So sick of hospitals and we've only JUST begun...

So many of you are probably wonder WHY?? I was in the hospital over last weekend and most of the week.  Well, join my club!  I'd like to know WHY?? too!!

Wednesday after chemo I felt jittery, but mostly okay...  Thursday, I felt like I'd been hit with the flu.  Run down and felt like someone sucked all my energy out of me.  But, I still wanted to go-go-go...  I figured I better go out and enjoy dinner before I would be cooped up in my house for a week avoiding the germs while my white count was so low.  Being that it is lent, my husband suggested we go out Thursday instead of Friday so we could enjoy a nice steak dinner at Outback and use a gift card my hairdresser gave us.  Made sense to me to go out and enjoy ourselves, even though I wasn't 100% feeling great.

Well Thursday night, within 2 hours of eating, I became violently ill.  The details I'll spare you from, but they  led us to Magee emergency room the next day.  It was all a real blur since I was in so much pain.  The only position that felt fine was laying down, on my side.  It hurt to sit, talk, move, anything...

Magee's ER was fantastic!  I didn't have to wait long before they were running tests, making me drink a contrast drink and rushing me off for more tests.  I was admitted within 3 hours of arrival and had my own room.  The CT scan was drastically different from one taken only a week or so prior and my colon was not a happy camper.  It was very irritated and my entire trunk area was tender to the touch.

I had a team of surgeons, infectious diseases, pulmonary specialists, GI doctors, and a regular doctor overseeing my care.  My first night in the hospital was hell.  The pulmonary Dr. came in at midnight, then an hour later the infectious disease Dr. and lastly the 3am blood draw (which became a routine part of my stay).

I stayed at Magee for 6 nights (Friday through Thursday when discharged), learned what it means to be neutropenic (essentially low white cell count, no flowers, no fresh fruit/veggies, and everyone has to wear a mask around me), had over 4 IV's started, numerous blood draws, multiple liquid meals, and came home with a whole lot of questions and not much in way of answers.  I was feeling better though by Thursday, so they agreed to discharge me with the understanding I would come back next week, after my colon has had time to repair itself, to have another test done.

So on Tuesday I got back in for a Arteriogram and thankfully, they are going to do the port placement the same day.  (This was not scheduled until 4/25 previously).  Please keep me in your prayers Tuesday!  It's going to be another long day for everyone since I have to lay flat for several hours after the test.  We'll probably be at Magee all day.

Also, thanks again to everyone who sent me an e-card while I was at the hospital.  It really did help lift my spirits.  (As did the removal of the neutropenic sign from the door along with the masks!!!  I could finally enjoy my flowers again...)

In the end, we really aren't sure what happened last week.  The biopsies from the colonoscopy showed that my colon very toxic in nature (not surprising since I did just have chemo on the 15th). Our previous thoughts that this was a bad spell of ischemic colitis are becoming more and more questionable and as a result, our treatment plan is now coming into question.  If this attack was from the chemo, we are back at square one, but that won't be known until Wednesday.  Right now though, it looks like chemo is the culprit.