The Clot Part II

Wednesday (10/24): My first day in ICU was a blur. I was on so much medication to control pain that I don't really remember a ton about this day. I do know that there were tons of people there and I loved that. Even if my eyes were closed I loved to just hear everyone talking and laughing. It made me feel better. I was really blessed with nurses in the ICU. Not only were they all (well with the exception of 1) really loving and perfect, they let me have whoever I wanted in my room at whatever time i wanted. ICU rooms are very, very small. You are technically only allowed to have 2 people in the room at a time. I'm pretty sure at one point of this day there were at least 9 people in my room at a time,  ha. The nurses were like..."how many friends do you have?!"-- but I think they were secretly glad to have me as a patient because most people on that floor are ago 60+ and cant really function at all. This day my nurse was named Jody and she was THE BOMB. I could have cried when her shift was over because I was literally obsessed with her. At this point I was on the most medicine. They had me a on Heparin drip & Coumadin tablets (blood thinners), Dilaudid & Lortabs (pain, Dilaudid is similar to morphine but a little stronger), fluids, and antibiotics. I was also on complete bed rest this whole day, not even allowed to get up and go to the bathroom. Yeah thats right- they made me use a BEDPAN. At first I just refused to pee and then they threatened me with a cath and I decided that would be worse so I finally used the bed pan. It was awful but it had to be done. This day my blood level was about a .95. To be therapeutic, it needed to be between a 2 and 3, so I had a long way to go. Lots of visitors later, it was time to try to sleep. My poor mom was stuck with a teeny tiny recliner. I felt so bad for her. She was a trooper. But we made it through the first night strong! My nurse this night was named Misty and I loved her also.
    
Thursday (10/25): This day my day shift nurse (7am-7pm) was a BIA. She just was not nice and I did not enjoy dealing with her all day. I knew Misty would be back as my night nurse so I just looked forward to that. I went through a few rough patches this day with pain. I tried to go without the dilaudid a few times because it made me feel like a zombie, but this was a bad choice and i paid for it for sure. I decided from here on out if I was in pain I wouldn't hold out on meds. Got out of ICU this night really late- like 12am. Misty wanted to keep me as long as she could because she was not sure how much attention the nurses on the main floor could give me because they have much bigger caseloads (like 6 or 7 patients at a time, where ICU nurses have 1 or 2 patients at a time). There was also the issue of possibly getting placed in a room with a ROOMATE. WTF. I did not want to share a room with anyone and knew that they would not want to share with me because I had lots of visitors at all times. So, Misty kept me until I was guaranteed a private room and good nurses. I wanted my parents to get some sleep this night so Jamie, Mike and Emily stayed late with me and moved me into my new room. This room was HUGE. like 4 times bigger than my ICU room with couches, recliners, a bathroom with a shower (jackpot), and a bigger nicer TV. I actually slept alone this night and it felt good to have some time to myself. Don't get me wrong I loved having visitors at all time but I was ready to just have some me time and do things I wanted like watch old episodes of laguna beach on netflix and pluck my eyebrows and paint my nails. Netflix saved my life during this hospital stay! I literally watched so many shows and movies. It was love. My nurse this night was Alice and she was super nice. She got me hooked on my new favorite late night snack- graham crackers. I don't know why but I have been obsessed with them and anything cinnamon flavored for the last week. And sprite. Random.

Friday (10/26): This was my first full day in the new room. I again had some rough patches with pain this day but felt better by night time. I had tons of visitors this day and got my new favorite day nurse Jeanette and night nurse Christy. Mom got to stay this night in new, bigger recliner. Which was much nicer than the ICU recliner. One of my former students mom's was my blood nurse this night so it was fun talking to her. I was eating regularly by this day which was good. Pretty uneventful day. My blood had improved to the mid-1 range which was also good.

Saturday (10/27): Today was the best day because I actually got to take a shower. Thats right i said it- no shower from Tuesday-Friday.  The whole week i kept thinking THANK GOD I made my mom take me home to shower before going to the emergency room. THANK GOD. My shower was the best ever. I dried my hair and curled it and put on makeup from my bed. You probably think thats nuts and selfish but  I do not care. I just wanted to feel like myself and not a blob of smelly greasy lard. Because that is what i felt like. I don't think my hair had ever been so greasy in my life and I'm pretty sure the longest i've ever gone without a shower is 2 days. I love showers. This day I also got the news that I wouldn't be allowed to use a razor for as long as I was on blood thinners. Which is ya know, 6 months. I was not happy about this and have just now accepted it. Mom is going to go get me the best electric shaver there is- because I was cleared to use that. I wanted Christy to stay with me this night because I wanted my parents to be able to go home and do things like laundry, take care of the dog, eat normal food, etc. My parents were so resistant to leaving because they felt like they needed to be with me 24/7 which I understood but i finally convinced them that to take care of me the best they can during the day requires sleep and rest so they finally agreed to this. I was so happy to have Christy there that night and we laughed and talked just like we were at home. And we also watched more Laguna Beach, ha. I don't know why I still like that show.

Sunday (10/28): I woke up feeling like a new person because i got really good sleep Saturday night. The nurse who checks my blood every morning around 4:00-4:30 didn't come in until like 5:30 so that was really nice. I was so out of it when she woke me up that I thought she was my mom. Which is funny because she was a short black lady who talked like a man. I was having a hard time coming out of sleep so she starting saying "LIE UP, LIE UP" really loudly and it scared me so I started crying for some reason. She was so rough with my arm that I almost hit her. My cries turned to laughs after she left because Christy woke up and thought she was saying "LYLE, LYLE" instead of "LIE UP, LIE UP" and she started freaking out because she thought the nurse thought my name was LYLE and she came in and got the wrong persons blood. This isn't that funny really but at 5:30am when you are half asleep it was hilarious and we laughed for like 20 minutes. I just remember thinking gosh it feels good to just laugh!  I actually ate some of the hospital food breakfast this day I was so hungry. This is saying a lot because let me tell you its just not the greatest. Dad came with breakfast for Christy and a large McDonald's sprite for me around 7:30ish. McDonald's sprite in a big styrofoam cup has been my favorite thing since I've been feeling bad. It just tastes so good. I can't get enough. Mom got there not too long after and well all hung out for a few hours while we waited for the doctors to come in with my blood level. Good news- it was 2.1 which was therapeutic range. I was able to go home! Saw both my doctors, went over what would happen when i was at home (meds, diet, etc.) and was out by around 12:45. I was pumped. Got home, watched my Steelers play in those awful uniforms, and slept. Had a really hard time dealing with the pain at night so I took a bath. Around 8pm i was feeling ok. Mike ordered chinese food and i ate that and it was yummy. Then I couldn't sleep so I started this blog. Went to bed around 2:15AM and slept completely through the night. It was nice not waking up to someone sticking a needle in my arm at 4AM.

Today(10/29): I woke up around 9:30 wishing I would have set my alarm to get up and take my pain meds and Zofran instead of just sleeping in, but the sleeping was good too. Have I mentioned that Zofran is my BFF? I literally wouldn't make it without her. For those of you that have not experienced Zofran- she is the best anti-nausea medicine around. Zofran is a little pill that goes under your tongue and dissolves which I feel like makes it work faster. I am having a really hard time being patient with oral medicine since I have been home because I am so used to meds directly entering my arm and working instantly. Yikes. I sound like an addict. But its the truth people. I did not realize how spoiled I was in the hospital. I am not a patient person right now and being in pain  knowing that relief will not come until about 45 minutes after taking a pill is just MIZ. I took everything around 9:30 today and I am just now feeling like I can function (its about 10:45AM). But i do feel ok this morning compared to yesterday afternoon. I am noticing that I am having some difficulty with balance, vision and hearing. Which was expected so I am not freaking out about it. It sounds like my ears need to pop and that they are just full. Not sure whats going on there. I also get very frustrated because when I do feel ok, I want to get up and walk around a little bit, but every time I get up I literally exhaust myself. It makes me wonder how long it will take before I can do normal things like work and shower and drive. I find myself becoming more and more impatient with myself and my body. My neurosurgeon says that I have to be very careful because my condition is not something I can just push through, like a broken bone or a virus. When my body tells me to stop I have to listen to it and stop right then. This makes me frustrated because I can't even get up and go to the bathroom without my body screaming at me to sit back down. I feel like am seriously going to get bed sores from laying down so much! haha. Today I was supposed to call and make an appointment with Dr. Thompson (one of my doctors in the hospital) to get my PT/INR levels checked tomorrow. When I called the lady told me she would have to call me back with an appointment time because she hadn't received my info from the hospital. I am hoping to get a really early appointment tomorrow so I don't have to wait all day. So please pray for that! She still has not called back yet.

Starting to feel a little tired and going to try to nap and then shower after. Mom is on her way with my most recent craving (McDonalds cheeseburger?!?!) and she is going to help me shower. More updates later!