cdavis21
a rough few days for me.
Dec 22, 2011
I just got home from my second trip to the emergency room in two days. my, my, my....it has been quite an interesting (and painful!) few days.i was feeling fine. jeremy & i decided to go try to finish up some christmas shopping. i even got dressed up! (first time after surgery I put on all my makeup and wore real clothes.) Actually- NSV here- I could squeeze into my 22's again! I had to buy a pair of 24's a few weeks ago because my 22's just weren't buttoning. They are a little tight but they buttoned, so WOOHOO!!
anyway. we are walking in the mall and i just got a sudden onset of really sharp pain in my side/back area. (technical term is flank, i have learned.) it was hard to breathe. i had to sit down. after a few minutes i got up again, but we ended up leaving the mall. i didn't think i was going to be able to make it back to the car because my breath was so short and the pain was so bad. it never went away. we came home and i tried to lay down and i couldn't even lay on it or do anything. so i called my surgeon, and after about a 30 minute wait, he advised me to go to the emergency room.
so my mom takes me to the emergency room, where my pain elevated. i have literally never felt pain like i did wednesday night in my entire life. it was the worst thing i've been through. it was just sharp, stabbing, extreme pain with every. single. breath. after about 2 hours of waiting and lots of tears, we got called back. the doctor ordered a shot for pain (hallelujah!) and ordered a CT scan to check for kidney stones. Results: He deemed my pain a UTI and sent me home with some percocet and an antibiotic. I did not believe that was all that was going on, because I'd never heard of a UTI causing someone so much agony.
So, I went home, took 2 more percocet, and tried to sleep. I took 4 more before the morning and slept with a heating pad all night, but still did not get very good rest. First thing this morning, I went to my family doctor. She agreed with me that she did not think it was only a UTI but she was worried that it was a blood clot in my lungs. I immediately started crying thinking I was going to die. She told me if it would have killed me it would have done it at the mall, so that helped, but not really. After about 4 nurses, the doctor, and a machine all trying to find my blood pressure (no one could hear it, so the doctor said it must be really really low), with an extremely high heart rate, she called an ambulance to come take me back to the emergency room. I had a chest x-ray there and another one in the ER. It was my first ride in an ambulance. They did another CT scan, this time checking for blood clots. They said we'd get the results in 30 minutes. So naturally about 3 hours later (and a forgotten order for my pain medicine) the ER doctor comes in with the results- No blood clots!! I've never been more relieved. She said I had a "raging" kidney infection and that the shortness of breath was coming from the diaphragm pushing on the infected kidney when I breathe. And that there is swelling on the inside of my incisions probably causing discomfort too (perfectly normal post-op.) They gave me some morphine through my IV and sent me on my way.
I've felt a lot better since coming home. I've had very bad gas pains but I was able to relieve it finally (haha) and that felt GREAT! But it's definitely been an interesting few days. I have gotten blood drawn so many times I think I ran out! I have little holes all over my hands and arms. Here's to hoping my antibiotics kick in fast and this pain goes away.
And on a brighter note, I've lost 4 more pounds since Tuesday!
