Update 1/26/11

I forgot to mention that last week we decided that there's no way I can graduate. My mom has to go up to the school and sign papers to remove me. I'll just have to get my GED. With 2 major surgeries and 6 weeks of recovery for both, so many ER visits, hospitalizations, and just being sick this semester, I just can't finish school. I'll post about it later.
Monday I had an appointment with the gynecologist. We thought I was going to start the injections (Lupron) that would shut everything down, but he doesn't want to do that anymore. He said that that will take too long to start working. Right after surgery, I had asked his nurse if by waiting this long, it would give the cysts and endometriosis a chance to come back, and she said no. Well obviously she was wrong. I can't believe this is happening again. The ruptured cyst makes my legs, abdomen, and back hurt. He said I have fever because of the internal bleeding and inflammation. So I feel extremely terrible. We asked how long it will take for the pain to get better and for the internal bleeding to go away and he said two weeks. I don't understand how with my surgery, he said that he would have done emergency surgery even if I would have just had one of the problems I did (which a ruptured cyst was one of them), and now he tells me to just wait and deal with it. I'm on SO much pain medicine, and it doesn't help. Between Percocet, Loritab, and a strong anti-inflammatory, you would think that I would not be in pain, but that's not the case. I cry a lot of the day because I hurt so much. And it's not like I'm a wimp who can't handle pain. I have such a high pain tolerance, even the surgeon said that after my surgery. I've thought about taking myself to the ER again multiple times a day and demand to be admitted. I haven't really eaten since Friday night because I'm nauseous and I just feel too bad. I eat a little here and there but not much.
So today I had an ultrasound. I really don't know why, I just know that it hurt a lot. And of course insurance wouldn't cover it, so we had to pay full price.
What is the plan now? I have no idea. I guess just trying to keep me comfortable. I'm sure it will get better soon. If not, surgery is sounding really good about now because at least there would be an end in sight. Last time I checked, internal bleeding was NOT a good thing and there was no "let's just wait and see". It was an emergency situation and needed attention IMMEDIATELY. I just don't understand why I'm allowed to lay here and cry in pain from internal bleeding and be told to wait it out. My stomach and pelvis are full of fluid and blood, that doesn't seem okay to me. It doesn't make sense.
We'll see how the next few days go.

Update after appointment

We just got back from my appointment with the surgeon. We actually didn't see the surgeon because he is out of town, but we saw one of the other doctors who was in my surgery too. She was very nice!
She looked at my incisions and hives and said that the incisions are healing well! They don't look infected or anything so that's really good! She said I could be allergic to the stitches so that's what could be causing the hives. So she put me on a steroid pack to clear it up and gave me some steroid cream. Hopefully it will help soon.
To get the cysts and endometriosis under control, we are going to having to shut everything down. She said that I had lots of internal bleeding in my pelvis and abdomen from the endometriosis and cysts, so we really need to stop that. To shut it down, I will get a series of injections.
But, before we start that, they want us to check with my Lyme doctor to make sure that is okay. You mean they actually believe I have Lyme and want us to consult with my doctor?! Yes! We love them there! They have never, ever questioned us. So my mom is talking to my Lyme doctor next week. If he approves of it, we'll go back in to my surgeon and go over everything that will happen and then start it. They said that the side effects (hot flashes, irritability, hard time sleeping) are what's hardest for young girls my age. It will be a hard adjustment, but it will be worth it. We don't want anymore surgeries.
The concerning thing has to do with my blood work. Ever since last May, my platelet count has been low. We haven't really done anything about it, thinking it would resolve itself. Today the doctor said that my platelets are still low. They did blood work again today and if they are still low, I will need to see a hematologist/oncologist. Apparently they are the same doctor. She said not to freak out about going there, they just need to make sure everything is okay. We are also going to talk to my Lyme doctor about this.
My red blood cells are also low, so I don't know what's going on. There were several things on my blood work that were not right. I'm sure it's something simple and will be easy to fix.
For now, I'm doing the Wii fit everyday to try and build my strength back up. For a month I've done nothing but lay on the couch, so I've lost a lot of strength! I need to build it back up.

A tour of the luxurious hotel I got to spend 3 days in this week.

(This is the story of my recent hospital stay, told with humor to make it interesting)

We didn't anticipate spending a few days at this "hotel" called Mercy (hospital). We thought it would just be a quick pit stop on our journey. Boy, were we wrong!

Warning- going to the ER might result in not being able to leave for several days. You might be subject to countless pokes and visits by the nurses.

(On Saturday, the pain got so much worse so we called the on call doctor and he told us to go to Mercy Hospital. He called them and told them I was coming, and continued to talk to the doctors in the ER.)

Upon arriving on Saturday afternoon, we spent a while waiting in the lobby because it was the place to be apparently. I was treated so nice and even had the privilege of having someone push me around in a wheelchair. Such good service. We were then taken to a room in an area they call the emergency room. The man in charge of the emergency area came in and ordered a CT scan and some pain medicine and fluids.

This was my room in the emergency room

In order to receive medicine and have tests, they had to start an IV on me.

By this time, the ER doctor and on call doctor decided to admit me to keep the pain under control and make sure my appendix didn't rupture. Again, I was escorted in a wheelchair to the floor. I even had a double door entrance!

This hotel has the cutest bracelets ever! I got 3 of them!! Look how cute they are.

The next few pictures are of my luxurious private room. I even had a private bathroom!

Look at that comfy bed!

Such cute wall decorations.

There's even a tv tray so I can eat in bed!!! WOW! Not very many hotels let you do that!

There was a tv hanging from the ceiling...how many hotels have you stayed in that have that?!

Let me describe the bed for you. This is like a sleep number bed. Every 10 minutes or every time you move, the bed forms around you. It makes a terrible noise and moves constantly which definitely didn't bother us all through the night.

If you want to sit up in bed, all you have to do is press a button and there you go! And, the coolest thing the bed does is...

how high it goes!!! My dad discovered this. We had lots of fun playing with this!

Look at that view from my room!

It even had a great view at night!

In case you are scared of the dark, this hotel has lots of nightlights that glow in the dark.

Now, lets talk about room service.

Every night, you have turn down service. During the day, maids come in a clean your room and they don't even kick you out for it! They bring everything you need!

Saturday night, sleep was not there. Nurses came in and out so much. At 5 stinkin AM, this lady comes tearing in my room, grabs my arm, sticks a needle in, and draws blood. Then she leaves. She didn't say anything.

At 6 stinkin AM, the hotel manager decided it was time to talk! He comes in my room and flips on all the lights. I have never in my whole life seen someone as happy as he was at 6 stinkin AM. Good grief, I tried to ignore him to see if he would just go away but he didn't. He decided that I needed exploratory surgery in the next few days.

When the happy guy finally left, we tried to go to sleep and I'm pretty sure I was asleep until 8am. At 8am, they do a Bible reading over the loud speakers. Could we maybe read scripture a little later in the day? I would love to read scripture with you anytime after noon. They did it at 8pm too.

The food service is great. You can order anything you want and they will deliver it to your room! The only problem was that they put me on an all liquid diet so all I could have was pudding, ice cream, some soups, and drinks. But I could order it anytime!

Mmmm doesn't that look yummy?

On the side of the bed at this hotel, there is a button that calls the nurse if you need anything. They come running whenever you call and will get you anything you want!

You definitely won't get lonely at this hotel because there are people coming in and out of your room every hour 24/7.

The floor that I was on was the pediatric floor. There was only one other person on the floor besides me and they were older. Since the hotel wasn't full, the service was great! The nurses would hang out in my room since there was nothing for them to do. It was nice having the floor to ourselves.

Here are some other perks of this hotel.

You get to wear your pajamas and no one expects you to dress up. You're not expected to wear make-up or do your hair.

Showering is optional. With all the IVs and monitors, along with being sick, it's hard to take a shower.

Lots of people want to see your awesome room so they come see you! Okay maybe they don't care about the room.

Well that pretty much sums it up!

I'm writing a more detailed post so that will be coming soon!

quick surgery update!

I'm home from the hospital and the surgery went well! I will update in detail in the next few days as Im recovering. The surgeon was shocked at what he found...he took out a cyst the size of an ORANGE, he took out my appendix which was HUGE, he found that I have endrometriosis, and found a TON of internal bleeding. My WHOLE abdomen and pelvis was filled with blood. He said that he would operate on someone with just ONE of those problems and I had 4. Once I have recovered, we will have to figure out a plan to control everything so that this doesn't happen again.
That's the very short version! I have 3 incisions that are pretty big. Bigger than my gallbladder incisions. We didn't know they would be this big! One is 3 inches and the other 2 incisions are about 2 inches. Please pray for a quick recovery with no complications! Thank you!!!!
"the Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song i praise him" Psalm 28:7