggestions and try them on me anyway...
Praise be to God they worked!
I still have some follow up to go through but God most definitely is good...
It took 7 says to get back on my feet and I am still here!...
I did get an opportunity to witness to some to  a major while I was in there too...
during one of my nightly walks he and I walked thr floor and I found out he is a Christian...having marital problems...his wife isn't a Christian and we walked, talked, sat in one local and talked and prayed...

Well, I am tired now...think I will take a nap.

Oh but before I go...
I came out of the hospital eating as if i've had bypass surgery based on the recommendations of the doc and dietitian...they recommended that I do it for at least 7 days to give my intestines time to get better...
went to a friends for Christmas dinner and everyone was talking about how much weight i'd lost...
I didn't eat anything for the first 5 days...
they also commented on how little I was eating, how well I was  chewing my food...on the food choices I made and my self control...
So praise God I made it through the holiday and I believe that if I can keep this up for at least 30 days I can make a lifestyle change...
I can say I am more cognizant of chewing up my food...
taking smaller bites...
measuring smaller portions out...
listening to my head and my tummy...realizing when I am full...
monitoring whether or not I am pooping and how often...

SO I MADE IT and WILL continue to make it!


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