MIA

I've been a little tied up lately. And because people have been asking, I thought I would try to answer as many questions as I could, and keep family/friends in the loop (while try to shorten the story as much as possible).

The past couple of months have been really hard on me. There have been many times in the past few months, when I was for sure I was going to pass out....three times I actually did. And I have no energy - period. I ended up in the ER in the middle of October (female issues) and after trying 3 different medications (and 6 weeks later!) I was finally moving forward. Fast forward to Thanksgiving and still absolutely no energy.

Thanksgiving morning I woke up early to get our Thanksgiving lunch/dinner started. Husband and I wanted it to be perfect since this was the first Thanksgiving in another state. He was going to fry a turkey (that turned out fabulous) and I was in charge of everything else. After being up about an hour, I started feeling sick to my stomach and a little dizzy. I kept pushing through though because this Thanksgiving was going to be perfect!

About 30 minutes later, Husband came up from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waste and in .2 seconds I knew I was about to throw up. I ran to the kitchen sink because Kylie was in the closest bathroom. The next thing I remember is Husband trying to pick me up off the floor and I'm covered in vomit. He couldn't do much since he was on the other side of the room, but I was glad someone actually witnessed this happen to me....I was starting to feel a little crazy. Needless to say, I had a huge bump on my head and a massive headache. I ended up throwing up the rest of the day (passing out another time in the bathroom...I hit my face on the commode and head on the wall). I should've gone to the ER right then, but I couldn't even move.

Friday morning, I gave myself 3 hours to recover and if I wasn't doing better, I was going to the ER. Well, I wasn't better. The ER treated me for dehydration, vomiting and did a CT scan of my head just to make sure everything was OK there. A few hours later, they were sending me home. I questioned the nurse....something inside of me knew something was off and I didn't feel comfortable leaving. But I did.

The next few days, I was laid up on the couch trying to gain my strength back. Oh, and Thanksgiving ended up being a HUGE bust....I couldn't eat any of the yummy food - boo!

By Monday (a week ago today), I finally felt a little normal. Tuesday was a very busy day...I had a lot of errands to run. I left the house before 10 AM and didn't get home until after 4. By the time we got home from school, all of the going had caught up with me. But that didn't matter, we had to leave for gymnastics one hour later. Looking back, that day is kind of a blur. I just remember Husband asking me that night, 'why are you so tired'. Well, I had no answer.

Wednesday morning, I truly believed would be the last day of my life. I would try to pray for God to save me, but I was so out of it, I couldn't even concentrate. When I woke up, the light from my cell phone was blinding. I couldn't focus on anything after that for at least 20-30 minutes. I normally open all the blinds when I get up (but it hurt my eyes and head too much), and all I could do was walk down the stairs and lay on our rug.

My heart was beating out of my chest, I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, and my head was spinning so much, I couldn't focus on a thing. I had to call our friend Missy and ask if she would come pick up my kids and take them to school because I couldn't even stand up. I tried many times, and failed.

After I hung up with Missy, I knew it was time to call 911....no exaggeration, death was setting in. I explained to the kids that I can't drive and that's the only reason I was calling 911 and they were all so brave. They made their own breakfast, made snacks and did everything else to get ready for school.

The paramedics arrived and started working frantically on my limp body. I knew it was bad when they started passing notes, instead of talking out loud. My heart rate was over 130 (extremely high), my blood pressure was bottoming out and my blood sugar was 40 (80 is borderline normally low).

They worked for at least 30 minutes before they even tried to move me. They thought I was having a heart attack. Missy arrived while I was already in the ambulance and she took all three of my muncherheads (Thank you, Missy!!!! I owe you big time).

It was on the way to the hospital that it finally hit me, I may not make it. The kisses I got from my kids just minutes earlier (when I was so disoriented to even know what was going on) may of been the last.

We arrived at the hospital and they were pretty certain I was having a Pulmonary Embolism (a blood clot in the lungs). They did blood work, and sure enough, the numbers that detect a PE were triple what they should of been. But, the PE was ruled out after doing a CT scan of my lungs...so what was happening??

They started probing around and it wasn't until then that I noticed belly pain. Come to find out, all of my major organs in my abdomen (liver, gallbladder, pancreas) were very inflamed. They think that I was having pain in my chest because those organs were swollen and pushing on my lungs. Ah ha!....that makes sense!

After more blood work, they determined that my liver was in very bad shape. As in, again the numbers were triple of that of normal liver. The doctors immediately transfer me to the downtown hospital ICU. I was there another 24 hours and after talking with the doctor we think we know why my liver was having such a hard time. I was on two different medications after my back surgery that did severe damage. One of which, I learned that if you have one sip of alcohol while on this medication, it does extensive damage....I was on that medication for almost 3 years. I was immediately taken off that medication.

After treating me in the ICU for 24 hours, my doctor literally runs (no lie!) in with another doctor on his tail, washes his hands and tells me an ambulance is on it's way to pick me up and take me to a hospital in Nebraska that specializes in transplants - WHAT?!

Thirty minutes later, I was being loaded up in another ambulance (third ambulance ride in 48 hours) and carted 2 hours away to a different ICU. He told me I had a 30% chance of needing a transplant and I needed to be in Nebraska in case I got worse.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!...in 24 hours, my liver had improved by 200% from the IV meds they had been giving me. I was finally released to recover at home with oral meds. It's taken me a lot to get where I am this morning, but I am still not out of the woods. As of yesterday, I am starting to show signs of relapsing. If I don't get a call back from my doctor soon, I will be headed back downtown for more blood work and probably more treatment.

So, there you have it....that's where I've been! Oh, and I haven't forgotten about Nicole's sweet giveaway!! I will be announcing the winner very soon! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time!
xoxo