Home Again...

I wake up early at 6:30, because the night nurse has come to give me my next injection of Lovenox. Since this is the third time I've been woken up (4 o’clock to take blood, 4:30 to take my blood pressure) I decide I might as well get up. I arrange the chair so I can read until I'm able to order some breakfast (which the hospital actually does pretty well) and wait for Cody to get up. I havethe same daytime nurse again and she lets me know that I have to be able to get my blood thinner filled, and be able to give myself injections before they'll discharge me, so I know what the goals are. I check online with my ipad and the blood thinner is covered. It's normally $1450 for 7 days worth of the brand and $660 for the generic. Luckily, because the surgery caused me to meet my maximum annual out of pocket I won't have to pay for it. They call it in, so it will be ready, then the nurse comes to teach me how to do the shots. When my mom was learning how to do shots, she got to practice on an orange; I get to practice on me! So the nurse makes me watch as she gives me an empty injection (nothing in the syringe) then she makes me do it to myself. I'm kind of slow, but it goes in. The nurse does it again, explaining that I need to make sure I pinch hard and rub hard with the alcohol because that will direct the "pain soldiers" somewhere other than where I'm actually sticking the needle. She also tells me that I need to "dart" it, do it fast. She asks if I would like to try again, and I tell her no thank you. I check to make sure it is okay I keep taking my birth control, she says yes (and it is listed in my paperwork as medication that I am continuing). She also tells me I'll need to make an appointment with my PCP to check my blood levels for the injections, that I should do this on Monday. She gets the paperwork ready, and I get to go home. We stop and Walgreens and get alcohol wipes, 14 generic Lovenox injections, and the new blood pressure medication that my PCP had just put me on (Metoprolol ER 50mg). After we get the prescriptions I realize I'm missing coumadin. They told me I would have to be on Coumadin and Lovenox at the same time. I call the nurse at the hospital and she says that is something that my PCP will give me a prescription for. We continue having an okay day, until after I eat and I get ready to give myself my first injection of Lovenox. I take a look at my abdomen and HOLY COW!!! I have an enormous bruise; I don't remember getting one, what the hell, where did it come from. I think maybe something is wrong, so I call the nurse and she said that I had it when we were practicing injections (I don't remember seeing it). Okay, thank you. I give myself the first injection, I still can't dart it, but it’s done, only 13 more to go! :(

Here is the bruise on my abdomen from the injection the nurse gave me at 6:30 am HUGE

Another Trip to the E.R.

So, the weekend was pretty good overall, but my left calf muscle was still really tight. It felt like a constant charlie horse. The doctor's offices are closed because it was Memorial Day weekend, so I had to wait until today to call and make an appointment. I call my new PCP's office and they can get me in at 1:30. I come in and explain the systems and she tells me she can see 2 possible things it could be. 1 - it could be that I have a blood clot, which would be weird because I have been up and walking around and moving my legs, 2 - it could be that the nerves in my calf are dying because the ones they are linked to in my spine were compressed for too long, and they just can't recover. She sends me for an ultra sound at a place right behind the E.R., she said if they say it is blood clots, I have to go to the E.R. to get the first dose of blood thinner, and they'll send me home. I get in right away, and sure enough, I have 2 blood clots in my left calf that are not completely obstructing blood flow (otherwise they would have been way more painful)! Cody and I head over to the E.R., Cody has to work tonight, so he's going to have to leave me at the ER and Donna will come and wait with me. Cody comes and gets me checked in, and there are A LOT of people, way more than the previous 2 times I was here. I get checked in and he has to leave. I put in a call to the neurosurgeon, because he is at this hospital today today, and maybe he can get me in earlier, but I have to leave a message. Donna arrives a little while later, she tells the check in lady that my neurosurgeon is at the hospital today, but there isn't much they can do at check in. We get to triage, I'm not sure if the lady was new or what, but I was like, my neurosurgeon is here today, can you please let him know. She's like, uh I'll check on that. I explain that my ultrasound results should have been sent right over, she can't find them, I tell her that I have 2 confirmed blood clots. I call my PCP's office, who said they have them and will fax them right over. Donna insists that I get a wheelchair and as soon as we get out of triage they are calling me to be seen by a doctor. My PCP's office calls back to see if they have been received, I say they must because I'm getting ready to be examined again. A nurse comes back and says that I will be admitted, which really upsets me because I don't like spending time in the hospital, and that they will have to put in an i.v. I do NOT like needles... I talked them out of the i.v. the day after my surgery was complete because they are so very uncomfortable, but they insist I have to have one. Donna calls my mom to let her know that I am back in the hospital for blood clots. An EMT (or so I thought until she turned around and I read her t-shirt that says Pima EMT Trainee) comes and puts in an i.v. then another nurse comes and gives me my first blood thinning injection in my stomach. I'm not having a good time at all. I'm not sure if I've had a bowel accident, and they won't let me walk to the bathroom to check (they'll bring me a bedside toilet, uh no thank you), they tell me they are working on getting me a room. Finally about, 45 minutes later someone comes to take me to my room. They're wheeling the bed and we get to the room, but it isn't big enough for them to roll the bed I'm on into so they can transfer. The orderly asks if I can walk, and I say that I walked into the hospital, Donna doesn't want me to walk. But, I do and while I'm up, my first stop is the bathroom!! Luckily, no accident, but my bladder sure was full!! I'd gone about 6 hours without peeing which is like, a post-surgery all time best while awake! I get into bed and then there is just waiting. The day nurse comes through, but she'll be leaving in just a bit because of the change in shifts. She informs me that I've missed the dinner cut off, so Donna agrees to go get me something to eat, she doesn't want to leave me alone, but she hasn't eaten either. She brings us back some dinner and we eat. It's about 8 o’clock and Cody should be getting off of work soon, so he should be here about 9, I tell her to go home and see Gordon and Tiffany, I'll try and get some sleep, she reluctantly agrees. I let Cody know what I'd like from home since he has to go there first and give Castro his insulin and food (more Depends, some wipes, iPad, library book, fuzzy socks, birth control) and he brings everything except the birth control (I forgot to include it, even though I was thinking of it). We visit for a bit, he eats some dinner. We talk, I don't want to leave the cat alone, and I should be getting out tomorrow, so I think he should sleep at home. He doesn't want to leave me, but knows he won't get much sleep in the chair. He leaves around midnight. I do manage to get some sleep between poking and prodding.

First Post-Surgery Dining Out!

To start the day off, Cody spoils me and we enjoy some chocolate croissants from Baker-Wee that go perfectly with my Starbucks Venti White Chocolate Mocha (non-fat no whip) with 2 pumps raspberry. It is a great way to start the day, yummmm. The rest of the day goes pretty well and I'm excited for tonight, which will be my first post surgery meal out. Cody and I are going with Jason and Carrie to try a place called Babbo's Italian Eatery. Since I'm still having issues with flatulence and accidents I wear my Depends to dinner. It's great to see Jason and Carrie because I haven't seen them since I was in the hospital. Plus, I'm not making dinner or having to do the dishes (my cleaning has basically only been dinner, dishes and laundry since I've been in the hospital). We discuss my progress and Carrie comes to the realization that the Happy Bunny Magnet I bought forever ago in Las Vegas makes sooo much sense now, as it says "Oops I pooped on your things!" I make it through dinner with no accidents, although my left calf is starting to bother me more than normal. It's usually a little tight, but it seems to be getting tighter. While we're at dinner, a couple of my other good friends, Donna K.and Kris, are at Phoenix's Comic-Con and have gotten me a surprise! Donna got me a Jamie Bamber (Apollo from Battlestar Galactica) autographed photo that says "To Kristi with love, Jamie Bamber." All in all though, a great day!!!

Big Day in Kindergarten!!

Today was great!!! I got to see my kiddos and attend promotion. I saw some of my coworkers as well. It also went really well. It was funny to hear some of the things that they want to be when they grow up (Power Ranger is just one example), they sang some songs and got their promotion pictures. I did a little walking around, and the kids all got the chance to hug me if they wanted (while I was sitting down, that way they weren't hugging my incision). All of the parents from my class came (except for one, the same one that didn't come to meet the teacher, or either of the parent teacher conferences, or anything) and so my one kiddo was stuck in the classroom after all the other kids had gone home with their parents while they waited an extra hour for their older siblings to get out of school.

It was also a good day for me. No accidents! Even when I bent down to tie some shoes which generally causes little bowel accidents. I was able to stay the entire time, although those 3 hours were really pushing it, and by the time I got home I was exhausted! It was totally worth it to see all my kiddos again!!

New Doctor

This morning Cody drove me down to meet with the new doctor that had been recommended by my colleagues at Heritage school, PCP. She did a standard check up and she is also concerned that my blood pressure is elevated. I never had a problem before the surgery, but now it seems the blood pressure is a concern. I also had the headache the other day, so PCP puts me on Zomig (this was the last thing I was on before I stopped having the migraines years ago) for some crazy reason my insurance company only allows 4 per month! She also keeps me on blood pressure medication. I also ask what I can do because I seem to have some irritation in my pelvic area where my skin is peeling, and I think it's "diaper rash" she recommends some Desitin cream on it and to let her know if its not getting better. We drop off the prescriptions and pick them up later. I take a shower, and blow dry my hair, putting on my diaper rash cream so I can put on my Depends. I head back into the bathroom to put up my blow dryer and come back to the bed and I notice some poop on the floor. I tell Cody I think Castro has had an accident, and he tells me he doesn't think it's Castro's. He's right, it's mine. Regardless of the accident, I'm totally excited for tomorrow and promotion for my Kinders at school! First time I've seen them since the end of April, last day of school!!!

Scholastic Sale

So anybody who knows me knows that I love to read and I love to buy books for my classroom! When I found out that I'd be teaching 3rd grade, I couldn't wait to get to the sale and get some new books for my classroom library. Since getting home from the hospital, I had been worried that I would not be able to do this sale (because it is lots of walking around in a big warehouse). Things had been going well, I have lots of farting going on that I can't control (because of the sphincter muscle thing), but haven't really had any accidents, so we decide to go. Since the surgery, every time I'd been out in public I've worn Depends, so I do that with this outing as well. We get to the sale, and I fart (it’s a bit stinky) Cody makes a face, and I let him know that I just made a stinky. We go through the sale and I look at tons of books, it takes about an hour and a half to get through it. I'm totally excited about my purchases and we head home. When I'm getting out of the car, Cody says there is a spot on the back of my shorts. When I get into the bathroom I see that I've had a bowel accident. This makes me sad; it had been a little while since I had one and I thought that streak was over. We relax and watch some t.v. then I start to get a headache around 4pm. I take a Percocet, drink a Starbucks DoubleShot and then take a nap. I'm out for quite a while, Cody makes me some soup for dinner and I take another Percocet because I still have the headache, put some ice on it, I end up throwing up and then I'm finally able to go to sleep. I haven't had migraines like this in forever! Good thing I did research and found a new PCP from all of the recommendations I got from my colleagues at school!

First Post Op Follow-up

The weekend was pretty uneventful, I had a visit from Cammy on Saturday because she was dropping off pictures from water day so I can add it to a cd full of pictures from the year.

Today I had my first post-op with the neurosurgeon. He is pleased that my bladder has pretty much come back, but a little disappointed that the bowels didn't come back with them. Usually the recovery of the bladder and bowels goes hand in hand, but not always. He lets me know that if we hit the 3 month mark and things still haven't come back that we will start to consider it a permanent thing. He checks out my incision and says that it is looking good. He also says that the numbness in my left leg is normal, and we're looking at the same time frame for the bladder and bowels. Cody asks how different my current situation could be if we'd gotten in sooner. The neurosurgeon thinks we got the surgery relatively early (he thinks the disc ruptured on Wednesday, so surgery on Friday was an early reaction). He also said that I need to start walking around more, trying to get back to normal. The only thing with this is that the numbness on the bottom of my left foot makes it a little uncomfortable and my feet are still pretty swollen. I tell him that my calves (even my right one) are numb and that I noticed it when I was shaving my legs the day before. He squeezes my leg and says that if there was a blood clot I would be jumping off the table in pain. He suggests that I just give it more time. I ask about paperwork that I need filled out for work. He says it will cost $25 and they can mail it out when it is done (The Tempe Doctor's Office was going to charge $25/page!). We leave the office and head to the library to drop off my library books that were due. Then we head to school so that I can turn in my signed contract. I get to stop in and see Lynn, and she is happy to see me up and around. When I get into some detail about what happened she is insistent that I don't go back to the Tempe Doctor's Office, since they dropped the ball. She suggests that I send an email out to the staff for recommendations. I'm not ready to see the kids yet because I'm afraid they'll try and hug me and they're incision height. I get to see some other teachers that I have been missing as well. We grab some McDs for lunch, then head home. Even that little bit has me pretty exhausted. We relax and watch some t.v. and I send out the email to the staff getting some recommendations for a new doctor's office.