So, lots has happened since my last post, and I’m really hoping I have the energy to sum up at least some of it before I get too exhausted.
Well, Thursday the 15th I had to go have an ultrasound done on my abdomen to see if I was having anything serious going on that they could pick up on that way. It came back abnormal, and the next day we were planning the next steps: since my common bile duct was dilated, and my liver and kidneys looked enlarged, they were planning to ship me off to Barnes in St Louis for a procedure called an ERCP. We had hoped to do this the following Friday.
Of course, with my luck, that didn’t work out.
Monday I was feeling pretty awful, and Wednesday morning I was sort of convinced I was dying. When we called up to schedule me for my procedure Friday, the doctors at Barnes said to bring me up that day, and not to way. Needless to say, what I thought was going to be a normal Wednesday turned into a day of my going to St Louis to be admitted to the hospital. Joooooy.
I’ve never had to stay in a hospital before, so I was pretty nervous. At the time I went to Barnes, my total number of needle pokes for the month of March was at 19, and I was hoping it’d stay that low. But after my admission, they spent several hours trying to get blood from me and start a new IV. Nine pokes later, nothing. Sometime before they did my picc line procedure (where they use ultrasound to guide the needle and run this tube up a vein in your arm into your chest — VERY unpleasant), they managed to get an IV in my hand, but they still wanted to do the picc line too. So I had both my hand and my arm with things in them, and my arm was really, REALLY sore from the picc line. They made me NPO (no eating or drinking after midnight) in preparation for my ERCP procedure the next day.
Which never happened. Instead, they decided to do some more tests: EKG, Echo of my heart, MRI. I was NPO still until they were done, and NPO again after midnight so they could do my ERCP Friday. So I was pretty tired and hungry, since I couldn’t really sleep and only got to eat once in a while.
Come Friday morning, I was exhausted and ready to get my procedure over with. And, guess what – no procedure. Instead, they decided to discharge me – YAY! – and send me home to see if I get better on my own or if I need to go back. They aren’t 100% sure what’s been going on with me, and the only thing close to an answer was trace positive on the CMV virus – which I don’t think is what’s wrong with me, to be honest.
I kinda worry they’re missing something huge. I’ve never felt so miserable in my life. It’s like my body is just dying. And it’s a very scary thing. I want to feel normal again and be healthy again. Maybe I’ll be fine in a week, or maybe I’ll end up back in the hospital. Who knows anymore. =/
Anyway, I’ll update more as I know more.
~Angel
Misadventures of a Misfit 