Good News

My echo cardiogram came back perfecto! It's pumping at 55-60% which is perfectly normal. My hospitalist said it must have been divine intervention that kept me from dying back in December...truer words were never spoken! Also, my chest CT looked good. There's a bit of residual fluid and scarring at the bottom of the lungs, but that's to be expected and they'll just keep getting better with time.

Nola is 6 Months Old!

Nola turned 6 months old on April 26! Her 2nd tooth started coming through a few days after her first. It's the other front bottom one. She seems to be in a better moood now that they've both popped through the gums. Yay! She's done a couple of 360 rolls too, so I'm sure she'll figure out soon that she can get into stuff if she rolls far enough. I'd say she's still spitting up about the same amount, maybe a smidge less, but I don't think the medicine is working as it should. She has her 6 month appt next week, so I'll ask about it then. She's doing really well overall and is sooo smiley! I love her!

Embry has been sick for about a week, but is markedly improved today. Her poo finally solidified (yay!) and she hasn't thrown up for about 36 hours, so I'd say she's over whatever it was. It started out as what I thought was a 24 stomach bug. She thew up at night and then not again for 4 days, then we tried to go camping this weekend (which she was SO excited about) and halfway up the mountain she threw up all over the back of my seat. Then 2 more times at the campsite and then I took her home to spend the night at our house where she got sick 3 more times. My mom came over the next morning with Nola (who she was going to watch at her house while we were camping) and stayed here with Embry. She got sick 3 more times while I was gone that day which prompted Tony and I to finally give in and come home from the camping trip. All in all, it was pretty much an utter failure. I guess we just weren't meant to go camping last weekend. Did I mention that the campsite was about 2 hours away? Oh well, maybe next time it will work out. That's life with kids: unpredictable.

Good news is my hips were feeling significantly better the past week or so. Although after going on a 'hike' (as in, I turned around 1 mile into a 5 mile hike) they're not feeling quite as good. I am hoping for the best for the hip thing, that was pretty bad for a while. I had my repeat chest CT scan today and should get the results in a couple days. I was supposed to have my repeat echo cardiogram too, but they called and rescheduled it for tomorrow since one of the techs was out today. I was actually supposed to have it last week, but then Embry got sick.

Much Needed Update

Nola: we got her into the new ped's office earlier this week. Doro took both girls. They said she has excess mucus in the back of her nose/throat area and we can use saline and suction a couple times a day to get gunk out. It's normal. Didn't ask about the bump, but it doesn't seem to bother her so I'm going to say it's ok for now. We have an appt for both girls on jan 18 so we'll find out more then. And, Nola was 11 lbs.

Confusion: Got the meds figured out. Think the prednisone (steroid) taper is too fast. Have Rheum (lupus dr) appt on monday with the last guy I saw (who said come back when you're not pregnant). The main dr has been talking with this rheum about my situation already so she wants me to see him again even though the referral for the one I wanted to see actually came through. I'll talk to him about the taper on Monday.

The in home nurse came and the PT guy. Nurse will be back tues and PT is scheduled for 2 times a week for 8 weeks but can be changed based on progress. I have appts with the main dr for next week as well as a counselor through my insurance for me to just talk through things.

My back has been hurting. Some is the same as what I went into the hospital with and when I take a deep breath (which I can tell I have diminished lung capacity) I can feel some like zinging around the whole area of the main lung clot. I was told in the hospital that all the clots had dissipated, but I'm wondering if that's true or if there's residual damage in that area or something. I will as the main dr for a chest xray next week.

I fell this morning trying to leave for the dr. Basically my legs just gave out. Everything was fine, but I didn't realize that could happen. Oh and I've decided not to try the stairs again until the new railing is up. We have delegated the buying to our good friends and we're so thankful for the help.

Getting organized on having help here (or having the girls somewhere else) is going well but is a lot of work. I know people want to help it's just a matter of logistics. Issue I'm having is tues-fri 17-21. I want to give people as much notice as possible, but Doro won't know if she can do those days until Thurs (the 13th) and I don't want to suddenly cancel everyone.

I've decided to take this one step at a time (aren't I punny?). If I look at it as a whole, it's just too much. One thing at a time and it will get done. Oh and I got the checkbook figured out and all the mail gone through.

One thing I have to think about is my pcp and the first er dr who sent me home without xrays etc and if we should seek retribution regarding this whole thing. I love law in itself, but the idea of a lawsuit scares the crud out of me. Please pray for direction on this matter.

Ok that's all for now. Time for me to try and get some more shut eye.

In the Hospital

So last night I was pretty sick, puking and whatnot and of course I had a fever the entire time which would not go away. So once the dr's office opened, I called them and told them about my fevers and new sickness. The nurse called me back and said that the dr wanted me to go to the ER because I might be bleeding in my GI tract. Well, I asked what he said about the fevers and the nurse said he didn't even mention them so I told her to ask him. She called me back while Tony was driving me to the ER (my favorite place on earth) and said the dr said they'd evaluate my fever in the ER. Wow, he's really helpful.

Once at the ER they took me in right away and the dr was nice and helpful. She ran blood tests, a urinalysis, and did a chest xray. Basically my blood count has dropped since I had Nola, so that leads them to believe I am bleeding internally somewhere. It could be around the lung, but they can't tell that yet because it's in a bunch of fluid and collapsed. It could also be somewhere in my GI tract, but they don't want to put me under anesthesia while I'm having trouble breathing to begin with in order to do the tests to find GI bleeding.

They admitted me and told me I'd be here at least a couple of days (sat is the soonest I could go home). I talked to a pulmenologist and the GI guy. The lung guy is giving me some vitamin K supplements to get my blood level up so they can suck the fluid off of my lung in the morning. Then the lung should re-inflate pretty instantaneously. He thinks I have an infarction which means the blood clot got lodged in a vessel which caused a bit of the lung to die which was irritating and caused all the fluid to build up and collapse the lung. He said this would cause my fevers if it was the case. He also said once the fluid is gone (which he said was a LOT whereas my dr said it was hardly any) I will start feeling better almost right away. :) I don't want to get my hopes up, but yay! Also once the lung is inflated then I'll start hacking up whatever was stuck in there and they'll be able to tell from that if it was actually infected (pneumonia) or not.

Then while my lung is ok and I'm off the blood thinners, the GI guy wants to do some endo-something where they put me under and run a camera down into my stomach to check things out.

So that's what's on the agenda for today. Hopefully nothing will hurt too bad and we'll get some answers. Thanks for your prayers.