*Sigh* My, oh my, what a lot of crazy days go by!
Are you ready to read a Novel?
It's one of those days.
Joseph, Blake and I went home last night for the first time since Friday. We got home around midnight (our usual bed time). I got in the shower and Joseph got Blake ready for bed. Walking into the house and taking the shower ended up being too much time on my feet and I hobbled to bed. I read Blake a book while Joseph massaged my foot. I took my second dose of MS Contin 15mg at midnight with a Percoset 10/325 and was waiting the hour for them to start working and take my pain away. We sent Blake to bed and Joseph put heat on my ankle.
Are you ready to read a Novel?
It's one of those days.
Joseph, Blake and I went home last night for the first time since Friday. We got home around midnight (our usual bed time). I got in the shower and Joseph got Blake ready for bed. Walking into the house and taking the shower ended up being too much time on my feet and I hobbled to bed. I read Blake a book while Joseph massaged my foot. I took my second dose of MS Contin 15mg at midnight with a Percoset 10/325 and was waiting the hour for them to start working and take my pain away. We sent Blake to bed and Joseph put heat on my ankle.
1am til about 3am I spent moaning in pain and rubbing my foot on the sheets and Joseph tried to massage my leg. I think my leg has been over-massaged this weekend because massaging seems to irritate the pain level rather than reduce it. We slept about an hour and a half. I woke to more pain and Joseph tried his best to help. After a long while we were able to fall asleep, only to wake 45 minutes later to pain rising rapidly. 6:45am
I called my dad's phone, probably waking him up, saying when I took my meds, that I couldn't take more because the dose would be too high, and asked what to do. He and Mom suggested I call L&D and see what they had to say.
I explained to L&D that my pain was on the rise and that Dr.C was managing my pain meds and wanted to know if I came in, could they give me relief from this pain. They said that they couldn't treat me without consent from Dr.C and that I'd need to call her office at 8am when they opened. Breathing heavily and trying to stay calm despite the raging pain, "So you're telling me that I have to suffer like this for over an hour until she is in her office? There is nothing you can do if I come in for help?!" Again they stated that Dr.C is in charge and until she was in her office nothing could be done. I hung up and called my parents back and told them what was said.
7:30am - Mom and Dad show up and I hobbled out to the car, pain level 10 and rising, and we headed out to Sac at the busiest time of day. Surprisingly, traffic went at a fairly good rate. I wasn't to the screaming level of pain that I was on Friday but the pain was pretty equivalent. Because of what L&D had said, we decided to head straight to Dr.C's office and wait to see her as soon as we could. I'd writhe in her waiting room just so she can understand the intensity of my pain issue. The more we drove, the closer we got to Dr. C's office, the more Dad became upset/irritated that I even have to deal with this level of pain. I asked Mom to call Dr.C's office and make sure she was in today. Mom left an urgent message with the receptionist saying how bad I was doing and we needed to know if we should go to L&D or her office and if there is anything could be done. Dad decided last minute that we weren't going to waste time going to the office and that we were going to L&D to demand help.
8:15am- We arrived at the hospital and Mom ran in to get a wheelchair. She literally ran me through the halls of the hospital to get to the L&D double doors. She hit the "Call" button to request admittance into the ward and a woman from behind us said that she would let us in. We think she thought I was in labor by the way she reacted. I was at the point where the pain was so bad that I was totally unable to cry. Mom ran us up to the counter and gave my information so that I could be seen in triage. One of the nurses recognized me from my Friday visit and exclaimed, "Are you here for your foot pain again?!" They asked us to wait for a little bit while everything was being set up. Dad then showed up (he had been parking the car) and suggested that since I was unable to massage, try standing up. (Standing up at home and applying slight pressure helped for a short time.) I stood up and stood at the side of the wheelchair holding on to the arm rest and bending over, breathing deeply trying to maintain control. One of the nurses commented about me being in full labor and I laughed and said,"If only! That is far better pain than this pain!" I was wheeled right up to a bed and climbed on. I couldn't decide if I needed to lay on my side and clutch the sheets and pillow, sit up and rub my leg, or what, because the pain was insane I couldn't hardly think straight. Mom and Dad answered most of the questions for me because, again, I couldn't think straight. I probably couldn't have told them the date because this pain didn't just envelope my foot and calf, it took over my mind almost completely. The nurses asked what normally is done for my pain and I said that on Friday they had to talk to Dr.C. but when I had gone to the ER in the past, before being on so many narcotics, it had taken 4mg's of Dilauded (10x stronger than Morphine) before I was able to get ANY relief from this pain. They came in and out, doctors were paged, we were told medication would be ordered as soon as the doc assessed me, and we waited. I think this was the first time mom had ever heard me cuss... Pain this bad? . . . it's the first thing out of your mouth.. A cuss word to start off a prayer.
9:00am- They started an IV and gave 1mg of Dilauded, Zofran(anti nausea), and 10/325 Percoset were given. Methadone (still in my system from Friday,9 Percoset 10/325, and MS Contin 15mg were still on board from hours earlier. Normally I get a head rush from the Dilauded but none ever came. 45 minutes in this bed I was on the verge of screaming, crying off and on, and clutching the sheets/kicking everything else off the end of the bed without realizing it, and my pain continued. Dad offered to massage my leg but it wasn't possible yet. Mom was crying off and on talking with the nurses and doctor. My initial Blood Pressure was 170/120.
10:00am- Pain was still beyond a level 10, I was still writhing in pain but the pain had begun to subside enough that massage was now possible. I'd been rubbing my feet along the sheets for so long that my feet both were numb. Dad massaged my leg for 45 minutes while the doctors checked in.
I called my dad's phone, probably waking him up, saying when I took my meds, that I couldn't take more because the dose would be too high, and asked what to do. He and Mom suggested I call L&D and see what they had to say.
I explained to L&D that my pain was on the rise and that Dr.C was managing my pain meds and wanted to know if I came in, could they give me relief from this pain. They said that they couldn't treat me without consent from Dr.C and that I'd need to call her office at 8am when they opened. Breathing heavily and trying to stay calm despite the raging pain, "So you're telling me that I have to suffer like this for over an hour until she is in her office? There is nothing you can do if I come in for help?!" Again they stated that Dr.C is in charge and until she was in her office nothing could be done. I hung up and called my parents back and told them what was said.
7:30am - Mom and Dad show up and I hobbled out to the car, pain level 10 and rising, and we headed out to Sac at the busiest time of day. Surprisingly, traffic went at a fairly good rate. I wasn't to the screaming level of pain that I was on Friday but the pain was pretty equivalent. Because of what L&D had said, we decided to head straight to Dr.C's office and wait to see her as soon as we could. I'd writhe in her waiting room just so she can understand the intensity of my pain issue. The more we drove, the closer we got to Dr. C's office, the more Dad became upset/irritated that I even have to deal with this level of pain. I asked Mom to call Dr.C's office and make sure she was in today. Mom left an urgent message with the receptionist saying how bad I was doing and we needed to know if we should go to L&D or her office and if there is anything could be done. Dad decided last minute that we weren't going to waste time going to the office and that we were going to L&D to demand help.
8:15am- We arrived at the hospital and Mom ran in to get a wheelchair. She literally ran me through the halls of the hospital to get to the L&D double doors. She hit the "Call" button to request admittance into the ward and a woman from behind us said that she would let us in. We think she thought I was in labor by the way she reacted. I was at the point where the pain was so bad that I was totally unable to cry. Mom ran us up to the counter and gave my information so that I could be seen in triage. One of the nurses recognized me from my Friday visit and exclaimed, "Are you here for your foot pain again?!" They asked us to wait for a little bit while everything was being set up. Dad then showed up (he had been parking the car) and suggested that since I was unable to massage, try standing up. (Standing up at home and applying slight pressure helped for a short time.) I stood up and stood at the side of the wheelchair holding on to the arm rest and bending over, breathing deeply trying to maintain control. One of the nurses commented about me being in full labor and I laughed and said,"If only! That is far better pain than this pain!" I was wheeled right up to a bed and climbed on. I couldn't decide if I needed to lay on my side and clutch the sheets and pillow, sit up and rub my leg, or what, because the pain was insane I couldn't hardly think straight. Mom and Dad answered most of the questions for me because, again, I couldn't think straight. I probably couldn't have told them the date because this pain didn't just envelope my foot and calf, it took over my mind almost completely. The nurses asked what normally is done for my pain and I said that on Friday they had to talk to Dr.C. but when I had gone to the ER in the past, before being on so many narcotics, it had taken 4mg's of Dilauded (10x stronger than Morphine) before I was able to get ANY relief from this pain. They came in and out, doctors were paged, we were told medication would be ordered as soon as the doc assessed me, and we waited. I think this was the first time mom had ever heard me cuss... Pain this bad? . . . it's the first thing out of your mouth.. A cuss word to start off a prayer.
9:00am- They started an IV and gave 1mg of Dilauded, Zofran(anti nausea), and 10/325 Percoset were given. Methadone (still in my system from Friday,9 Percoset 10/325, and MS Contin 15mg were still on board from hours earlier. Normally I get a head rush from the Dilauded but none ever came. 45 minutes in this bed I was on the verge of screaming, crying off and on, and clutching the sheets/kicking everything else off the end of the bed without realizing it, and my pain continued. Dad offered to massage my leg but it wasn't possible yet. Mom was crying off and on talking with the nurses and doctor. My initial Blood Pressure was 170/120.
10:00am- Pain was still beyond a level 10, I was still writhing in pain but the pain had begun to subside enough that massage was now possible. I'd been rubbing my feet along the sheets for so long that my feet both were numb. Dad massaged my leg for 45 minutes while the doctors checked in.
10:45am- Pain was level 8, Mom rubbed my foot now, and I was 'back among the living' and able to communicate (without too much difficulty) with the 3 doctors who came in to talk to me. Most of the questions we had were really only geared for Dr.C. Mom called and was able to make an appointment with her just after lunch at 1pm.
11:45am- I was released. Walking was definitely slow and I was limping. All those drugs on board and I was still at a level 4 pain and having random needle-like stabs in my ankle. We went to get lunch at Safeway (Lunchmeat sandwiches!!) and we went over the list of questions we had for Dr. C. Because our appointments with her usually last 2 hours and majorly slow down her day, we wanted to streamline in order to get in and get out. Can you believe they only schedule patients for 10 minute appointments?! We know Dr. C. can't stand us coming in and tying up her day. She let us know last time how late we were making her by showing us her list of scheduled patients. We got to her office shortly after 12 noon and waited there for our turn.
1:10pm- I was called back to the room. My blood pressure was 153/93 with a pulse of 145. The assistant/nurse asked if we knew why my pulse was so high. We suggested low blood sugar? Pain level? Massive drugs on board?
Dr. C. came in pretty tight lipped and asked, "So what's goin on?" I said, "Where do I begin?" My head was starting to pound, my pulse was making my head fuzzy a bit, and I felt like I was in a room that was 100 degrees. Keeping in mind, I'd had just 2-3 hours of sleep over night, massive pain over the weekend, and had just come from the hospital... She seemed to not want to give any suggestions and waited for me to say everything. I was slightly talking like a confused person and Mom jumped in to help streamline things accurately. She backtracked to my Friday episode and filled her in on everything up til this point. I described my pain and she asked, "Well, what is the reason you're here?" I scoffed and said, "I want pain relief and what we're doing now is SO not doing anything. I took percoset every 4 hours over the weekend and pain just continued to rise and rise. This morning was unbearable, just as Friday was, and I can't continue like this." We talked about pain meds and the "no options" I'd had. She stated that she had never had a patient who needed this much medication and I was so beyond everything she knew. I asked questions and she looked at me like I was a crazy person, giving me that slight squinty eyed look when you don't believe anything you're hearing. She walked out to "make some calls to the hospital" and didn't return for 45 minutes. Our room was sooo hot so we opened the door for fresh air. We heard her interacting with other patients. When she walked out of one room, telling a patient that "pregnancy is rough but you're almost there!", and straight into our room and said, "So I've just been on the phone with so many people at the hospital..." Yadda yadda... They basically will not admit me to get my pain under control for ANY reason and the pain specialists she spoke with said, "Why aren't you just increasing her narcotics to cover the pain. That's all the hospital would do IF she were to be admitted."
Dr.C. left the room again tosee some other patients make some more phone calls and came back after another half hour. She didn't seem to take things seriously until I, on the verge of insanely frustrated and pained tears, told her that -----"I just spent the last 3 days on my Mom's couch in pain while family members came to help massage my pain away and give heat/ice. My Mom and sister in law are caring for my son. When I am at home, I spend my days sitting in a rocking chair with ice and heat. I haven't been grocery shopping in who knows how long and I haven't been able to attend a church service in 4 months because I can't hardly do anything from the pain. My 2yr old brings me yogurt in bed with a spoon so he can have breakfast. He brings his cup to me at my chair and carries a Gallon of milk from the fridge to me so I can refill his drink. He climbs up on the chairs to grab food out of the cabinet so I can make him lunch. I haven't made a meal for my family in MONTHS because this pain is totally crippling!"----- She seemed to perk up then and then started to ask relevant and interested questions. She suggested that she could write a referral to Pain Management in better terms so that it wouldn't be denied again. She seemed to actually care about me now and actually gave medication advice. She gave permission to increase my meds at certain hours and how to titrate up with other medications.
11:45am- I was released. Walking was definitely slow and I was limping. All those drugs on board and I was still at a level 4 pain and having random needle-like stabs in my ankle. We went to get lunch at Safeway (Lunchmeat sandwiches!!) and we went over the list of questions we had for Dr. C. Because our appointments with her usually last 2 hours and majorly slow down her day, we wanted to streamline in order to get in and get out. Can you believe they only schedule patients for 10 minute appointments?! We know Dr. C. can't stand us coming in and tying up her day. She let us know last time how late we were making her by showing us her list of scheduled patients. We got to her office shortly after 12 noon and waited there for our turn.
1:10pm- I was called back to the room. My blood pressure was 153/93 with a pulse of 145. The assistant/nurse asked if we knew why my pulse was so high. We suggested low blood sugar? Pain level? Massive drugs on board?
Dr. C. came in pretty tight lipped and asked, "So what's goin on?" I said, "Where do I begin?" My head was starting to pound, my pulse was making my head fuzzy a bit, and I felt like I was in a room that was 100 degrees. Keeping in mind, I'd had just 2-3 hours of sleep over night, massive pain over the weekend, and had just come from the hospital... She seemed to not want to give any suggestions and waited for me to say everything. I was slightly talking like a confused person and Mom jumped in to help streamline things accurately. She backtracked to my Friday episode and filled her in on everything up til this point. I described my pain and she asked, "Well, what is the reason you're here?" I scoffed and said, "I want pain relief and what we're doing now is SO not doing anything. I took percoset every 4 hours over the weekend and pain just continued to rise and rise. This morning was unbearable, just as Friday was, and I can't continue like this." We talked about pain meds and the "no options" I'd had. She stated that she had never had a patient who needed this much medication and I was so beyond everything she knew. I asked questions and she looked at me like I was a crazy person, giving me that slight squinty eyed look when you don't believe anything you're hearing. She walked out to "make some calls to the hospital" and didn't return for 45 minutes. Our room was sooo hot so we opened the door for fresh air. We heard her interacting with other patients. When she walked out of one room, telling a patient that "pregnancy is rough but you're almost there!", and straight into our room and said, "So I've just been on the phone with so many people at the hospital..." Yadda yadda... They basically will not admit me to get my pain under control for ANY reason and the pain specialists she spoke with said, "Why aren't you just increasing her narcotics to cover the pain. That's all the hospital would do IF she were to be admitted."
Dr.C. left the room again to
Mom asked Dr.C about my 145 heartrate. Dr.C (actually concerned now) then had my blood pressure taken again and it was still high but the rate had now dropped to 125. She ordered special labs for me and at next appointment in two weeks will give me a heart monitor to wear so they can make sure that my heart is functioning properly.
Our '10 minute dr visit' had finally come to a close after 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Surprisingly, the rest of today has given minimal pain. I've taken the Percoset every 4 hours and the second dose of today's MSContin at 8pm. I've been able to hold the pain at level 5 and been able to interact more with everyone. This morning was absolutely horrible, but the rest of the day has not been so. We're praying that this fair amount of relief will continue through the night and the rest of my days ahead.
Blaire has been enjoying her water aerobics classes today. She is becoming quite the little swimmer and loves to slam against the wall at the end of her lane! Blake has overcome his fear of his 'Thailand Screeching Monkey' since I performed some open heart surgery this afternoon, pulled out some stuffing and dumped the noise box into the trash can =)
Our '10 minute dr visit' had finally come to a close after 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Surprisingly, the rest of today has given minimal pain. I've taken the Percoset every 4 hours and the second dose of today's MSContin at 8pm. I've been able to hold the pain at level 5 and been able to interact more with everyone. This morning was absolutely horrible, but the rest of the day has not been so. We're praying that this fair amount of relief will continue through the night and the rest of my days ahead.
Blaire has been enjoying her water aerobics classes today. She is becoming quite the little swimmer and loves to slam against the wall at the end of her lane! Blake has overcome his fear of his 'Thailand Screeching Monkey' since I performed some open heart surgery this afternoon, pulled out some stuffing and dumped the noise box into the trash can =)
I had a conversation with my brother this evening.
He called during a slow time at work to catch up on the new happenings in our life.
"Usually things don't go how we want them to or expect them to, but that's life. God has the plans. We just have to wait for Him to lead us and even if it's not what we wanted initially, He brings good to us when we're faithful to trust in Him."
9:15pm - Pain is kicking in ... time for some massaging ...
He called during a slow time at work to catch up on the new happenings in our life.
"Usually things don't go how we want them to or expect them to, but that's life. God has the plans. We just have to wait for Him to lead us and even if it's not what we wanted initially, He brings good to us when we're faithful to trust in Him."
9:15pm - Pain is kicking in ... time for some massaging ...
