Starting January 31st when I broke my leg in two places, began what I hope will be the worst six weeks of my life. Please allow me to share why it has been terrible in timeline form
Jan 31 - Broken leg, out of work for a week
Feb 7 - Surgery on broken leg, out of work for a week and a day
Feb 24 - After two days of pain in my calf, the doctor sent me to the hospital to look for a blood clot, and sure enough one formed. I started on aspirin twice a day to resolve that issue
Feb 26 - I developed what I thought was gas pain at dinner, and it would not go away. I thought I ate too many grapes
Feb 27 - I skipped church due to my lower right quadrant pain. Josh did some research and thought it sounded like appendicitis. I called my mom and she told me to go to the hospital. I called the doctor on call from my office, and he told me it sounded like appendicitis and told me to go to the hospital. A trip to the ER and CT scan confirmed that I would have an appendectomy that night.
Feb 28 - I was released from the hospital to go home and recover. The doctor encouraged me to be as mobile as possible with a broken leg and abdominal pain
March 1 - I was in a lot of pain in my shoulder, back and chest. During the appendectomy the doctor filled my abdomen with gas. He said that it would cause shoulder pain as the gas reabsorbed into my system. Well I thought was being a baby that couldn't handle the pain, and tried to sleep through it.
March 2 - I woke up at 1am (Wed am)in terrible pain, and could barely breathe. I had another hour before I could take more pain killers so I laid in bed squeezing Josh's hand and tried my best to breathe before I could take more medicine. At 2:30am the pain was diminished just enough for me to crutch upstairs and out to the car. We drove to the ER again simply because I needed something stronger for pain. They took my vitals and found my blood pressure to be 80/50 and temp was 96.0. They went through the whole process to hook me up to fluids, draw blood, and ordered another CT. The results showed blood clots in both lungs and pneumonia. They admitted me into the critical care unit of the hospital to monitor me closely. I begged and begged for more pain meeds, but the nurses in that department didn't seem to be bothered by how much I was hurting. The always ask out of 10 what is your pain level. There were many times it was at a 10.
March 2- (later), I met with the doctor and he wanted to get my pain under control. He ordered morphine which was nice when I would throw up my pain meeds and they wouldn't give me more. I was transferred to the medical floor and had much better nurses, that took good care of me.
March 4 - I was released from the hospital.
What this means?
I have been of work (again) until I am off narcotics, and will go back part time until I have my strength back.
I have been sleeping in a twin bed and Josh is on the couch so that I don't have to go up and down the stairs. My lung capacity is significantly diminished.
I am going to be on blood thinners for the next three to six months, with regular blood draws to test the clotting level of my blood.
I am praying that I will not experience any additional complications or health problems in the near future.
