Chapter 2
In the middle of August, I was feeling tired and knew something was off. I thought I needed rest. What was actually wrong with me didn't make itself obvious for quite a long time, so there was a series of explorations and, quite honestly, missteps in treating me, causing the delays that actually put my life in danger. I want to tell the story, but I want more than anything to tell the story of the miracles that happened. The
facts are not as important to me as the examples of extraordinary kindness and compassion that were showered on me during this time. So please continue to bear with me as I pull together the story for myself and share it with all of you.
I'm feeling much better every day, and today has been a very good day. I slept for almost 12 hours last night, and my day has consisted of 2 hot baths (mostly to soak my incision), a shower, some unpacking (I'm staying with my parents for my recovery), some short conversations with my nephews and sister, a short walk around the backyard, and a nap. And now a few minutes using my brain and fingers writing here.
All of these things are getting much easier because it has been several days since my IVs ended. I was receiving an antibiotic call Primaxin prescribed by an infectious diseases doctor during my hospital stay. I was on it for just over 2 weeks. While I was in the hospital, it was much easier because the nurses would just come into my room and I could basically sleep through the process, which I learned that they call an "infusion." Once I came home, it was up to me and my Mom to set the alarm for 7 am/1pm/7pm/1am, prepare the drug, and infuse myself, a process that involved saline and heperin, an blood clotting agent. Of course, if you are familiar with IVs, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's not brain surgery, but for a sick person who is already exhausted, it is a bit to learn and take on at first. Once I had done about 4 of them, I was not nervous or skittish about doing them. The good thing is that each day that I'm further from the end of the drug, the clearer my mind is becoming and the easier it is for me to do complex motor tasks, like typing.
The illness revealed itself slowly, showing symptoms that lead me in many other directions. If I had known from the start what was wrong, I would have acted very differently... but at the time, and given my bent towards natural and wholistic medicine, I made the best choices I could at the time. Mistakes were made. But fortunately, there was enough time left at the end that they could save my life.
You can see from my journal entries in the middle of August, I wasn't doing well. I thought I was working too much, and had been working too hard too long without a break. All of that was true, but it wasn't a factor in what was going on inside of me. My first real symptom was that I realized my hips were out of alignment. I knew this because when I would lay on my bed and move, they would pop and crack a bit. Then, I started to feel some pressure in my colon right above my hips. I thought the two were related. I suddenly found that I couldn't sit down without pain. I could only lay on my stomach across my bed. By Saturday morning, Augusut 17th, I knew things were serious, but still just through I had a back/hip alignment problem that was impacting my colon. Early that morning, I called my yoga teacher to ask for some advice. She recommended a natual product that would help my colon to relax, and offered to have one of her early morning students drop a few capsules at my front door about 9 am.
About 9 my doorbell rang, and there stood a woman I had never met. She not only dropped off the pills, she came in to help me for a few hours, and ended up staying for a week. Her name is Mirna and even though she is flesh and blood and has her own life problems, to me, she will always be an angel. She would fix me a breakfast of fresh fruit every morning, my Weight Watchers routine, and would bring me various soups and other liquids throughout the day. I had put myself on a liquid diet until the colon issue resolved, thinking it would make things easier. Meanwhile, I started calling my doc's pager service. I never got a returned call the whole weekend (which later really upset my doc, but more on that later) and I continued to lay across my bed for two more days, waiting for Monday morning when I hoped to get an emergency appointment. Mirna never left my side during this time. My hip got worse, my stomach pain got worse, and the capsules didn't seem to help. The only position that didn't put me into immediate sharp pain was to lay on my stomach. Even laying on my side or back was nearly impossible for more than a few minutes at a time.
Monday morning, I reached my doc's office and they fit me into their schedule for later that morning (the 19th). I've written about that visit in
Chapter 1. During the next few days, my colon pain got worse, and my body got more tense, even with the muscle relaxers. I had a friend come by daily to massage me to help my body to relax. I was determined to do anything I could think of to help this situation to clear up.
Getting tired, will have to write more later.
