Michelle's Medical Update

This post is a quick recap of my medical roller-coaster for the past couple of weeks.  Then I want to have a "journal" of some of my thoughts and feelings of what has happened so I'll go into more detail in a later post.

The last 2 weeks have been crazy for me.  On July 13th, I had a hysterectomy (Madison Hospital in Rexburg).  It was more "brutal" than I had anticipated and I was exhausted.  After 2 days, I went home to recuperate and needed a lot of help from Rusty (he was/is WONDERFUL!!!)  I was on the mend (slowly getting stronger each day) for the first week.  Then on Friday, July 22nd, I started feeling weaker, more tired, grouchier, and seemed to have a brain-fog.  Saturday morning Zane called us (he's at boot camp for the Navy) & I couldn't catch my breath from getting up to answer the phone (it took me about 10-15 minutes to get my breath so I could talk).  After we talked with Zane, I got up to go to the bathroom & the same thing happened.  I couldn't catch my breath (couldn't get air in through my nose--felt like I was hyperventilating).  I looked up my symptoms & saw "Pulmonary Embolism" so after I talked to the doctor's office (just whoever was on call), I decided that Rusty had better drive me to the hospital.

I got up to change my clothes (I was in my jammies) but didn't even make it to the kitchen before I had to sit down because I couldn't get enough air.  I told Rusty to call an ambulance & about 20 minutes later I was being transported to Rexburg.  After a CT scan (& EKG), they found 2 blood clots--one in each lung so they admitted me & I stayed until Monday afternoon.  

That night, I ended up with a headache (first one since my surgery & bad enough that I took medicine).  Tuesday morning I had numbness & tingling on my left side (foot, leg & hand) with a mild headache.  I called the doctor's office & left a message with the nurse.  The doctor called me back 3 hours later and advised me to go back to the hospital to get a CAT scan & MRI to rule out a brain bleed or blood clot.  So Rusty drove me back to hospital.  After both tests (and some blood work & a urine test), no blood clot was found in my brain.  But they diagnosed me with complex migraines & also a Urinary Tract Infection.  Both of these can manifest the same symptoms I was experiencing.  I was able to go home late that night.

So that is the "short" story.

I'll work on my "longer" version another time.