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Saturday 8/14/10 Woke up feeling great! My wonderful husband is working on renovating our basement, and has made some huge improvements to my studio. We're were headed out to get some fun things...chairs, bookcases, etc. We had a wonderful lunch then headed home to start work. Couldn't wait to get my room put back together so I could play...I just recently completed metalsmithing (another step into the jewelry world). Walked in the door and started having chest pains. Kind of crampy and took my breath away. Just wouldn't pass, so Pete took me in to the hospital. They diagnosed me with pneumonia, and we were floored. I'd felt great all week, hadn't been sick for a long time. No sign of any illness. They sent me home with antibiotics and told me to return if I had any problems. I felt moderately fine until Sunday night into Monday morning. Monday, 8/16/10 I woke up Monday morning feeling like I got run over by a truck. We headed back to the hospital and was admitted. More x rays and ct scans showed the mass in my lungs had gotten larger. Still trying to knock out the pneumonia. Thursday, 8/19/10 6:00 p.m. Pneumonia is being questioned as it's not responding to anything..it's continuing to grow and has taken over 3 lobes of my lungs. I had a repeat x ray this afternoon which turned out questionable. Back to get another ct scan. Depending on these results, a lung biopsy may be needed, it's just the last resort. When the DR's know exactly what they're dealing with, they'll know how to treat it. Please say some prayers for my husband and children. I'm starting to see this wear on them. Pete's awesome, but I know he has a lot on his mind. PJ appears fine (he just keeps texting his "girlfriend" a lot), Connor is our sensitive one, and Hollyn doesn't know what's going on so she's somewhat acting out. Thanks so much to all my friends and family *I'd love to hear from you. I have my laptop with me, but am not checking email too often. I can get on facebook or you can leave a message on this Queen Beader website in the "Guest Book Section". I have my cell phone on all the time but I'm too exhausted to do much with it. ct scan shows worsening, so a bronchial treatment (biopsy) set for tomorrow morning. Father Javier came by the hospital and gave me "annointing of the sick" this evening. He made friends with the cleaning staff since they spoke "the same language". Very special. Friday, 8/20/10 12:02 a.m. put back on oxygen. During these nights when I have a hard time with sleeping I'll text my brothers. I'm on so much narcotics and sleep aids that I'm hallucinating. I was joking with Pat that there were ghosts and people hiding in my room...Although I really thought there were. He jumped in a cab and was here at the hospital at 1:30 a.m. (cab...long story). I felt much better about going to sleep, only to wake up to him snoring loudly........ I tried waking him up but he was out cold. I got up, went to the restroom then as I reached my bed and bent over, my iv line broke and blood was squirting out all over. Had to call the nurse for help :) Glad he's protecting me. Family friend...Katie Golenzer (labor & deliver nurse here) came to check in on us and put us in good hands. Thanks Katie! 12:00 p.m.Broncosophy at 1:00 5:00 p.m. just returned to my room from recovery. What an experience. It was so nice, my husband was able to stay with me through the whole procedure. He did almost get kicked out for cracking too many jokes, but that's how he copes with his anxieties. It went very well and pretty much as expected. Now we just wait and see what the cultures come back with. We're taking bets as to when I'm out of here, Pete's saying Sunday, Shannon M & I are saying Monday. Let's keep our fingers crossed. The doctors are good at communicating what they know, and will hopefully have some preliminary info for us in the morning. Pray for a great night's rest!
Saturday 8/21/10
4:15 p.m.Thanks for all the prayers....I had the best night's sleep since I've been here. They changed my sleep aid and it worked great. My brother and sister in law came back to sleep with me and ward off the halucinations (and Pat didn't snore at all). He made friends with all the nurses...he's kind of like a "party in a box". I woke up feeling refreshed. This morning Tamy gave me a massage and it was heaven. I've had all my family with me and it's wonderful.
A Dr. came in and said some sort of strep bacertia has shown up from the test yesterday, but won't know much until the infectious disease Dr. returns. I'm expecting the news will be slow through the weekend. Hoping to be home very soon though.
Thanks so much for all the wonderful gifts, phone calls, food, treats, prayers and thoughts....We also appreciate all the help with the kids and they've had a great time.
My friend Kathleen is coming to sleep with me...she's bringing her ninja sword to fight the demons.
Sunday, August, 22
4:15 p.m. Had another great night's rest last night. Can't talk on the phone much...I get very short winded and "panicky" when I get coughing fits. Just try to do a lot of texting. But, I think I'm on the downhill side. Had another xray this morning, but no results (still on 02). We're just banking on the fact that it's the weekend and we'll hear something tomorrow. The "fam" does get a little testy though when we're not hearing much (although it is a good day when Pat & Aunt Eileen don't piss off any nurses).
This is testing my patience. I want to get up and do simple things but just taking a shower is exhausting. I need to tell myself that when I get home to adjust my expectations.
Pete's my rock. He's all I could ever ask for in a husband, father & provider. I just pray that God's taking care of him through this too.
***Dr. reported that results from this mornings xrays are almost identical to previous one. Good news....just the fact that it hasn't grown. (they were checking for any complications and it's negative)
****OK this is sad that this is even more concerning to me than the fact that my x ray was ok. Just checking a few days worth of email and see that tomorrow is school picture day (SVE)!!!!! If anyone on staff or at school tomorrow would like to check on Connor & Hollyn's appearances' I would be deeply grateful. Apparently, Pete's doesn't read my blog so this shouldn't make him feel bad. If he is....you really do a great job honey!
Also, Thanks for the guest book entry brother-in-law Mike...and yes, Oreo & CoCo had better be home when I get back!
Monday, August 23
9:30 a.m. Can't believe I've been sitting here for 1 week already. Had an awesome night sleeping and feel really good this morning. Just going to wait around to see the Dr. I'm ready to get home & get back on track!
I feel so lucky and blessed for all the amazing friends and family!
5:15 p.m. Gonna stay another day or so. Culture showed absolutely nothing so far. They'll leave it open as something can grow up to 8 wks or so. The Dr. really just said that a pneumonia culture usually shows a lot more than mine did, although he's pretty sure it is some sort of pneumonia. Now days, there's so many bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. they literally don't know where to begin, so they just try to eliminate things one at a time so they know how to treat it. They've also ruled out "Valley Fever" for now, which was a concern since I just traveled through CA & AZ. That's a load off my mind, "like", "fer sure". Again, the only better way to diagnose is biopsy (surgicially), but my body seems to be fighting this on its own, so that's a last resort. My white cell counts down, fever broke, appetite's slowly coming back.
Had a nice visit with Pete today with just us. He said that he greatly appreciates all the concern and thoughts from everyone and that he really doesn't need anything right now, but would like not to have all the meals and visits from everyone until I get home. He's a "one track mind" kind of a guy, so he likes to figure it out himself. He has a lot going on between work, kids, construction at home (& 2 dogs he dearly loves)... I told him that it's ok for people to help him, and he knows, but I think that this is his way of coping (that's his very last resort). We dearly love everyone.....
So nice of Fr. Alvaro to check in with us today.
Tuesday, August 25, 2010 (whatever date it is...)
Home sweet home! Finally...thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, gifts & expressions of kidness. I'll post more when I'm settled. Completely exhausted. Thanks to mom for the help!
Wedsesday, August 25, 2010
Woke up and feel almost human. I slept great last night (found an amazing sleeping pill so I'll try not to get addicted ;) We got the kids off to school and it's nice to finally sit in my office at the computer and check email.
I've figured that if I take it very slow I do ok.
Trying to drink lots of water which is a huge chore for me.
Planning on taking a week's worth of mail & bills and sifting through it in bed.
*I apparently said a bunch of things last week that I don't seem to remember...don't hold it against me :)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thanks so much to everyone for all the calls, notes, thoughts, visits, gift cards and flowers. We're so fortunate to be still loved by our St. Mary's family, and so lucky to be embraced by our new SVE community.
I saw the lung specialist last week...she thinks my pneumonia was acutally a "lung injury". All of my tests & cultures came back negative for any sort of infection which is good. This could mean that it was possibly a chemical burn or particle that was lodged in my lung. I've been in school for the last year for jewelry/metalsmithing, so who knows what it could've have been. I know I'll be much more careful about wearing a mask now. I have a beautiful new studio in the basement, and thanks to my father in law a great ventilation system.
My family's asked me to scan in copies of my ct scans...I'm a pretty private person usually, but these are pretty amazing. The dr's told my family at the hospital that most people with the amount of pneumonia I had were in ICU on ventilators. Thank goodness my body fought this off well.
I'm doing so much better, but I cough all the time. So annoying (I'm sure to those around me too). I'm so frustrated at being tired & weak, but the dr said not to expect to feel normal until at least the holidays. I plan on it being much sooner...
I have a ct scan at the end of September (ct scans apparantly look the same for up to six weeks). If this "mass" is gone, I'm "home free" and they'll put me on steriods.
Here's the 1st ct scan taken on Saturday, 8/14, the very first day I went to the ER complaining of chest pains. They gave me antibiotics and sent me home. (bottom left)
 This was the ct scan as of Tuesday, 8/17 (3 days later)
 I don't have copies of the latest ct scan, which showed both sides covered by the white shadow. |
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