Something's Wrong

November 18, 2014

**Warning -- this post is fairly graphic. Do not read if you have a sensitive stomach or are uncomfortable with medical details**

Friday was a normal day. The kids and I had a playdate in the morning, a short rest time, saw puppies in the afternoon, then Daddy came home. Friday night, however, did not start normally. We were cleaning up dinner and I ran into the bathroom. I was bleeding...more than before and brighter. We called my dr, gave him some details, and at that time, he reassured me that it was probably the start of my regular period. He also told me that if I started to feel dizzy or went through a pad in an hour to (go in or call....I can't remember what he said.) I felt better about that. We decided to have family movie night, and I put my feet up and snuggled with my girls. Later we put the kids to bed and started watching some DVRed TV. Things still felt normal, and I wasn't bleeding that much. I was feeling much more confidant that it was the start of my regular period.

Around 10:30, we started saying that we should go to bed, but 10 Things I Hate About You was on TV, and we got sucked in to watching it. I just wanted to see my favorite part (bc honestly, who doesn't want to see Heath Ledger serenade someone! So sweet!!) (This is where it starts to get graphic) I was laughing at the movie, and I started to feel more blood flow. After about 15 minutes, I ran upstairs to check. I had definitely bled through my pad. I went to the bathroom and blood wouldn't stop flowing. I yelled for my husband. There were clots and the toilet bowl had turned completely red. I knew something wasn't right. I thought "Maybe if I just go to bed, it will stop." I changed my pad, stood up, and bled through another pad in 5 minutes. I resigned myself to sitting on the toilet, crying. My husband knew it was bad and started to call people to come and sit with our kids so we could go to the ER.

He called our Dr friend from church first, he didn't answer; he called my brother, he didn't answer; he called my sister-in-law, she didn't answer; he called our friend J. from church, my brother was with him, but they were 45 minutes away. We called our friend S, and she was there within 5 minutes. We went to Methodist West. My husband dropped me off at the door and I went to check in. While checking in, I felt another rush of blood. I told the lady at the desk, I need to use your restroom immediately. My husband was walking in at the time, and she asked my permission to ask him any questions. While he was answering questions, I texted him saying, "I can't leave the toilet." Again, the blood would not stop flowing. They were prepping a room and would get me straight from the bathroom. I also texted him that I wanted my dr, knowing that wasn't likely. I would just have the ER dr that was available.

They got me into a room and told me to strip down and put on just a gown. I protested that I didn't feel comfortable with that, and i was given an adult sized diaper to lay on. Bless my nurse for giving me that! The dr came in, asked questions for a little bit, and looked relived when I told him that I had talked to my dr earlier. The dr decided to call my dr to come check on me and do any procedures necessary. He left, and a female nurse came in the room. She took my vitals and had me stand up to do a __________(special kind of) blood pressure. I remember thinking that wasn't a good idea. I stood up, holding my diaper, but after about 20 seconds, I looked at my husband, and at the nurse and told them, "I'm going to pass out." I don't remember what happened during that time. The next thing I remember is the male nurse saying, "Mindy! Good, you're back with us!" Then I heard more commotion and the words, "She's 60/40." I was with it enough then to think, "That's not good!!" They were starting an IV...it hurt, and I complained about it. They went to put in another IV and I protested!! The male nurse told me, "I know you don't want it, but if I don't give it to you, your vital organs will shut down." I shut up after that and let them do whatever they needed to do. Later I found out my blood pressure had dropped to 40/20. They had laid me down and my husband said my feet were gray and clammy bc they lowered the head of my bed to get blood flowing back to my heart and head.

My doctor came a little bit later. He arrived before midnight. I remember looking at the clock and remember asking him if we had woken him up. (We had.) Looking back, I know we left our house at 11, and he arrived before midnight, but that was the longest hour of my life. My dr immediately went to work. I have never heard him bark orders like he was doing at the nurses. "Gauze, more gauze NOW!" and "Get her something for the pain!" He was squeezing, pressing, and "massaging" my stomach/uterus, and it HURT!! My husband said he had blood up to his elbows and was all business.

I ended up having another D&C and they had 2 bags of blood in the OR ready for a blood transfusion if necessary. Thankfully it wasn't. They wheeled me to the OR, and bc of the pain meds, I threw up (all over!!) on the way there! Seriously, God bless the nurses!! They were so sweet and reassuring.

When I woke up, I heard the nurses talking. One had lost her phone....while I was throwing up. She was going to go look in the sanitation bin (disgusting!) By then, I was with it enough to remember her phone dropping. My dr had picked it up. They called him, and he had just gotten home and realized he had the phone! (Sigh). He came back to the hospital, returned the phone, checked on me, and said he would come back in the morning.

I was admitted to a hospital room, and I was so thankful to see a bed. I told my sweet husband to go home, get some sleep, see our kids in the morning and come back and see me.

When I woke up at 6, I called for a nurse to take me to the bathroom. When I went to leave, I couldn't...even with her help. I was too dizzy and nauseaus. Thankfully, there wasn't blood! I ended up on the toilet....fully exposed, head between my knees in the trash can...for about 15-20 minutes until I finally had enough strength to get back to my bed (with my nurse's help.) They checked my blood pressure - 80/50...so while pretty good, that explained the dizziness on the toilet. :)

Thankfully, I slept a little more, my sweet, sleep deprived husband came back, had some breakfast, and my BP started climbing back up to a more normal state. After a few more naps, some lunch, and another nap, we went home. It was time to face "normal" life again. I feel like I have a second chance at the rest of my life....but for now, I'm exhausted....physically and emotionally exhausted.