Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The evolution of my treatment.

My desire to pretend I wasn't pregnant was shattered with the beginning of hyperemesis. I had to tell my mom right away because I had become entirely non functional. We had been planning a surprise 40th birthday for Dave on Friday, and it was at my moms clubhouse. I needed so much of her help!  She was so kind to help and encourage me to lay down. I doubled my dose of zofran for the party and not every person had to know I was pregnant that night as I was standing and smiling. (But not eating or drinking). 

 Looking back and recording the timing of all this is crazy. That week seemed so long. I have checked the calendar twice to be sure it was only a week!  

I couldn't drink coke or club soda. I found that I could keep down 1 can of San pellegrino grapefruit soda per day. Small sips. Duh!  You need more than a can of soda per day in fluids. Within a week or so I found I couldn't even keep a sip down. I found myself with all the symptoms of a UTI, even a fever. On April 22 I went for my first IV. I was so dehydrated that my body was shutting down. There was no infection, just burning, fever, fatigue, and delusion from dehydration They told me I had to drink something before I left after my two bags of fluid. I flat out refused. There was no point in drinking. Nothing would stay down. I told them the fluid made me sicker. Suddenly with fluid in my body, my stomach had acid again. That felt awful. But overall, the life was coming back into me, and that was a good sign. 

A few days went by and I knew I needed another IV. Ugh. It was such a pain to go up to the hospital. By May 1st (again, seemed like two months, but was only a few days) I realized I needed home healthcare. I needed daily iv fluids as I kept absolutely no fluids down. The bonus in that was getting zofran in my iv, so no more pin cushion hips. 

I started my home healthcare and got my peripheral lines switched out twice a week. I found that hospice nurses are terrible at Ivs, but I found one nurse, Melissa, who was awesome at Ivs. I only let her come, and she was my angel. She became my friend. I lived because of her!  Every Friday, my huge box of supplies came, and I was relieved to have supplies for keeping myself alive. 

During this time I took a drink only once every two weeks or so. It would immediately come up. I couldn't keep down soup or cereal or anything liquid. I could keep down dry food and somehow jello worked. 

Mid June, I had a little miracle as I could keep down liquid. I pulled out the iv finally. Woohoo!  I was still throwing up plenty, but just not everything I drank or ate. 

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