My Life Could Be A Grey's Anatomy Episode

We got some good and bad news this week. Good news is that there is a very slight improvement in my blood clot compared to about 2 months ago. Bad news is the doctor had the interventional radiologist study the films and they have determined that it has been too long for the procedure we were hoping for to be affective. There is nothing the hematologist or interventional radiologist can do to help treat me. The next step, the doctor is referring me to a vascular surgeon. Hopefully, they will have an answer to take care of me. Otherwise, there is no telling how long this very large blood clot will take to resolve.

In other health news, Monday, the doctor sent me to the emergency room for some tests. For the last several days I have been having severe chest pains, and tightness. Making it hard and painful to breath. I have also had a lot of swelling in my arms and hands. At first it was an immediate worry that part of the clot may have broken off and traveled to my lungs causing a Pulmonary embolism. However that is not the case, thankfully. The doctor says I have a pleurisy. And the doctor says I probably have a blood clot in my arms. However, since my treatment would be the same as the treatment I am already receiving for the leg clot, they did not scan my arms. There is no treatment for pleurisy. You just treat the pain. I'm already on heavy pain medications so there was no reason to keep me in the hospital. They sent me home and I'm back to resting. I was told it takes anywhere from a few days to two weeks for the pleurisy to go away.

"What is pleurisy?

Pleurisy is swelling (inflammation) of the thin layers of tissue (pleura) covering the lungs and the chest wall.

The outer layer of the pleura lines the inside of the chest wall, and the inner layer covers the lungs. The tiny space between the two layers is called the pleural cavity. This cavity normally contains a small amount of lubricating fluid that allows the two layers to slide over each other when you breathe.

When the pleura becomes inflamed, the layers rub together, causing chest pain. This is known as pleuritic pain.

Pleurisy is sometimes called pleuritis.

What causes pleurisy?

In young, healthy people, an infection of the lower respiratory system by a virusor bacteria may cause pleurisy. Pleurisy usually lasts a few days to 1 or 2 weeks. In very rare cases, the virus or bacteria may spread and cause pleurisy in others.

Other causes of pleurisy include air leaking into the pleural cavity from a lung (pneumothorax), injury to the chest (such as a broken rib), tuberculosis or other infections, or a tumor in the pleura.

Other conditions may also cause pleurisy. These include rheumatoid arthritis,lupus, sickle cell crisis, pulmonary embolism, or pancreatitis. Pleurisy may also develop as a complication of heart surgery.

What are the symptoms of pleurisy?

The symptoms of pleurisy are chest pain and difficulty breathing. The chest pain usually starts suddenly. People often describe it as a stabbing pain and it usually gets worse with breathing. The pain:

• May always be present, but it usually gets worse when you breathe in. You may avoid breathing deeply to prevent the pain.
• Usually is on only one side of the chest.
• May extend to a shoulder or the belly.
• Is usually worse when you cough, sneeze, or suddenly move.
• May ease when you hold your breath or press on the painful area." (www.webmd.com)

Latest with Liz...

After seeing the Hematologist yesterday the doctor has ordered another scan. I will be going to the hospital this morning for this sonogram. Pray that they can see everything clearly as they need to make decisions on what to do next. The doctor is going to discuss it with the interventional radiologists to determine what procedures would be possible to clear out the clot. He discussed one option he was thinking of, but was unsure if too much time had lapsed already, for it to be an option. It would however require me to be in the hospital a couple days. Monday, I will go back to the doctor and we will discuss the findings, results, what my option/s are and decide what we will do now.

Surgery, Blood Clot & Bedrest

I have yet to explain what happened since my bile duct procedure. Turned out that after the first procedure to put the stint in I had a very bad reaction to the anesthesia. I had seizure like episodes and ended up in the Intensive Care Unit. Once I was stable and everything seemed to resolve they decided to wait three days and then take the stint back out and do the second procedure where they opened it up. So they kept me in the hospital and I was going to get to go home after the second procedure. Everything went great with the procedure and my stomach was feeling GREAT. Unfortunately, I got a very large clot in leg. Ended up in the hospital a few more days. Went home, and instead of things getting better with the clot..they got worse. This point I could barely walk, and was in tremendous constant pain. Doctor saw me, sent me immediately to the emergency room. The blood flow in my leg was 100% blocked off. I was admitted to the hospital that day and spent a couple weeks there, getting all sorts of medications and treatments for the clot and pain.

Finally, I was discharged to go home two weeks ago. I have been on bed rest. I have a walker to use when I do get up, but the only place I am suppose to go is to the doctors office. So really I'm just getting up to go the bathroom. And I cant lift over 10lbs. So that limits me a lot. The medicine makes me very tired, so I take a lot of naps. And to anyone who thinks I am lucky, think again. Being on bed rest like this is far from fun. But the wonderful part it, is I'm able to be home with Donny and the kids instead of being stuck by myself in a hospital bed. Before I was discharged I was told that it could be a matter of months and even up to a year before this all resolved. So I am being treated by a pain management doctor to control my pain the best possible, the hematologist and cardiologist to watch and treat the clot.

Latest Update: Saw the doctor today. They tested my heart and it is great. The Doppler on my leg showed no change in the blood clot. It has not gotten any smaller, nor has it grown or moved. My INR levels were pretty high today. All in all, the doctor wants to see things are in a month, and if there is not much change, he wants to see about taking another look, seeing if another approach to treat the clot may be more advisable. Great news is the procedure on my bile duct seems to have been a huge success. I have had little to no pain or attacks in my stomach like I was all the time, before the surgery. I am so thankful it worked!

Back In The Hospital

Yes, you heard that right. I'm back in the hospital. Thursday afternoon I went back to the doctors office to get my blood checked once again, thinking things were going to be looking up. Turns out the blood clot is so large and has effected so much of my veins that there is complete occlusion of the veins in my leg. The doctor sent me to the emergency room, and i was admitted into the hospital that night.

"An occlusion is a blockage of a vessel. There are two types of occlusions: partial or complete.

An occlusion of an artery in the heart or in another area of the body may be caused by the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque, by plaque that has broken off from one area of a vessel and traveled to another part of the body, or by a blood clot. Partial occlusions limit, but do not completely block, blood flow. On the other hand, complete occlusions completely restrict blood flow.

Occlusions prevent organs and tissues from obtaining the oxygen and nutrients they need to survive. This, in turn, causes tissue death and serious conditions, such as a heart attack or stroke."

In turn this causes an extreme amount of pain, pressure to my entire leg. I am currently on bed rest, although, I can barely stand on my leg anyway. I have never really been a typical patient and usually am far from a textbook case so things don't always appear from the outside as they are on the inside, or vice-versa. It's just one complicated thing after another really. The good part though is, I now have an excellent team of doctors on my case that are all working together, communicating and trying to make the best, wisest and most safe decisions when it comes to my treatment. Apparently, things were not handled well originally when i was in the hospital, and I should not have been discharged as I was. But now, we have moved on and are dealing with the present situation the smartest way possible. As of last night they started me on an iv heparin drip, to help aid in the thinning out of my blood, and speed up the process of breaking up the clot. They have stopped Lovonox and I'm continuing on Coumidin as well. 

Last night a group of my girlfriends came up to the hospital to see me. We hung out in my room, chatted away, and enjoyed each others company. And even had some incredibly scrumptious cupcakes that Melissa brought. Mine was red velvet cake. Heavenly! Thank goodness I was aloud to eat food by then. Hehe! How wonderful it is to have friends who are so loving and caring and took time from their Friday nights to share some laughs with me. I am blessed!!

Logan has come up a couple times to see me, which was awesome. I love that boy so much! And Donny has brought all the kids up, and I got to take turns cuddling with each one in the bed. I'm thankful I got the time I did with them through this week, and got to see their excitement about their new school and all the new things they are experiencing for the first time this year.

Home From The Hospital!

So my procedure for my bile duct turned up to be a big stay in the hospital. That was defiantly not what we had thought or had planned for. If you have kept up with Donny's blog and Facebook status, then you know how crazy this last week in a half has been. Instead of coming home after the first procedure, I ended up, staying for what ended up being a total of nine days in the hospital. 

The procedure itself went very well. However, immediately afterwards I ended up in ICU after having what they concluded as a negative reaction coming out of the anesthesia. I had several (seizure like) episodes, they could not stop, so ended up putting me back under. Later doing all sorts of tests. Scaring the heck out of my husband. All along I was unaware any of this was happening. I still have very little memory of my stay in ICU.

Couple days later, had the second procedure, and all went well. I was then going to be able to go home, but that all changed when it was discovered that I had developed a blood clot in my leg. Thus the treatment to dissolve the blood clot began. 

I'm home now! My stomach has never been better! I was laying in bed tonight, and realized, WOW, my stomach does not hurt. I can't remember the last time I did not have stomach pain. It has been something I have lived with for soooo long. I am not getting around much. My leg is still in pain, and walking is difficult due to the blood clot. Thankfully, we caught it in time before something tragic happened. Overall, I am doing well, all things considered. Thankful to be home in the warmth and comfort of my home!!

Candice's Day In The Emergency Room: UPDATED 02/12/09

For those of you that may have have been keeping up with us on Twitter, or Facebook, know that today was a rough day. For all those that have not heard. I took Candice to the doctor first thing this morning, her ENT said her lungs did not sound good at all, she had some stridor and was dehydrated. She spent all morning throwing up. More like day..cause it totaled up to 16 times. The doctor sent her down to the Emergency Room for a work up. She got fluids, electrolytes, blood work, breathing treatments, nausea meds and steroids. Turns out they think the respiratory infection she was diagnosed with about 2-3 weeks ago, caused some narrowing in her airway. You just never know with our little Candi-cane. Even though she has had reconstructive airway surgery, due to the subglottic stenosis that she got after the prolonged intubation while she was in the NICU for five months, her airway does have a more likely chance of becoming compromised when she is sick. So an illness that our other kids get, can affect her in a more serious way. Thankfully, we have been really lucky up to this point and she has done really well. But we still have so much to be thankful for, because Candice was released from the hospital and is home tonight in her own bed. Hopefully she will have a good night, and can keep from throwing up. Soon as we left the hospital she threw up all over the car. But, hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day. Great news though, her ears look great, tubes are functioning perfectly and her hearing test today was completely normal. Yeah! She will be with me for the day tomorrow, while the other kiddos go to school. Mommy's gotta take care of her baby!

Update: Candice had a good night at home. She threw up first thing this morning, but has been fine since, Been able to eat small amounts and actually using the restroom today. So great sign that she is back to being hydrated and feeling better. :) She stayed home from school today, which I think she was way to excited about. She sounds way better, not perfect and still has the cough but breathing fine and that's what counts. Hehe!

On The Road To Recovery

My doctor released me from the hospital this afternoon. So goodbye hospital gown! No infections and cyst free!!! My abdomen is pretty swollen right now, and the surgical site burns to the touch, so it makes wearing normal day clothes a bit difficult. So for a while anyway...I'll just be dressing for comfort and not style. I'll see the doctor for a check up in a week. I'm very limited to what I can do for the next several weeks. So I know that will be a challenge. I'm not one of those kind of people that do good at doing nothing. My mind is running this constant checklist of things to be done, projects to start, projects to finish, or preparing for whatever is next on the checklist. Overall, I feel good. I mean, I'm certainly in pain from the surgery. I had the majority of my abdomen cut open, but the pain medicines help a lot and I don't have to deal with the horrible pains I was having before surgery. I know this pain is only temporary and part of the course, so I can deal with this. I am on the road to recovery and going to back to being a fun, young, stylish mommy of multiples in no time. Let's get this party started!

Don't you just LOVE hospital gowns?!

I usally don't tend to get anxious or nervous about medical procedures. But for some reason I had been very emotional and nervous about it this time. Thanks to your prayers and support, all nervousness and weakness went away. God made Himself very present through our friends and family. My heart was touched by your words, prayers, hugs, and love. My surgery went VERY well yesterday. The doctors were able to do everything they needed to do, remove the cyst, save my ovary and do a little repair to some previous abdominal scaring. No complications. PTL! My colon was attached to my ovary so it could have been really bad. But, God gave perfect guidance to the doctors and answered our prayers. All previous pelvic and abdominal pain has gone away. They removed my catheter this morning, I got out of bed for the first time and had a small walk down the hall, and even got a quick shower in. I'm in much more surgical pain today, (to be expected) but I know that is just a part of the process. That pain will improve with time as the abdominal adhesion heals. I'll be here in the hospital again tonight. I should be able to be released sometime tomorrow. :)

Off To The Hospital

Today is the day. Donny is on a plane right now, headed back to Dallas. Nana and Pops are also on a plane headed here. Donny will be back just in time to come see me before I go back for surgery. Nana and Pops should arrive close to 5pm. I'm dressed and getting ready to get picked up to go to the hospital. They have a lot of prepping to do to get ready for surgery. Placing a central line, blood work, starting antibiotics and such. I did get some sleep last night. But had horrible night sweats. Well, I'm still sweating, so I guess it's really not night sweats. I cried allot yesterday. I really just wanna see my hubby and know that everything is going to be ok. Hopefully, next time I write, I will be feeling better. I don't know how long I will be in the hospital, so we will see. Thank you for your prayers! Until, next time...