Wednesday, February 11, 2009

So here is the story..

Last Thursday night, Jarom and I were enjoying a lovely dinner of mac and cheese on the couch while watching the Cosby show when all of the sudden I got this really sharp pain in my lower right side (*I was later corrected by a not so friendly nurse that it was not my side that hurt, it was my lower right quadrant or I could say my abdomen but it was not my side). It was a Sharp stabbing pain but it only lasted a minute. I thought "that was weird" but continued on enjoying my mac and cheese. An hour later I had the same sharp stabbing pain and it hurt to move, but again it only lasted a minute so I didn't think much of it. (This was about 7 pm.) That night as Jarom and I got into bed, I went to lay down and the pain came back and this time lasted for more like 3 minutes, but then it stopped and I was able to lay down. It was starting to bother me a little bit that this pain kept happening, I wondered if it was something wrong with Ezra or if maybe he was finally moving so that I could feel it and it just wasn't as pleasant for me as everyone I know says it will be.. I was nervous but it had stopped again so I prayed that Ezra was okay and I went to sleep.


Friday morning I woke up and felt fine- until I sat up that is. The sharp stabbing pain was back and it lasted a bit longer this time, like 5 minutes. But it was worse, the pain was so sharp that it made me vomit. (Gross, I know, and I'm sorry but it is part of the story.) Now I know that it was not morning sickness because I have not suffered from that for 4 weeks now and I did not feel nauseous until the pain came for so long. I ended up laying back down and going into work at 10 unlike the 8 I planned on. The pain didn't happen again until I sat up. I thought that maybe it was just the movement that was hurting me and if I just got up and got to work I would feel better.


Well I got to work and I had the pain one more time around 10:30 but then I felt great. Unfortunately that only lasted until 11:30. Every time I got up to get something from the printer, or had to walk at all, my lower right side of my abdomen hurt really bad. It was still a stabbing pain but it was now a constant pain. After 2 hours of constant stabbing pain even after taking Tylenol, I decided to ask our lovely receptionist Tiffanie (who has had every weird medical condition under the sun) if it sounded like something I should worry a lot about. I was thinking it was a cyst on my ovary and she agreed that it did sound like that kind of pain.. we decided together that maybe since my uterus was growing, maybe it was pushing on the cyst and causing me all this pain. Good diagnosis.. but she told me that I should call my OB's office just in case (since it was the start of a weekend when they would not be in) and ask them what they thought. So I called Jed's office and talked to a nurse. I explained the pain, told her that there was no spotting at all or fever, just constant stabbing pain. I suggested to her what I thought it might be and she kindly said "Most women don't experience pain from cysts while pregnant because the hormones you are producing are the ones that treat the cysts." There went that idea. She told me that I could continue to take Tylenol and I could use a heating pad for 15 minutes at a time (with a 15 minute break in between uses) to ease the pain but that there wasn't more she could really do at this point. She did say it sounded like my appendix was causing me problems and that I should watch for a fever. If I had a fever or the pain got worse, I should go to the emergency room.


Jarom left work early to go snowboarding with his best friend and little brother and someone else I don't know. I stayed and got a lot of work done and then came home. The pain just kept getting worse and worse. It was so bad that I couldn't walk down the stairs, so I spent the evening sitting on the computer with Midnight on my lap. When Jarom got home at 11, I told him that the pain was getting worse and was still just as constant but I had no fever. We debated whether we should go to the emergency room or not, but decided to wait it out. At 12:30 we decided that the pain was not getting better and we needed to make sure that everything was okay. We couldn't leave it up to chance because it was not just me we were putting at risk, we have a sweet little boy who would be affected much sooner than I would be.


So to McKay Dee we went. The triage nurse told me that I explained it wrong, it was not my side that hurt (give me a break, it was 1 in the morning and I was pointing out exactly where it hurt to her) but it was my lower right quadrant (since that is what they refer to it as in the medical field). I went back to a bed and waited for a little while. Dr. Williams was my doctor and he was wonderful and I had a great nurse named Jon. They thought it sounded like my appendix, ordered an ultrasound, and then gave me an IV with morphine. Needless to say, it wasn't long before I couldn't hold my head up anymore, but it only brought my pain down a little bit (to a 5 from an 8 on the doctors 1-10 scale). The lady who did my ultrasound was amazing, her name is Wendy and if anyone ever has to get an ultrasound at McKay Dee I hope you get her because she is so wonderful. She looked and didn't see anything that looked like appendix, but my right ovary was really swollen and it had a 3cm cyst on it. She was told she couldn't check the baby, but she was so excited and wanted to see him since she had been called in after working a 12 hour day, so she spent more than 5 minutes looking at baby Ezra a pointing out his body parts to us. He was sleeping (such a good baby) but he was still punching in his sleep. Jarom laughed and said he is going to be just like his mommy (I act out my dreams sometimes and usually when I do I am punching something). She took me back and Dr. Williams came and told me what Wendy saw on the ultrasound. I was sent home just after 3 with the diagnosis of an ovarian cyst and I was given vicodin to treat the pain. He said that if it was the cyst, then the low dose of pain meds would help and I should feel relief from the constant pain soon. However, he also said that he couldn't rule out appendicitis because they couldn't do a CT to confirm. I was told that if in 12 hours the pain was still really bad, I developed a fever, or it got worse I needed to come back.


At 4:00 pm the pain was so bad I couldn't get up or down on my own at all and I was fighting back tears. We debated for over an hour about whether or not to go. I asked my stepmom (who is a nurse) what her opinion was and she told me I needed to go to the hospital. We still waited almost an hour before we went. By the time we got to the emergency room, I was shaking from the pain and was in tears. The ER was really busy with all sorts of weird people. We waited in the waiting room for over an hour and a half before I got taken back to the "crazy person" room because they didn't have room anywhere else. (The room I was in had nothing in it except a bed, two chairs, and a portable machine.) The lovely nurses told me that this is the room they lock the crazy people in who come to the ER. It is the only room there with a door. They told me there was another Amber there who was crazy so they were thinking of switching us rooms. It made me laugh, which hurt, but I didn't even notice the IV that was put in.


Since my visit in the middle of the night, my white count had dropped which was a good sign. Unfortunately the pain was just getting worse. The doctor who I had this time (who wasn't quite as nice) was concerned and called my OB's office. Jed was out of town so I got this guy Dr. Smithing who was very nice. He was really worried about the pain I was in and he felt it sounded like appendicitis (the ER doc disagreed) and so he had me admitted to the hospital for pain management and to watch me overnight. The next morning he came to check on me and told me it was not the cyst causing me problems and that he thought I needed my appendix out. A nice surgeon came and he told me that he couldn't guarantee it was appendicitis but that Dr. Smithing really felt it needed to come out and he agreed so I was scheduled for surgery that afternoon.


They were nice and let me take a shower before I went in to surgery. I actually was taken to the OR right after I got through combing my hair. See the goofy look? I'd been attached to a morphine pump for about 18 hours.. I was still in a lot of pain but the rest of my body was kind of loopy.



This is right after surgery, as soon as I made it back to my room.




I was trying to text someone to let them know that I was out of surgery and what the doctor said, but I kept falling asleep before I could finish a word. It took me nearly 45 minutes to finish the text.


By 11pm I was feeling much better.. I was still really sore but I was in a lot less pain then I was before the surgery.


There were a few complications after the surgery, nothing major but things you just hope don't happen after surgery. (I'll spare you all the details unless you care to know.) But Ezra was doing great, he didn't mind the surgery at all. I have a big incision on my stomach that is rather sore, but there are no stitches which is nice.

The surgeon told us that he still wasn't certain it was appendicitis because half of my appendix was completely normal, however the other half wasn't so good. Not bad enough it was ready to rupture, but he said it was a good thing we got it out now and that we didn't wait because it would have been much harder and a lot riskier to do it when I was much further along. I think that must have been what was bothering me because the sharp stabbing pains are gone. I am sore if I move too much, and I still need some help getting up and down but it is much less painful and the pain I have now is due to the big cut in my stomach and not some mystery which is a lot less scary.

Anyway.. that is the story. I was told to take this entire week off work which I am really hating because I'm sick of being home already and I don't want people at work to be mad at me, but they sent me pretty flowers and I have an amazing boss and his boss is amazing so I'm sure they won't hate me for this.. at least I hope not.

Oh something funny I have to add.. while I was at the hospital yesterday, a member of our bishopric (Bro. Holly) who works at the hospital found out where I was while delivering medicine to people (Jarom ran into him in the hall just outside my room) and so he stopped by to say hello. I had been really nauseous for a few minutes and was actually about to throw up as he walked in the room. I was embarrassed and tried really hard to not throw up. He was kind and stepped out the door so I could throw up and not feel embarrassed, but apparently he has magic powers or something because my nausea instantly went away and I felt much better. This has been the quickest cure to nausea that I have found. So to those of you in the ward.. if you are ever feeling sick, just have Bro. Holly stop by and you will feel much better. :)

Well.. that is all. I needed a break from laying on the couch so I decided to share this story. (Can you tell I've been lonely with no one to talk to besides my cats?) Thank you to those of you who have been concerned or who have brought or will be bringing us dinner or who have volunteered to come sit with me for awhile so I have some help when I need to get up or just to provide me with some company. I really REALLY appreciate it!

Ps.. I have the most wonderful husband! He is working all day, coming home and making dinner, cleaning the house, helping me get up and down, massaging my back, carrying me up the stairs so I don't have to walk, holding me, keeping pressure on my stomach while I have a coughing attack, worrying about me all day and taking care of me all night, and then getting up to do it all again the next day. He is the best and I'm so grateful to him for all he does! (And thank you to all of you who are relieving him from some of these things so he isn't as stressed.. he deserves the break.)

Thank you and I love you all! Have a wonderful day!

4 comments:

  1. Wow that sounds like a good story with a happy ending. I hope you are feeling much better. So when is your next doc. appt.?

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  2. I'm so glad you feel better now babe. I love you.

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  3. Wow, you always get the fun stuff. I am glad that you are feeling better, take it easy and let yourself heal.

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  4. Well, you are a true member of the family. Chronic Appendicitis for your Grandma, you mom and me. I lived that way for 6 months - the 3 months before I got married and the 3 following months, at least I wasn't pregnant! Many time Tyler carrying me into the ER and carrying me out after them saying nothing was really wrong. I am so glad you are ok and I am so excited to see you on Tuesday!

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