Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Here is a partial list of everything I have been through this pregnancy, ranging from the mundane to the not so mundane:
Here is a partial list of everything I have been through this pregnancy, ranging from the mundane to the not so mundane:
- four hospital admissions
(two overnight and two that amounted to five weeks in the hospital) - two trips to the E.R. lasting six hours a piece
- home IVs, blown veins, multitudes of sticks
(including two occasions where it took seven sticks to place an IV or draw blood) - IV bag changes, vitamin injections, tube changes, and pump managed by myself and husband
- four PICC lines (long central feeding lines that snake up the vein in the arm, through the vein in the shoulder and lie just outside the heart opening)
- two allergic reactions to PICC lines
(involving phlebitis so bad I couldn't move my arm and complications with inserting the second line due to dehydration from the HMO's refusal to pay for the necessary mechanical pump) - one possible potentially fatal staph infection in my PICC
- one double lumen PICC insertion that became complicated and required several tries with trauma that increased risk of fatal blood clots
- embolism hose to reduce risk of thromboembolitic event
(such as pulmonary embolism) - blood draws most mornings for five weeks and weekly otherwise
- six X-rays
- a multitude of sonograms
- blood pricks to check glucose every four hours for over a month
- insulin injections, self-administered and otherwise
- bottomed out from low blood sugar due to too much insulin
- administration of >12 different drugs ranging from the benign to the systemic
- Zofran pump maintained for months
(worn in leg causing painful lumps at sites, which needed to be changed by me every other day and involved self-sticking with needle/catheter combo to insert catheter) - 11 weeks of no eating or drinking
- uncountable (but well over 100) vomiting episodes in 12 weeks
- vomiting blood, sometimes small, sometimes large amounts that caused clinical hematocrit fluctuations
(involved one of my doctors wanting to administer morphine and put a scope down my throat and into my stomach to check for bleeding ulcerations caused by the wear and tear of so much vomiting) - losing bowel/bladder control during projectile vomiting
(and having to sit in it for hours until husband came home from work due to inability to care for myself) - liver dysfunction
- sludge in gallbladder
(may necessitate removal post-pregnancy) - sluggish bowel/digestive system
(due to inactivity from prolonged TPN feedings) - couldn't brush teeth at all for two weeks solid, limited beyond that
- no real bath or shower for 12 weeks
- cervical shortening scare necessitating bed rest
- nearly 30 weeks of bed rest
- humiliation of potty by the bed and loss of autonomy
- ptyalism for months
- cigarette smells for months (no one smokes)
- bad taste in mouth for months (metal/chemical)
- scent intolerance for months
- vitamin k shots
(during TPN) - weird but horrible panic attacks caused by post traumatic stress disorder from prior history with illness and current suffering
- Etc.
