Hello kittens! I've been away for quite awhile but I have a good excuse. I was gravely ill. Knocking on death's door. Literally. Now I know some of you know the exact story and most of you know a little bit, but I decided I wanted to set the record straight and tell the story.
It started the week before Christmas 2010 when I was feeling tired and run down and achy, kind of flu-like. I attributed it to a cold, took over the counter meds and went to work every day. Until Christmas day. I was sitting at my desk, struggling to get warm, and started throwing up. I told my supervisor and he was kind enough to let me go home. At home I continued throwing up, came down with a massive headache and still had issues with being warm enough. My mom asked if I wanted to go to the ER, I refused saying I would wait until morning and see how things were then.
Come morning I was convinced I had meningitis and wanted to go to the ER. After 6 hours in the ER I was sent home with a Z-pack and a diagnosis of a sinus infection and a bit of dehydration. So I came home with my medicine and a work note for two days and expected to return to work on Thursday.
We now come to Wednesday morning. I have diligently taken my meds and still feel awful. In fact, at this point I feel worse. I have a headache that refuses to go away(oh and the ER doc told me to take Motrin for that) and I'm still throwing up. I call my family doctor. They squeeze me in in the afternoon, confirm the ER doctor's earlier diagnosis and give me Avelox and a cough syrup and a note for work for the rest of the week.
Now we come to the weekend. I had spent most of this week in bed and on Sunday I felt so horrible I had to do something. Return trip to the ER. I was in terrible pain from the headache, and I remember crying on my Dad's shoulder while we were in the waiting area because it hurt so bad. Finally I was taken back, given some pain meds, and tests were done. Several hours later I was admitted. I remember being in my hospital room Sunday night and Monday although alot of it is foggy due to pain meds. Then the hospital suspected I had TB. So I was moved to a private room, then the decision was made to transfer me to OSU medical center because my local hospital knew that I was very sick, but they don't have the equipment or specialists to deal with something like TB.
I remember the ambulance service picking me up in Bellefontaine but after that I have no memory for about two weeks. So this next part is related from what I've been told happened. Upon arrival at OSU, I started throwing up again so I placed in an ICU unit. After I stabalized I was moved to another ICU unit because I still had the severe headache and couldn't keep anything down. I was finally diagnosed with Cryptococcyl Meningitis and Cryptococcyl Pneumonia. These are fungal infections. These usually come from bird droppings. I live on a farm and used to clean chicken eggs on a near daily basis, so I can only assume that one time I didn't wash my hands adequately and then touched my mouth or eyes or nose and that's how I got it. So lesson to be learned kittens, ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS!!!
Now the big problem we were having is the pressure in my head on my brain. It was getting dangerously high. So the doctors wanted to put a tube in my brain to drain off excess fluid and relieve some of the pressure on my brain. My parents were called for authorization since I was not lucid and on that Saturday I went into surgery. And this is where it gets bad kittens. My family was told the surgery would take about 45 minutes, so they went to the waiting area. After 45 minutes they headed back, only to find several more doctors there. A nurse told them it would be a few more minutes and directed them to a waiting area. Then a doctor and a pastor came to see my parents. I was going code blue. I had quit breathing and they were convinced I wasn't going to make it. Not to worry though kittens, I pulled through!! Now I was unconsious for most of the following week and don't remember anything until I woke up in restraints. Now I guess I needed them because I tried to take out my feeding tube and I kept trying to get up. I thought I had things to do!
So, I became more lucid and aware of what was going on and was then moved to a private room where I spent the next two weeks or so. The drain was effective in keeping the pressure off my brain, but I had to lay flat, I couldn't move, I had this tube sticking out of my head connected to a bag, I still couldn't keep anything down, I still had headaches, and I was exhausted. I slept ALOT. So the decision was made to try to ween me off the drain and I could hopefully be released. If not, I would go in for another surgery to put a shunt in my brain, running from my brain to my stomach to relieve the pressure. So we tried shutting my drain off. It was not a good thing. I spent a day and a half with massive migraine pain and proved that I couldn't be off the drain without severe consequences. So we did surgery. They went in and put a shunt in my brain, then ran a tube down to my stomach area where the fluid can be absorbed and I can pee it out. After the surgery, It was like a brand new day. My headache pain was gone, all I had was a bit of incision pain from the three incisions they did to put in the shunt, and I was extremely tired, but I felt much better.
So on my birthday; January 29; I was released from the hospital. I had spent almost a month there, a couple of weeks I had no memory of, it was my 32nd birthday but I was going home. Now mind you, I walked about like a newborn giraffe and had to have help the whole way from the garage to the couch where I passed out for about 5 hours. I spent two days on the couch, then moved upstairs to my bed where I stayed for about 4 days. I slept ALOT. I still sleep ALOT.
Since my release from the hospital, I've been steadily improving although there have been a few setbacks. I had some dehydration issues and I still don't eat very well, but I'm walking better than I was. I do get bored sometimes during this recovery but all in all it's ok. I can't drive myself anywhere yet and my doctor has told me I won't be able to return to work until next year so I make do with cooking shows and magazines and books. I can say I'm grateful just to be alive, no matter how bored I get.
