Karens Health Log

Log of my health issues

12/29/2005

It's About Time

I cannot believe it has been this long since I posted here. What a roller coaster ride the last three months have been.

It started when I had surgery on 10/20 to remove my ovaries due to endromitriosis and scar tissue. There was so much scarring she had to open me up again. My ovaries were attached to my walls and it started to involve my bowel, good thing I had it done. I knew something was going on. The surgery went well but on the night of 10/21 some capularies broke loose and I bled internally and a blood clot formed. I was in major pain and all the night nurse thought was that I wanted to be put back on the morphine.

Thank heavens the day nurse knew something was wrong when she arrived. They ordered a CT Scan and found the blood clot, then had to do an angiogram to see if it was an arterial bleed. They figured my blood thinned too fast after surgery so they had to give me Vitamin K shots to thicken it up again. I was given six units of blood and was put in ICU for a while; I needed more care than the regular nurses could give, although one nurse, Stephanie tried her hardest. She saved my life, I know it.

The bleeding finally stopped, and I went home on 10/26. I was still on the shots of Lovenox for blood thinner and coumadin. They couldn't get my blood to thin once they thickened it. I was going to the doc every other day for 6 weeks and it still wasn't thinning despite the increased coumadin. Finally though, it thinned but a little too much so the dose was lowered a little, but after two weeks, it's back to 1.1 which is square one. Once again, increasing the dosage.

I recovered fairly well, despite the blood thinning issues. There was a big issue with hormones. Since my blood was too thick, I couldn't be put on estrogen. I was a basket case for about three weeks on an emotional roller coaster and having severe hot flashes and night sweats. Although they can't put me on estrogen yet, they put me on Effexor for the hot flashes, and bonus - it calmed me down too.

Besides the no hormone issue, I feel better than I have in years physically. Th RA is stable and the Ulcerative Colitis is great - no sores! I can start eating fresh fruits and veggies on occasion. YAY. My acid reflux is good, but they had to stretch my esophagus again and clean out some scar tissue. I will stay on Nexium but I need to get a wedge to sleep on, to elevate my body to keep the acid from coming up when I sleep.

My RA bothers me from time to time, but no flares. Mornings and late nights are the worst times for pain but the pain pills and hot showers help keep it all under control.