Hospital trip and Update...

TMI warning. Don't say you weren't warned.I woke up Wednesday feeling worse than normal. The abdominal and back pain was bad, along with just feeling sick. Sometime early afternoon, I got dizzy and my breathing became difficult. It was very heavy and loud and quick. I had fever and was shaking and trembling. I fell asleep on the couch and I don't remember much after that until we got to the hospital. My parents kept waking me up while we were at home, asking questions and things. Getting to the hospital was tricky since the state was shut down because of a snow storm. Both my parents went with me and my brother stayed at his friends house.

We got to the hospital around 4:30 I think and it wasn't too crowded. We checked in and sat in the waiting room for a while. In triage they took blood and started an IV like normal. My parents kept getting warm blankets for me because I was still shaking and freezing.

Finally, they came to get me and took me up to ultrasound. Next I went to CT. Then it was back to ultrasound because they couldn't see what they needed to see the first time. Lucky for me, I got to have a catheter placed, then have my bladder pumped full of fluid and so on. They were looking for cysts or ruptured cysts which you can only see if your bladder is full. When you're in the ER, they won't let you have food or drinks in case you need surgery. I was dehydrated away and they wouldn't let me drink anything, hence the need for the catheter. That was a very fun experience. Before Wednesday, I thought you had to be asleep, or on good drugs, for them to place a catheter. Much to my surprise, there I was, AWAKE, with NO drugs of any kind. Apparently, most people are awake when they get them. The only time I've had a catheter was during surgery, where I was ASLEEP. The ultrasound lady can't place catheters, so an ER nurse came up. It was one of our favorite nurses, which was comforting. The ER nurse left and they got the ultrasound pictures they needed. Once we finished everything at ultrasound, they finally took me to my room in the ER.

I was taken to room 12, which was my normal room. That room is great because it's right by the nurses station, making it entertaining for us. That's the whole reason you go to the ER, for entertainment right?
 
Five minutes after we got to my room, xray came to get me. Thankfully the xray room was in the ER, so we didn't have to go far. I had a chest xray and was taken back to my room.

 All those tests had taken a really long time, and caused us to be taken all around the hospital, so it was nice to be in one place finally. My nurse came in (same one that had to come up to ultrasound) and got some IV fluids started and got me some nausea and pain meds. By this time, my breathing was really bad again and I was trembling and lightheaded. Thankfully my oxygen stats were perfect, but that was very confusing and concerning to the doctor. He left to go check on the test results of everything. We definitely had some entertainment last night! There was a lady in the room across from me that started yelling, "where's my doctor, where's my doctor, I'm freezing"! It was really funny the way she said it. She kept saying that over and over until someone came.
 The nurse accessed my port, because it needed to be flushed. So I had two IV lines now, a line directly to my heart, through my port, and a regular IV in the crease of my arm.
The doctor came back in and went over the test results. The CT scan showed a cyst on my right side. The ultrasound showed a little fluid on my right side. So the doctor isn't exactly sure what it is.
 He looked at my blood work and found some concerning things. He immediately ordered blood gasses. For blood gasses, they take blood from your arteries to test the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other levels in your blood.
A respiratory therapist had to come draw the blood. She got to my room fast! She drew the blood out of an artery in my wrist, and out of my port.

 While we waited for the results, a man came in and did a flu test on me because they thought I had the flu. Thankfully it was negative, but the doctor said that that doesn't mean anything. I think it's odd how they say you could still have the flu even if your test is negative, and yet they say you can't have Lyme if your test is negative. Uhh that doesn't make sense. But I don't have the flu!

Buy this time, I had 5 blankets on me because I was shaking and couldn't get warm. I also got to have some ice chips since I wouldn't be needing surgery! My mouth and lips were so dry, probably from the pain medicine, heavy breathing, and since I hadn't really had anything to drink since early that morning. We didn't have any chapstick since we just ran out of the house, so the nurse found me some awesome hospital chapstick that you can put on your lips and in your mouth. How strange.

The doctor came in to explain that I have high lactic acid. My body couldn't get rid of it, causing the rapid and hard breathing. It also makes me feel like I can't breathe, even though I'm getting enough oxygen. If my levels would have been a little higher, he would have admitted me just for that. It's not good to have. It also has something to do with carbs. I don't completely understand it. He ordered another bag of IV fluids, this time with extra things in it. I think it had calories, along with several other things. I have to eat a lot of carbs to help with the levels too.Once the doctor left, I just broke down. I didn't know why I was crying. It was probably from all of the strong pain medicine, but it was so weird. Crying made my breathing worse, and made me hurt more. The nurse gave me something to help me sleep and calm down.

 We finally got to go home a little after midnight.

 In the 8 hours that I was there I had:

• regular blood and urine tests
•  a CT scan
• 2 ultrasounds
• a catheter
• a chest xray 
• 2 IV lines
• blood gasses taken from 2 arteries
• and a flu test

Because of everything that's been happening, we are going to go to my doctor in Nevada in the next few weeks. We talk to him on Monday. There is just so much going wrong. 

I'm feeling better than I was Wednesday. Yesterday I slept some and have just been laying on the couch. My parents are trying to get as many carbs in me as possible, which is difficult since I haven't been hungry. I'm eating more than I was earlier this week though. For now, I'm just going to rest.

"My soul finds rest in God alone;
   my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
   he is my fortress, I will never be shaken" Psalm 62:1-2

Some pictures!

Here's a couple more pictures of my last ER trip. You're probably wondering why we take pictures in the hospital, especially when I go twice a week like this past week. What else are we going to do when there's nothing to do besides taking a million pictures of each and every room. Plus, this way it'll jog my memory since there's some things I don't remember because of the medicine they give me. And of course we take them just so you can see too :)

This was before all the medicine. I was not feeling good at all, as you can tell from the no smile.

Feeling better!

Our back yard on Saturday. Almost 80 degrees. They're still saying tonight and tomorrow we are going to get 10-14 inches of snow with at least -10 degree temps. Schools are pretty much closed tomorrow. It should be crazy!! I'll post pictures!

Another ruptured cyst

On Wednesday I had an ultrasound to see if there were anymore cysts. They found one, but said it was small. On Thursday night, the pain got worse and I got lightheaded and dizzy. We knew something was wrong. Off we went to the ER again. It was packed with people and we waited in the waiting room for 2 or more hours. Too bad there were no entertaining people there this time. We finally got taken back to a room. I'm lucky I even got a room because there were gurneys lining the halls with people. I got put in this room with tile everywhere, a door leading to the outside, and a shower on the wall by the bed. It was a little creepy. The nurse said it is the room they use for chemical spills and they can open the door to air out the ER.

The doctor was great. She used to work as an OB nurse and even had some of the same problems I'm having. She didn't think we needed any tests besides blood work since I had just had an ultrasound. She is pretty sure that the small cyst ruptured on Thursday, causing the extra pain and dizziness. We spend a lot of time talking to her about things, and she was in my room for a long time! So she gave me a couple syringes of medicine and sent me home. I started the medicine to help stop things and make sure the cysts don't come back.

Here is the room I was in. It was very weird. This is after I started feeling better and was fixing to go home.

Since being home, I'm feeling good. On Friday night, I did get sick several times, but it might just be from my body adjusting to the new medicine that I started taking Thursday. I'm still taking strong pain medicine because of the abdominal and back pain. The pain usually stays under control with that, it only gets bad when it's almost time for the next dose. It's not very bad though!

The weather was in the 70s on Friday and yesterday, so we sat on our back porch all day both days. There's supposed to be a major snow and ice storm on Tuesday. You would think the world was ending the way everyone acts. The stores are filled with people and are out of everything. The weather men are having the best time of their lives getting to be dramatic and everything. There's already a winter weather advisory. Welcome to Oklahoma.

The past few days I have had these itchy bumps start popping up all over me. Yesterday they started getting worse. We are trying to figure out what they are. They aren't hives or anything like that. We thought they were the chicken pox, but we aren't positive. They are driving me crazy! More keep popping up.

Well I better go prepare for the end of the world snow storm.

second night in the ER this week

I'll update tomorrow but things got worse so Im back in the ER.

Lyme Disease in Oklahoma

I'm working on an update to post. I had to go to the hosptial on Saturday night and I'm really sick but I'll try and post soon.
This weekend we saw that the Oklahoma State Department of Health changed their info about Lyme Disease. They just hired a new director, so maybe this will change things. You can read the article here.
This is what my dad said about it on facebook.
"Great news! After years of fighting with doctors and health "professionals" about our daughter's diagnosis of Lyme Disease because "it doesn't exist in Oklahoma," the OSDH now says it does! Docs who treat late stage Lyme have been run out of practice and out of Oklahoma - so we STILL have to leave the state to get care from experienced, knowledgable Lyme docs. But this is a victory for those suffering this terrible disease!"
In the article it says, "However, other evidence suggests that it could be possible to get Lyme disease in Oklahoma".
They are starting to see the light! So now, if any doctor here tells me that it's in my head and that I can't have Lyme, we can show them this article and they can't deny me. I want to go to all the doctors who have been so rude to me and just show them this. Maybe all we're doing to bring awareness is actually getting somewhere.

Details about what all happened before and after surgery...

 Now here's the more detailed story, mostly so that I can remember what all happened. You all are probably tired of hearing it.

I went to the ER on Saturday, December 4th because I was in so much pain and the on call doctor said we needed to go. He called the ER and told them I was coming. Once we arrived in the ER, they took me up to the CT scan where I was lucky enough to get to change into a hospital gown. I had dye injected into a couple different places in me. Trust me on this one, you're lucky you don't know the details. When the CT scan was done, they finally had a room in the ER ready for me so we were taken there. The doctor came in and said that he had been talking back and forth with the on call gynecologist. My dad actually knew the ER doctor. He was so nice and helpful! They did blood work, started giving me fluids, and gave me some pain medicine. As the pain medicine kicked in, I could finally unclench my jaw and relax a little. The CT scan came back normal, except that everything was not at all normal. Several doctors talked again and decided they needed to admit me to figure out what was wrong. While we were waiting for the transport people to take me to my room, we got to listen to the nurses and patients in the ER. I love eavesdropping. My room in the ER was right by the nurses station so we got to overhear everything. We watched them eat jars of homemade pickles. I'm not joking. It was entertaining to listen to all the calls from ambulances and the nurses talking about the patients. We for sure violated the privacy rules but how could we not hear them?!
Transport came pretty quickly and took me to my room on the 5th floor; the pediatric floor. I won't lie, I loved it there! Not loved it like, "let's go back", but they were so good there. I defiantly didn't like actually being in the hospital, but I'm glad I was on that floor.

To control my pain, they had me on Dilauded which is actually so much stronger than morphine. I was on this around the clock and I still was in pain.
Once I got to my room, I didn't have any more tests besides blood work every few hours. I was on a liquid diet to prepare for surgery. On Sunday night, I had to take a whole bottle of Miralax to also prepare for surgery.
My night nurse was great! She was there Saturday night and Sunday night. Since I was the only one on the floor for most of my stay, she would come hang out in my room and just talk.
I had several people come visit me once I got to my room on Saturday night, so that helped pass time. Once everyone left and it was time to attempt to sleep, it really sunk it about what was going on and where we were. My mom stayed with me while my dad and brother went home. Sleep was no where to be found. I think we slept for an hour before it was time for 2am vitals and medicine. Vitals were at 6am again, but in between then, people were in and out of my room. I wasn't scheduled to get pain and nausea medicine at certain times, so when I asked for it, the nurse would have to come see what I needed, go get the medicine from Narnia, come back and scan my bracelet and give it to me. It just took forever in the middle of the night. I would get medicine every couple hours so it was a crazy night.
My IV was in the crease of my arm, and everytime I bent my arm, the alarms would go off. This happened all night long. The alarms wouldn't shut up until the nurse came in and re-set it. We were up every few minutes because I would bend my arm in my sleep.
On Sunday morning rounds, the doctor came in and said they wanted to do exploratory surgery in the next few days. Until then, I just hung out. I was kept on a liquid diet, fluids, and pain meds. The day nurse on Sunday was fantastic! She was so funny. Early in her shift, she was bringing some medicine to me and she dropped the whole cart of supplies outside of my room. She started laughing so hard and said, "well this will be a fun day"! It really was hilarious. She made us fresh iced tea, none of that cafeteria fake iced tea. We told her about my IV setting off alarms all night so she switched it to my hand which was so much better.
Sunday was full of visitors for me which was really good! They prayed for me several times during church that day, so we had lots of people asking about me and praying. My aunt came and stayed with me and my brother on Sunday night so my parents could go out to eat. I think we watched Elf which is my favorite movie! The youth group Christmas dinner was also that night. I was so sad to miss that.

The doctor couldn't do the surgery on Monday, so insurance kicked me out of the hospital. The doctors didn't want me to go home either, but insurance wouldn't let me stay. To make it to where I could even try to make it home, they had to give me so much medicine. I remember Monday morning, but I don't remember Monday afternoon until Tuesday. We got home on Monday night I think.

They scheduled an appointment with the doctor for Tuesday morning at 8. We got there and he said how would you feel about surgery today? We said that would be great! Surgery was scheduled for 5 on Tuesday.

When we arrived at the hospital (a different one than I was admitted to) at 3 to get ready for surgery, we were told that insurance wouldn't cover anything. The hospital called the doctor and anesthesiologist and they all talked back and forth. We were so close to canceling the surgery. Like, so so close. But, God knew I needed it because he worked everything out. We decided to continue with the surgery an hour before surgery. They didn't have much time to prep me, so they rushed us around. It was crazy. They drew blood, got me in my gown, socks, and leggings so I wouldn't get blood clots, started my IVs, and got all 3 of my hospital bracelets ready. They brought in lots of IV antibiotics and started me on them before surgery. I continued to get them while I was there.
The surgeon came running in the room and said, "let's go"! And off I went to surgery. The surgeon wears high top red converse shoes with his surgical outfit. It's really funny!

I had surgery at a little surgery center and they were so great and fun to be around!

Me before surgery

Landon, me, and one of my nurses before surgery

On the way to surgery. Cute, huh?

I went to surgery at 5:10pm.

When the surgeon came out to talk to my family after surgery, he had a shocked look on his face. He could not believe what he found. He said that women come to him complaining of pain with just one of the problems I had and he would have done surgery on them. I had four problems.

My appendix was huge. My abdomen will filled with blood. There was a cyst the size of an orange. I had endometriosis. They had to make 3 good sized incisions to get everything out.

My family got to come see me in the recovery room almost immediately after surgery because I woke up fast. I was wide awake and was so ready to go home. Everyone was surprised at how fast I went home after surgery. I was sent home wearing white leggings that I had to wear for a few days to help with circulation.

Because of all the internal bleeding, I am very anemic. I'm taking iron pills to help with that. It's interesting because on all of my blood work that was done a week before my surgery (we didn't know what was wrong) I was so anemic. We should have known something was wrong just from that.

These two pictures are of me right after surgery. I'm looking good for sure! Cute hair do and outfit.                                                                                                    

Going home!!!

A week or two after surgery, we got the pathology report from my appendix and I did have acute appendicitis. That means that my appendix could have ruptured at anytime. We're so thankful that the doctors decided to do exploratory surgery. It's very strange how my CT scan and blood work showed nothing, even though I was a mess. But, God took care of everything!

"But now, this is what the LORD says-

he who created you,
he who formed you,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" Isaiah 43:1-3

Another night in the ER

This is a quick update because I don't feel well. My family and I have terrible colds/bronchitis so we feel pretty bad. But I was doing well until Saturday night. By last night, I was in so much pain. The pain medicine wasn't helping my stomach and I just felt worse. We called the on call surgeon and they told us to go to the ER because they didn't know what was wrong. I had a ct scan and bloodwork done. Those both looked pretty good so they felt comfortable sending me home. I had several doses of Dilauded and Zofran while I was there and that helped a lot. Before I left they also gave me IV ativan to help me sleep. I slept well last night. Today my cough and congestion are so much worse and I've spent a lot of time feeling like Im going to be sick. We called the surgeon and Im going to see him tomorrow morning. The nurses and doctors at the hospital aren't sure why Im hurting so much but they said that coughing along with other things could be irritating it. We'll see what the surgeon says tomorrow. We got home from the hospital at 3 this morning. It's been a hard couple days. Thank you for your prayers!!

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!

being admitted to the hospital

I'll explain in detail later but Im being admitted to the hospital. I might be having surgery in the next few days if the pain isn't better. They are keeping me on pain meds to try and control the pain. I'll.update as much as i can.

Hospital trip in pictures

I decided to document my hospital visit with some pictures. Might as well do something when you're stuck in a little room with no windows all night.

I can't figure out what show we were watching when I took this picture. It might be Hawaii Five-0

This machine is a baby warmer...I asked! Why it is in my room, I have no idea.

This was my view the whole time. Pretty exciting, huh?

I have an appointment with a doctor on Thursday to see what the plan is to take care of my cyst. Thanks for praying!!

update-3:30am after a trip to the hospital

Over the weekend the pain from my cyst was persistent. Yesterday, (Monday) the pain became even worse. I tried everything to ease the pain. I tried taking baths and i took pain medicine. Nothing worked. Around dinner time, the pain was so bad and i took my last pain pill. We didn't know what else to do besides go back to the hospital. So my dad and I went on our usual late night trip to the ER. The usual routine happened and they started an IV and gave me morphine that helped the pain. They sent me home with more pain medicine and today we are supposed to go back to my Primary care doctor. The morphine has made me so sick. I haven't been able to sleep yet but Im getting pretty tired and the nausea is a little better. I'll let you know what we find out at the doctor.

Another hospital bracelet to add to my collection

On Sunday, my brother was sick too so my mom stayed home with us from church. It was actually fun because we had no where to go and had some shows to watch! My dad was still gone to Honduras and Guatemala.
Landon was still sick on Monday so he stayed home from school. We started getting ready for my dad to come home that day. His plane was scheduled to get in at 2:30 in the afternoon. The plan was for my mom to pick up my dad from the airport, then bring him home, then take Landon to the doctor because they thought he had strep.
My mom was planning to leave at about 2:15 and my brother was going to go with her. I really wanted to go but I just felt too sick. A little before 2, my lower back started to hurt a little. All of the sudden, my lower right side, lower back, and lower right part of my stomach started hurting so much. I was laying in the living room so I got up and ran upstairs to take a bath. I've never had anything happen like that before. The pain was worse than my gallbladder pain, which we didn't think was possible. I took some pain medicine but it did nothing to relieve the pain. I couldn't breathe because the pain was so bad. Nausea hit with the pain and I thought I was going to be sick. I was upstairs so I texted my mom and told her that she was going to have to take me in if the pain didn't stop. At that time, I decided that I couldn't even handle taking a bath. I ran downstairs, at this point delirious. I honestly thought that I was going to die. I was shaking and crying. My mom called my grandma to come over immediately. She also called my primary care doctor and asked if we should go there or the hospital. They said go to the hospital right then because they thought it was my appendix. I think my grandma was speeding on the way to my house because she got here fast! She stayed at my house with Landon since he was sick and couldn't go to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, my mom texted my dad and told him what was going on. Thankfully, he was with people from church, so they were able to take him to the church and my grandma and Landon picked him up there.
We got to the hospital around 2:30 I think. They took my vitals in triage and said it shouldn't be too long. My heart rate kept going from 140-160 bpm and my blood pressure was low. I don't know why my blood pressure was low since I was in so much pain. But the high heart rate showed how much pain I was in. I also still had a low grade fever. We sat in the waiting room for so long. Probably over an hour. I was so angry because it didn't look crowded. Did they forget that I was hurting and it could be my appendix? What if it ruptured right there in the waiting room and they didn't even know? I looked down and I was wearing a shirt that said love God, love people. I really was not loving those people who were taking so long. The director of the emergency room came out and had me do a test to hopefully speed up the waiting time once we were in my room. They finally took me to a room and we waited some more. The doctor came in and asked why i was there and ordered some tests. He also wanted a CT scan. A while later, the director of the ER came in again to see how things were going. She was very sweet. She said that they had several unexpected ambulances come in which is why it was taking so long. They even had people on stretchers in the hall because they ran out of rooms.
The nurse came in to get blood tests. At first they were not even going to start an IV, but they saw how much pain I was in and decided they needed to give me pain medicine. We didn't tell them that I had a port because usually they say they can't use a port. So that means they have to find a vein. She tried twice, and said she had to get another nurse because they are only allowed to try two times. That's when we told her that I had a port. She said that she loves using ports! The reason some people can't use them, is because you have to be an RN. If you are an LPN, you can't access ports. We asked why that is, and they said that accessing a port is looked at as a procedure because it's very invasive. LPNs don't have as much training so they can't do it. That explains why some people say they can't access my port.
I really didn't want my port accessed because I don't like random people doing it. Some people don't hold the port while they put the needle in, so the port moves around and it is very uncomfortable. It's not something that I feel comfortable with just anyone doing. The nurses understood that.
Three more nurses came in to look at my veins. One of them tried in my hand and got it! Third time's the charm. For some reason, they didn't hook me up to IV fluids even though they said that I was dehydrated. They took the blood they needed and she went to get the pain and nausea medicine. I could not wait. The pain was still intense and had been for a couple hours now. She put the nausea medicine in first, then the morphine.
Right after she put the morphine in, the pain got three times worse, my mom said my face turned bright red, I got out of breath, and I got so hot and started sweating. I began throwing myself side to side, trying to help the pain. I was crying and groaning, almost screaming. The nurse didn't know what to do. She ran to tell the doctor and they decided to give me another dose of morphine. Since my pain was so bad, we thought it would just take several doses to break through. The nurse gave me the second dose of morphine and the pain got even worse, and the same thing happened again. The pain was unbelievable and no one knew what to do. I was going from side to side because I didn't know what to do! They called the doctor and nurses in my room. They got cold washcloths and put on my head to try and cool me down. They decided to switch pain medicines. I was given a dose of Toradol. They said it would take 15-20 minutes for it to work. They said they had never seen that happen before.
I was so thirsty from the episodes but I wasn't allowed to eat or drink in case I had to have surgery. That was frustrating.
Sometime during those episodes, the doctor came in and said they ruled out that it was my appendix. They also ruled kidney stones or infection. He said that he wanted an ultrasound instead of a CT scan now that he had ruled those things out.
Ultrasound came and got me and took me to another part of the hospital. The nurse was so nice. She did my gallbladder ultrasound so we already knew her. The Toradol started kicking in during the ultrasound! We were in ultrasound for over an hour. My dad arrived at the hospital while we were in ultrasound. They took me back to my room once we were done. We got to my room at 8 or so which means that there were new doctors and nurses. They had a shift change at 7. A while later, the new doctor (which we've had before and have had problems with) came in. I think he remembered us because he didn't make eye contact and was in and out very fast. He said they found a cyst on the ultrasound. They would send me home with pain medicine and I was supposed to see another new doctor to get medicine so that I won't get anymore cysts.
The pain was already returning so when the new nurse came in we asked for another dose. The Toradol is not a narcotic, it's a very strong anti-inflammatory. The nurse said no, your chart is already closed so we can't do that. We could not believe that! How hard is it to scan my bracelet and open my chart back up? So I didn't get another dose and they sent me home.
We got home around 9 or 10 that night I think. It was a very long ER trip. They sent me home with Loritab to help with the pain.
The pain has been better. It's not terrible, but it hurts when I'm up. The pain medicine helps for the most part. I'm just taking it easy and resting. My mom stayed home with me yesterday, but today I'm on my own.
Once when I was in Children's hospital for Lyme pain, they gave me Toradol and I had the same reaction that I did with the morphine. They gave me morphine and it helped the pain. On Monday, it was the opposite. Morphine made the pain worse, and Toradol made it better! I guess it depends on what kind of pain I have.
Thank you all for your prayers! It's amazing how fast things can change and how fast pain can hit

So many tests...

Sunday was not a good day. I was in so much pain. My side and stomach and back hurt so much that I was crying despite all the medicines I was on. So off to the hospital we went. When we got there, they hooked me up to an IV and got me on some pain and nausea medicines. I had to have five things of morphine before the pain went away. They did blood work so we had to wait on that before we could leave. My blood work didn't show an acute infection so they couldn't do any more tests on my abdomen or gallbladder. As they were fixing to get my discharge papers, I turned over and the pain came back. They gave me more pain medicine and finally after 4 hours we got to leave. We got home around 5pm Sunday. The pain was under control for a little bit but then came back really badly. We tried everything to try to help the pain. Finally at 10pm we called the doctor because I was crying and in so much pain. They told us that they would call the hospital and tell them to do an ultrasound. So we went to a different hospital this time! They did the ultrasound and got me pain medicine stronger than morphine and nausea medicines. It helped but it wore off so fast. We were there for a long time just trying to get the pain under control. The doctor there was so so nice. We loved him!! Apparently a lot went on but I was too drugged to remember. I remember alarms going off and people would come tell me to breathe. We got to come home at 4am.

I'm on a very strict diet and can't eat almost anything. I'm still feeling weird from all the meds they gave me in the hospital.

Today we went to the hospital for my tests. We discovered a problem and so we rescheduled some tests. Today I had an ultrasound of every organ in my abdomen. That was kinda painful!!

Tomorrow I go to have a HIDA scan which scans the gallbladder. They inject radio active dye through an IV and watch the gallbladder.

Thursday I go and do a GI test where I drink that nasty drink and they watch it go through. Most of the times they just watch it go through the stomach but for me they are watching it go all the way out. This could take up to 8 hours.

At midnight the night before each test I have to stop eating and drinking.

I will update when I know anything! I'm on a ton of medicine just to make it until we figure out what is wrong! Please keep praying! Thank you!

Update Coming Soon

Yesterday I was in 2 different hospitals and it was an insane day so I will update later, once I can see straight and these medicines go out of my system!

Mission's Sunday! and a few random things

Last Sunday was Mission's Sunday at church. I've heard that it was a great time of worship! It is always one of my favorite days at church. We raise a big contribution for mission work around the world and this year we exceeded our goal! On Mission's Sunday we have one big worship in the morning, lunch at church after, church at night where the amount is announced, and dessert before dinner after church! During the morning service, there is always special videos about the mission work going on, and we bring in missionaries or have them on Skype! It is always such a wonderful day! Sadly, I was in the hospital and missed almost everything. I got to be there for the last 20 minutes of the morning service. I didn't get to go to the evening worship because I was a little drugged and worn out from the hospital. I probably shouldn't have gone straight from the hospital to church either, but I really wanted to be there!

My friends and I matched that day and didn't even plan it! It was very strange! Of course we had to take a picture!! I was so glad I got to see them, even if I was a little drugged coming straight from the hospital...

Me, Alex, Miriam, and Kailey!

Tomorrow, the 11th and 12th grades from church are leaving for Memphis, Tennessee for their mission trip. I was planning on going but I just decided yesterday that I can't do that. I have had a bad few days and I don't feel well at all. I really need to do IVs to help with the pain and everything, but of course walgreens option care is closed on the weekends and won't deliver my supplies. Uhh hello, don't you understand that diseases DON'T take the weekend off?! So I've taken about 532 baths today to help with the pain and feverish feeling. It is not very fun. Almost all my friends are going on the mission trip and they will be gone for a week...it really stinks not being able to go. But I can't, so I will just have an IV party all week without them!

Numbness and another ER trip

Here is a quick medical update...there have been some weird things going on.

Late Wednesday night at camp all of the sudden my arms and legs went numb and tingled and I started shaking like crazy. I got so hot and felt like I was going to pass out. I really don't remember what all happened after that but I know they were fixing to take me to the hospital but I convinced them not to take me. I knew the doctors wouldn't be able to do anything because it was Lyme related. We had to sit there until I thought I could get up. I needed help walking that night. That was really scary and frustrating. Thursday it was really hard and painful to walk and my legs were still numb. On Friday, it still hurt to walk but it was a little easier. Today, my right leg is still a little numb but it's not too bad. I can walk much better now. So we don't know what is going on with that.

Yesterday I woke up and it felt like there was something stuck in my chest. I couldn't breathe so I did a couple breathing treatments throughout the day. They really didn't help. At dinner when I swallowed my chest hurt so badly. I ate most of my dinner but it just hurt too much to finish it.

This morning I woke and up and got ready for church. I woke up all sweaty and really didn't feel good. I took a bite of breakfast and swallowed and had the worst pain in my chest and the food almost came back up. My chest felt so tight. I tried to drink something but that was almost unbearable too. So my parents decided to take me to the ER.

So we headed to the hospital and I was taken back pretty quickly. They took some chest x-rays. Then the nurse came in with this cocktail and told me to chug it. She warned me that it was to numb my throat but I had no idea what that meant! It was the weirdest thing. As soon as the medicine coated my mouth and throat it was numb. I thought it would just numb part of my throat but it went all the way down which didn't feel good. It was so hard to swallow but the pain was gone! The medicine lasted for about 20 minutes then wore off. That cocktail made me so tired and out of it for a few hours after! The doctor came back in and said that my esophagus is eroded or something so they gave me medicine to take for that. I've never had any problems like this before!

I was discharged just in time to make it to the last 20 minutes of worship! Today is Mission's Sunday at church where we raise money for missionaries and works around the world. I was so angry that I had to miss most of it. I'm staying home from evening worship tonight which I'm bummed about too. But I know I need to rest.

That is the quick version of the story!

back in the hospital

Yesterday was a really really hard day. My heart started skipping beats again around 3 pm yesterday. Then the horrible chest pain started. I could take it for a while. Around 5 pm I was in tons of pain. I think I cried from then on until 1 or 2 am this morning. My parents gave me Loritab at 8 last night but that did nothing. We called the doctor again and he said if I wasn't better to go back to the hospital.

So my dad and I made our familiar trip to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 11 pm I think. I'm not sure exactly.

They took me to triage and then immediately took me back to my room. In Childrens the ER, they mostly have rooms separated by curtains. Last night they actually took me to a real room. They got me all hooked up and then the nurse who usually comes at the end of your stay to collect payment came in...we hadn't even seen the doctor yet. Several nurses kept coming in asking if we had seen the doctor yet. Apparently they got "busy" when I went to my room...but we saw no other people there. That's okay, we are used to waiting...once we waited as long as we could, we got mad. Not really mad, just frustrated mad.

Finally the doctor came. We explained everything and I think she got a little confused. Apparently she thought I needed an EKG and everything I got on Monday night. It was too late to tell her she was wrong...so the nurse comes in with the EKG machine. Again. We just had this the night before. The nurse doing the EKG was nice but I don't think she knew what she was doing. After another hour of waiting the doctor comes in and says well I talked to the cardiologist and he said you can go come. Long pause of silence...."so do you need anything?" umm actually YES I do thanks for asking. I came here for pain medicine.

"oh okay well I'll get you some morphine. Well we will have to start an IV to put the morphine in. Is that okay?"

YES that is OKAY! That is the whole reason I am here!

Okay, I am really hard on doctors. I've had so much experience that I think I'm a doctor. I know doctors have a reason for everything they do but come on people.

The nice/inexperienced nurse came back in.

"Do you want me to use your port or put an IV in your arms?"

I said, "wherever it is easiest for you. It really doesn't matter to me."

"Okay I will be right back then."

Apparently she went to Narnia and had no concept of time.

Finally she reappears!

She looks for a vein and me being the doctor I am, tell her where they are. But she doesn't care to listen. She finally finds one but it's on the arm that she can't reach because the bed is against the wall. She puts my bed in the middle of the room and goes to get another nurse to help her. By this time I told my dad that they should just give me the IV stuff and I can do it myself.

He didn't think that would be a good idea...

Now 2 nurses come in! It was quite the party. The pumped my bed up as high as it would go. I'm still not sure why...

When they are putting the needle in they always say okay big stick coming get ready.

It's really not that bad...until she decides to push the needle in further while putting the morphine in! Goodness! did you know you are not supposed to do that? Obviously not.

They put the pain medicine in and were done! It was around 4 am by then.

We waited a while longer then the let me go home.

When they give you such strong pain medicine, they are supposed to give you nausea medicine before because it will make you really sick. Did they give any to me? No.

I didn't realize how nauseous I was until I got up. I almost didn't make it to the car. The car ride home was really bad. When I got home I took nausea medicine and it helped a little. I'm still really nauseous though.

So that is what has been going on. Thank you so much for the prayers.

the hospital...

I will try to explain what happened last night. I'm still trying to process it and I don't understand it. We are really confused. I went to the Bible study at church last night! It was so good. I'll write about it later.

I got home around 9 and was watching tv with my family. All of a sudden, my heart started getting out of beat. At first it wasn't bad and it would happen then quit. I ignored it. Then it started happening more frequently and stronger. It felt like my heart was skipping beats and had no rhythm. My parents listened to my heart and we knew something was not right. Then it started getting painful and harder and wasn't stopping. I felt so weird. I was freaking out because I knew something was wrong. We called the emergency cardiologist and he said to go to the hospital immediately.

So we headed down to Childrens hospital. We checked in and within 5 minutes of getting there, 2 doctors came out to get me. Apparently the emergency cardiologist had called and told them I was coming. There was lots of people in the ER but they said I needed to get a room fast. They rushed me in triage and just quickly took my vitals and put the pulse ox on me. They used the phrase level 3 about me. They took me to my room and the EKG machine was waiting there. They got me hooked up really fast and once they saw what my heart was doing there were at least 6 doctors who were standing around me. I have never seen so many doctors rushing in to see me. It all happened so fast.

They watched the monitor for a few minutes and then they all left and sent the results to the emergency cardiologist. It was weird because at least two times they would announce over the ER speakers that cardiology was on the phone. So many doctors kept coming in and out of my room.

They hooked me up to another monitor. So I was being monitored on 2 heart monitors. Alarms went off on one of them because my heart rate was so high. I had 15 wires hooked up everywhere.

The cardiologist and the doctors in the ER kept talking several times on the phone. They wanted to do some blood tests so they came and took blood. They just monitored me for a while.

They felt comfortable sending me home so I got home sometime this morning.

This morning the cardiologist had already talked to my cardiologist and they agreed that I need to stop my heart medicine.

They also think I should stop my sleep medicine (Amitriptyine) because they think that might be causing problems too. The pain management at Childrens says the sleep medicine is not causing it. So all those doctors are talking to see what to do.

It has been a crazy hospital trip...it was really scary.

There have been so many different people calling us today. If it starts to happen again then I have to go back to the hospital.

They know me by name at the hospital...

Today has been an interesting day...I had a good morning just hanging out. My brother is at a church retreat so it's just me and my parents. He is also going to a camp with school on Monday-Wednesday. It's like a whole week of camp for him! So it's been quiet around the house. I decided to do an IV this afternoon. My PICC line has been so hard to flush lately which hasn't been a big deal since I'm getting it out Tuesday. So I flushed the line today and it was even harder to flush. I just ignored it and moved on. I started the IV and less than 5 minutes into it, my chest started burning inside, I couldn't breathe, and I felt like there was something in my lungs. I couldn't stop coughing which made breathing hard too.

My parents immediately took me to the hospital. You can't mess around with PICC lines or ports. You have to do something fast if something is wrong. We got there and the waiting room was full. When the triage nurse saw me she took me straight to a room because she saw how bad things were with me. It was really scary. They got me all hooked up the monitors and my oxygen level was good. My blood pressure was really high though. They ordered xrays of my chest to make sure there wasn't a blood clot or that my PICC line wasn't torn. He also wanted to make sure I didn't have pneumonia. The xrays came back clear which is a good thing! The doctor said since the PICC line has been in so long (7 months) my lungs and where the PICC line is could just be irritated. He said not to use the line anymore since I'm getting it out Tuesday. So they sent me home after a couple hours. I'm glad to not be there anymore! There were tons of people with the flu there.. I used to be in the ER at least once a week for several months. So I got to know everyone there! I love the nurses! They always come hang out in my room and just chat. Except I usually go in the middle of the night instead of the day...so I didn't know the nurses today.

My chest still hurts some but I'm doing a lot better. I'm so ready to get the PICC line out. I just have to wait until surgery Tuesday!

"My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him." Psalm 62:1

Another ER trip...

Last week was a pretty good week. I went to visit church camp on Thursday! That was so much fun!! Saturday was a good but busy day. I went to a party for someone at church. We played lots of games outside and I did too much... I didn't sleep Saturday night so Sunday was a really hard day. I was in a lot of pain and was so exhausted. I did get to go to church so that was great! Yesterday I was able to rest so I was doing a little better.
Around midnight last night my PICC line started itching and hurting like crazy. I took some Benadryl and got to sleep at 1:30. I woke up at 2:30 because my PICC line was so much worse. It was an unbearable itch which made it hurt. I tried putting an ice pack and heating pack on it. Nothing was working. I went and got my dad at 4 and we decided to change the dressing. That seemed to make it worse. My mom got up and there was nothing else to do except to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital at 5:30 and my favorite nurses were there! The doctor gave me some steroids and something else instead of Benadryl. It seemed to help immediately. They sent me home at 6:30 this morning and I was able to go to bed. I just woke up and my nurse came to change my PICC dressing again. I started a 6 day steroid pack today so hopefully that will help.
Tomorrow I have an appointment at Children's Hospital with an infectious disease doctor. We're hoping that he will be willing to work with my doctor in Nevada. I will update tomorrow after my appointment. Thank you for all your prayers!

"For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13