AngKam
I know, it's been 5+ years.....
May 29, 2013
I've definitely seen better days.
Where shall I begin, without turning this into a long drawn out story?
I go back to that question, I'm always asked... Would you do it again?
quite simply... NO!
My honesty may get me flamed, but when you've been through what I've been through the past few years, I think you'd understand.
Instead of writing a story, I'll kinda summarize...
December 22nd, 2011 - I fell flat on my back, bc my legs were so swollen, I couldn't get in my low to the ground car. Why they were swollen, was yet to be learned.
February 14, 2012 -I wake from a coma in ICU. Unable to speak, but only say my name "Angela" to all questions asked of me.. I have no memory of that. In the few days prior, I had fallen in the garage, hitting my head on the garage door sensor. I bled quite a bit apparently, but my husband thought I was okay, so he didn't take me to the hospital - big mistake, but you live, you learn, right? Hard lesson to learn.
I had fallen I'll o ER the days after my fall, staying in bed, not even getting up to use the bathroom, but once or twice. I was severely dehydrated. My husband wasn't supposed to come home that fateful day - he had a meeting with the state and hadn't thought he'd be able to. He says, he brought home KFC, thinking, I'd be so hungry from the smell, I'd get up and eat - I had not eaten in days either. When I rolled over and just apparently, rolled my eyes at him, he thought I was being a bitch. He literally said he wanted to smack me to see if he got a reaction.. But upon feeling my face, I was alarmingly hot. 105 temp. He called my Mom, who wasn't home at the time, and called 911. Apparently, they didnt know if I was dead or alive, but my neighborhood was packed with cops, ambulances, fire trucks and first-responders.
In order to get me from my bed to gurnee, they had to lift me and knock my knees to sit me down. My only memory, is the pain I felt in my stomach and a shadowy figure in front of me, that I assume was from sunlight behind them as they put me in the ambulance. I remember screaming in pain that it hurt and them having to strap me down. But otherwise, everything is hazy.
upon getting to the hospital, my husband was told, I was very sick and touch & go. They asked my husband how long I had, had this rash on my stomach. He said, that I get them alot, from the excess skin. They said, no, it's not that kind of rash. My entire stomach, was red from chest down, wrapped around to my back. He had given me a shower over the weekend, and he said it wasn't there. Let me tell you.. It hurt, burned, just like a sunburn does and it peeled, like one too!
At the time, they didn't know what was wrong, so I was placed in quarantine, and anyone entering my room had to be fully robed and masked. When tests came back, I was septic. I had 3 blood transfusions in the ER and another before I left the hospital a week later.
When I entered the hospital, I weighed about160 and left at 240. I looked like I had a huge tire around my waist. Fluid had built up all over me, especially my legs. My albumin (protein) was extremely low - 0.9. Normal is 3.5 and up. See, I don't remember how or why this happens, but when your protein is that low, you swell! I had to learn how to walk again, sit, stand, etc. I couldn't get out of bed to even use the bathroom, so I had a cath for the first day. I had to go to the bathroom so bad, they brought a bedpan - no way could I use that, even if I tried. And it hurt to sit on that thing. The nurse, Phyllis, God bless her heart, took my cath out, and despite the rules, she got me a bedside commode, lifted me up (mind you this is a 60+ yr old woman, who said my husband wasn't allowed to help), literally, picked me up and set me down. Ah, relief! But, I tell you what.. After the struggles of getting up and down, I wanted that cath back in!
My husband stayed with me 24/7 that week. He helped me as much as possible. They gave me diuretics to help with the fluid, but, getting up every 5-10 mins for 4-6 hrs, is exhausting.
Back to that night when I woke... A doctor, Dr. Anderson - who knows me quite well now, was calling my name, and when I finally came to, he asked if I knew where I was. I could only say "uh" even though I knew I was in the hospital. They did a spinal tap on me, which I highly do not recommend. It was so painful and leaning over, not able to move, for 45 mins, became so difficult. Thankfully, everything was clear. But I never want another spinal tap again, if I can help it!
They told me it could be 3-4 months recovery of getting the fluid off, but I fought hard and got most of it off within a month. I had home health nurses. One was so persistent and wanted me to get up out of a rocking chair, claiming she'd catch me, if I fell.. She was behind the chair. No way would she have caught me. I got up and down 3x and that was hard to do and that was my limit!
So, in the end, I lost 4-5 months of memory. I remember driving by a restaurant and telling my husband that I'd like to go there sometime.. "We were just there for your bday!" No memory of it, but I have pics from it. He said I was very frail that night. And this was before ever falling the first time. And oh do I remember the sound of my skull hitting the pavement and being soaked by the rain.
The hardest part of my memory loss, was coming home. I didn't recognize my daughter, bc she had grown. And it took me a long time to go into the garage again. I balled like a baby when we pulled in the driveway.
So, here I sit, a summary, it is not, but a story, I tried to make short. My memory, still gone. Seizures, possibly happening, narcolepsy, possibly. EEG coming soon. Nearly bit my tongue off recently. No memory - lights out, lights on. Underweight by alot. At my height, which I've shrunk from 5'11" to 5'9", weighing about 145, when I'm supposed to be 175. Can't gain weight, can't get my protein in normal range, still. Swell often, many hospital stays since last February. Talks of reversal and feeding tubes, etc... I need spine surgery and can't heal with such poor protein levels. Until then, I suffer.
So, please keep me in your prayers. And to go back to what I opened with.. Yes, I regret my surgery. Because of all this, it's the root of the problem. I was happy fat, not necessarily healthy, but healthier than I am now.
