Home and Glad to be Alive
Well, it has been an eventful month to say the least. I have been home for about a week now and I'm finally feeling well enough to post.
I had surgery in Bloomington to put in a G-tube and a J-tube with ileostomy in the middle of October. Unfortunately there were complications of surgery and I had internal bleeding on my spleen and needed some blood transfusions. Eventually the doctors decided to send me up to Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis for better care. I was flown by the life flight helicopter in the evening and Greg drove up to meet me in the intensive care unit at IU Med. I was very sick. After several days in the ICU the doctors decided to do surgery to repair my G-tube which had pulled out causing an infection in my abdomen and clean up some of the internal bleeding. My tummy was so huge at this point. I felt and looked like I was 9 months pregnant. After the second surgery I looked better and began to finally recover. After the surgery I had pretty bad edema, tachycardia and trouble maintaining my oxygen levels so everyone was pretty worried about me. I slowly began to do better and they were able to move me out of ICU. I was in the ICU for several days after the surgery and then moved to the progressive medical intensive care unit where I spent the rest of my time at IU Med. It has been a painful and difficult recovery but I am finally home.
I am still having a lot of pain and I'm taking Lortab and Oxycodone which help a bit. They are fairly strong drugs and I hope to get off of them soon so that I can get my body back to "normal". I still can not eat and am getting nutrition from J-tube feedings every night. The feedings are painful for my intestines and I get very bloated, but I'm told my body will adjust. I just started eating some baby food yesterday and I can drink mint tea. This is a big accomplishment after vomiting and stomach pain for the first several days I was home.
Gastroparesis is a difficult illness to deal with and has almost taken my life. I am lucky to be here and hopefully my tummy will improve as I recover and I will be able to eat more. I am so glad to be home with my son and hubby. We missed each other so much. I am finally on the road to recovery and I know everything will be okay. Once again I am trying to live in the moment. It is difficult with the pain, but I am doing better each day and I know I will be back to working on my dissertation before long.
The picture is of a visit from my son while I was in the hospital.
I had surgery in Bloomington to put in a G-tube and a J-tube with ileostomy in the middle of October. Unfortunately there were complications of surgery and I had internal bleeding on my spleen and needed some blood transfusions. Eventually the doctors decided to send me up to Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis for better care. I was flown by the life flight helicopter in the evening and Greg drove up to meet me in the intensive care unit at IU Med. I was very sick. After several days in the ICU the doctors decided to do surgery to repair my G-tube which had pulled out causing an infection in my abdomen and clean up some of the internal bleeding. My tummy was so huge at this point. I felt and looked like I was 9 months pregnant. After the second surgery I looked better and began to finally recover. After the surgery I had pretty bad edema, tachycardia and trouble maintaining my oxygen levels so everyone was pretty worried about me. I slowly began to do better and they were able to move me out of ICU. I was in the ICU for several days after the surgery and then moved to the progressive medical intensive care unit where I spent the rest of my time at IU Med. It has been a painful and difficult recovery but I am finally home.
I am still having a lot of pain and I'm taking Lortab and Oxycodone which help a bit. They are fairly strong drugs and I hope to get off of them soon so that I can get my body back to "normal". I still can not eat and am getting nutrition from J-tube feedings every night. The feedings are painful for my intestines and I get very bloated, but I'm told my body will adjust. I just started eating some baby food yesterday and I can drink mint tea. This is a big accomplishment after vomiting and stomach pain for the first several days I was home.
Gastroparesis is a difficult illness to deal with and has almost taken my life. I am lucky to be here and hopefully my tummy will improve as I recover and I will be able to eat more. I am so glad to be home with my son and hubby. We missed each other so much. I am finally on the road to recovery and I know everything will be okay. Once again I am trying to live in the moment. It is difficult with the pain, but I am doing better each day and I know I will be back to working on my dissertation before long.
The picture is of a visit from my son while I was in the hospital.
posted by Synaptic Jen @ 5:03 PM
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