The end of last week turned out to be quite eventful...just a bit of a heads up, TMI soon following (mom, that means Too Much Information). If you would like to skip forward to the apologies, do so now.
TMI (again mom, that means Too Much Information) begins now: So about a week after Lydia was born I started having some GI issues. I figured I was having a flare up of my IBS (I hadn't had symptoms for the past 5 years). Well, two weeks later I was still suffering and my symptoms were a lot worse than 5 years ago. I went to my general practitioner and he put me on some meds he thought would help (this is when I had to make the decision to stop breast feeding).
A week later, there was no change...at all...not even a little bit. I went back to my GP (mom, that's general practitioner) and he wanted me to see a gastroenterologist. Luckily, the gastroenterologist was seeing patients that morning and could fit me in. After asking me a bunch of questions, he told me that he didn't have a clue what was going on with me. He told me that he did not believe it was IBS because my symptoms were so severe, but he did not know what was going on. He prescribed me some even stronger medication and sent me on my way.
That takes us to Thursday morning of last week. I woke up at 2:30 am SEVERELY sick...to the point where I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital. Thankfully I was able to hold up until 8:30 when the gastro doctor's office opened. I wanted to schedule another appointment since the new meds were not helping, but unfortunately he was working in the hospital all week performing "procedures" on patients. I asked if I could see another doctor in the practice and the nurse told me that they didn't like for patients to do that...yay. I asked to leave a message with my doctor's nurse so that I could explain the severity of the situation.
She called me back a few miutes later, I told her what was going on, and she immediately called my doctor. He told me to get up to the hospital as soon as possible so that he could perform a "flex" on me...oh, and by the way...he was going to sedate me so I needed to make sure to have someone there with me. Luckily, Tim had already called in to work that morning so that he could stay here to take care of me AND Lydia.
We thought this procedure was going to be quick and easy...boy, were we wrong. We found out soon after arriving that we would be there for 3-4 hours...and at this point I still had not called my parents to let them know what was going on (sorry!!). So Tim sat out in the waiting room for about 4 hours taking care of Lydia. Again, he's an amazing dad!!!
Long story short, they started with the "flex" and decided they needed to take a FULL look at my large intestine...yay. They also took a few biopsies. Thank goodness I was knocked out for all of this!!! When I woke up, it was all over and I felt great...for about 5 minutes.
I ended up sleeping the rest of the day. Tim ended up calling my mom when we got home to let her know what all happened. Since I couldn't be alone with Lydia for 24 hours (too many strong drugs still in my system), mom and Tim split time taking care of me on Friday.
After all of that, we still don't know what is wrong with me. The doctor called on Friday and said that he and the pathologist looked over my biopsy extensively and they aren't sure if I have ulcerative colitis or microscopic colitis. Personally, I'm not sure why they don't know what I have. It seems like they could look at the film to see if I have ulcers in my intestine or not....but what do I know?
So you may be wanting to know what the treatment is for this...the exact same thing I was on before. Yep...he kept me on the same exact medicine, but told me I could increase the amount I take during the day. He also prescribed me a cholesterol lowering medication, not because I have high cholesterol, but because it has a good side effect (and that really is TMI that I won't subject you to).
Needless to say, we're 3 days in to this new treatment and I'm no better. I'm not sure what I need to do. Everything online says that the patient has to find the medication that puts them into remission...we obviously haven't done that yet. If I'm no better by Wednesday, I'm going to call the doctor back...and then probably ask for my medical records and go get a second opinion.
Beginning of Apologies: There have been so many people that have called or sent gifts that I haven't yet been able to respond to. With all of my medical problems over the past month and a half, I just haven't been able to get to it all.
Dana - thank you so much for your sweet phone call. I'm so sorry I've not called you back yet! I will do my best to call or send an email this week. I did read about your decision to stay at home this year! I'm so happy for you!!!! I know it was a tough decision, but you won't regret it! Treasure the time you have to spend with
all of your sweet babies! I wish I could stay home with Lydia this year, but it's just not in the cards. At least I have until August to spend with her!
All the people who have sent gifts and good wishes - I PROMISE to send out thank you cards this week. I'm very sorry that it's taken me so long. Tim and I greatly appreciate your generosity and love.
Anyone else that I've forgotten to include - I'm really sorry and hope you don't think too badly of me. I hope to be back at 100% soon.
This was a very long post..sorry about that! I better go try to eat now!
This is the onesie "Cool Aunt Beckie" gave Lydia. The stick figure is Pearl Jam's stick guy (or the Alive guy) and it's in Purple and Gold, Tim's college colors (Geaux Tigers? Only when they're not playing Bama!).
Need I say more?!?!?!?
