best way to Provo

.....So I was strapped to a gurney and loaded into the ambulance for a ride to the airport where a plane waited to fly me to Provo. It was on the ride to the airport that I realized I could not have made the ride in a car. Every single bump in the road caused pain in my chest and made my breathing difficult.

It was almost midnight before we flew out. So I saw nothing out the windows from my gurney except the lights on the tail of the plane. The nurses took very good care of me yet I remember that I kept wondering how the altitude would affect my ability to breathe. I guess I  am very thankful for pressurized cabins, because I noticed no changes as we ascended. 

I remember distinctly wondering what it would be like to die and if this was going to be my time to go. I wondered if darkness would close in around me and if I would see a light far away as if at the end of a tunnel. I wondered who would be there to meet me and if it would be painful or painless. 

I wasn't in much pain due to the morphine, but I didn't sleep at all. Just watched the monitors and the lights out the window. It took about 45 minutes to fly to Provo, where we landed at the airport and I was transferred to another ambulance for the ride to UVRMC.

It was interesting to look out the windows of the ambulance's doors and see signs and buildings and know exactly where in Provo we were and what road we were on. I was admitted to the ICU unit upon arriving at the hospital and a dr., not sure if he was a pulmonologist or an internist, saw me and checked me, explained what they would be doing for me then I was left in the care of a nurse for the night. 

In the morning an ultrasound was done on my legs to try to determine where the embolism had originated from. The most likely place for them to find clots is in the large veins of the legs, or the pelvic area. The ultrasound showed no clots in my legs, leaving us still wondering where the clots came from. 

I spent a day and a half in the ICU and a day in a regular care room before being released to go home. I was taught how to administer the Lovenox shots on myself. My poor stomach was a bruised mess. I was really squeamish about it at first, but I learned how to do it with little bruising and little pain beyond the initial prick. The needles themselves were very fine gauge and not hard to pierce the skin with. The hardest part of using the lovenox was the cost. About $50 a shot and I needed to do two a day. That adds up quickly and we have a very large deductible.  My mom helped with the cost of the meds. It didn't take us long to reach our deductible at that rate, either.

Stacy came up from Price to pick Curtis and I up, since the flight up was only a one-way trip! She took us to Price and Mom met us there and brought us back to Monticello. 

On to the 'new normal'....................

Breathless

So I was really thinking my life was going to go back to its normal quiet, boring routine. I was done subbing at the school and I was enjoying the thought that my evenings were mine now.

On Tuesday, Sept 18, I noticed that I was feeling a bit gaseous, like I was bloated in my torso.
I went to Soren's soccer game and as I stood up to leave, I noticed that I was a bit short of breath.
I suppose now is a good time to share the news that I was pregnant and so I wondered if the shortness of breath was due to the pregnancy, even though in the back of my mind I knew that was a bit farfetched since I was only about 8 weeks along.

As the night went on, the discomfort continued and when I went to bed that night I found that I could not lie down. AT ALL! Every time I tried to recline my body, my left shoulder area would scream with pain. I ended up going down to the living room so that I would not disturb Curtis's sleep. I slept off and on in the chair there, but it was far from a good night's rest.

On Wed., I took some Gas-X, thinking that if I could just move that gas out of my torso I'd feel better. And I did feel better for a time. I went through the normal things of the day and when it was time for bed, again I could not recline in any way or get much sleep. It's a bit hard to sleep when you have to keep your torso exactly erect.

Thursday morning I decided that I needed to see the doctor. This was obviously something that needed to be looked into, as it just wasn't getting any better. I called the clinic and was given the option of seeing a dr. who was not my normal dr., or seeing the PA. As I pondered who I should see I felt that I should see Dr. R. He is known as Dr. Death since he looks for the big causes, rather than the small ones, first. But I knew that he would listen to me and would check for everything. I knew that he would not just dismiss my complaints. I also spent a bit of time on the internet looking up anything I could think of that would explain torso/shoulder pain. Looked at Gall bladder, kidneys, pulmonary embolisms, pleurisy, heart trouble.

I sent Soren to his soccer game and Curtis and I went to the clinic. When I started explaining my symptoms to Dr. R he immediately was concerned. My dad had heart trouble and when I said I was having pain in my left shoulder/chest area he sent us across the parking lot to the hospital for a check on my heart.

The EKG(?) came out fine, my heart was good. So then we proceeded to take some chest x-rays to look for pneumonia, and some blood was drawn to start running some tests. The arterial blood gas test was incredibly painful. OUCH!! They moved me to a pt. room while they looked at the x-rays and test results. One of the blood tests (D-dimer) indicated a possibility of a clot, or pulmonary embolism and the x-rays showed that as well, so a CT scan was ordered. My good friend LeaAnn was the x-ray tech and was so kind and helpful to me. As we prepped for the CT scan I told her I absolutely could not lie down on the sliding table thing that moves through the CT machine. So they came and gave me some morphine to cut the pain and I was able to lie down for the test. I was then sent back to my room while the CT scan was read.

Dr. R came in after a bit and said, "Well, you called it. You have bilateral pulmonary embolisms." He then talked to us about what they were, what the possibilities/eventualities were and what we needed to do. He left to consult with drs. up north and I was immediately given a dose of Lovenox, which is an anticoagulant that does not harm a baby. It's a lovely shot in the tummy. Another fun ouch! They also drew more blood to run tests on to see if I have a genetic reason to have blood clots. When Dr. R came back to the room, he informed us that we were going to need to fly a bigger hospital. We chose UVRMC since we know that hospital. We have no experience with the hospital in Grand Jct.

We both sat there thinking how crazy this whole thing was. I didn't feel that sick, just bloated. I kept thinking surely we could just drive there and not fly, but Dr.  R did not recommend that. We called my mom  and she happened to be in town, so she came to the hospital with Wendy. It was then we told them that I was pregnant and that it likely contributed to the clots.  Mom said she would stay with the kids so Curtis could fly with me.
About that time, the flight crew came and they and the ambulance crew got me ready to transfer.

To be continued.......

August

It looks as if my last post was just after school had started for the new school year. At that point I was incredibly busy and trying to keep my head above water. I was hired part time at the high school as a sustitute custodian. The assistant custodian that worked with Curtis last year decided not to return so one of the women who is a 'sweeper' was taking over his work while they advertised the position so I was working, taking her place as 'sweeper'. It involved cleaning about 14 rooms a night, vacuuming, trash collection, sanitizing desks, sweeping, mopping as needed.

I didn't mind the work, it's pretty repetitive, so I would listen to music or podcasts on my phone while I worked and I actually liked the alone time. But it wreaked havoc on my homelife. I was gone when all the kids were home and all that gets done in the evening fell onto Curtis. After a couple of weeks of this, I started taking some of the kids with me to help, so that I could get home at a decent hour and spend some time with them. It was also starting to take a toll on me physically.

We did this for about 4-4 1/2 weeks before all the new employees were hired. Also during that time the fall sports craziness was in full swing. Curtis was deep into football practice, games and trips. Cambria was busy with cross country and Soren was playing soccer for the first time in his life. Combine all that with the housework stuff and church duties and it was a bit crazy around here.

I remember the day the new sweeper started.....I said,"Hooray, my life is going to go back to normal. This week will be so much less busy than it has been."

Little did I know...............

Break is Over

Well as you can see I took a longish break from my blog. I even wondered if I should just leave it to molder in the dust. But last night I was reading the blog of someone who left a comment on my blog one time and I found we had a few things in common such as number of children, etc.

Her blog was not too fancy-no giveaways, no tutorials, no big craft projects, home decor or DIY tips, no advertising and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it because it was simply her little record of her family's activities and her tender feelings for her children.

I think I got caught up in wanting people to notice my little blog and was trying to make it more like the big name blogs. I don't know why that was so important to me. It's not now, six months later than my last post. A few things have happened in the last few months to open my eyes.

Last night I started back-reading my own blog and I am so thankful I have this record. My other 'journal' I was writing on the computer got erased when the flash drive it was on went through the wash. I was mad and sad, but I am so thankful that this record is still accessible.

So my intention from here on out is to keep this little photo-journal of our family. Nothing more. Nothing less. I am even going to go back to using the kids' real names because even I can't keep the aliases straight!

My hope is to someday turn this blog into some actual books that my kids can look at and read. That's who this blog is really for. My kids and future generations. No more worrying about any other readers. This feels right.

I will attempt to do a few posts to catch up on the things I missed and they'll be backdated, then we'll proceed from there!