Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Notes From The Hospital Bed

Hello!

Yes, I am still here!

Before I explain the reason in greater detail, I would like to mention that I finally set up the link to serious.life magazine on my link bar to the right. Check it out! The little girl on this month's cover is fighting Leukemia...she is 4 and is just the sweetest thing. We are praying for her to get through a frightful round of chemo...she is suffering, but hanging on.

And here I am...in the hospital for something not so serious (or it would seem). Yes, it could be serious....but the worse result would be to lost my wrist joint. And I doubt that will happen since I am getting injected with two very strong antibiotics.

Let me go back to the beginning of this adventure! At approximately 4 a.m. on Sunday, I woke up from a sound sleep to an excruciating pain. I've never felt this type of pain before. It was in my right wrist. Now, for a few years now, my RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) has been aggressive in attacking my wrists, so I do have pain and swelling...but nothing like this! After trying to fend it off with steroids and a pain pill, it was obvious that it wasn't going to go away. Somehow, Mark got me into the car (apparently, I passed out twice on the way!), we left Alex in charge of the kids (all 7 were home!) and were on our way. I cannot explain this pain. I would rather have given birth to 10 babies in one day that endure that again---I mean it!

The ER Dr. took a biopsy of my swollen wrist (again, excruciating!) and sent it off to the lab. In the meantime, I was admitted and given pain meds and antibiotics. By 7 p.m. that evening, I was feeling MUCH better. Not perfect, but good! I didn't need pain medicine. I thought..."Oh, I bet I will only have to stay here one night". Didn't happen! See, my white blood cell count was 23000 (or 23) when I arrived to the ER. The next morning, it was at 19. Now, it is around 16.3. A 'normal' count is anywhere from 4-10. I am not in the normal range, so they are making me stay.

The biopsy is still negative....so there doesn't appear to be an infection. So, why is my white blood cell count still high? Is that 'normal' for me? Because of the RA? Because I haven't had my injections in almost a month? These are all questions that we do not know the answer.

Basically, I am doing okay. I am just waiting! I will miss 3 days of work. I miss being home. I miss the kids. I have too much to do to be here! BUT, I do not want pain like that again. How can I prevent this?

What will likely happen is that I will have to start taking an infusion-type drug instead of the injections. These infusions take about a 1/2 hour and I think I have to start off going to the hospital every two weeks. There are worse side-effects with these types of drugs, so I will have to be careful.

I was never sick until this hit! Oh well. Poor little Abby....think of all the children that fight life threatening diseases every day....how can I complain??

I'll keep ya posted.

Blessings!

~Bethany :)

*P.S. My roomie is gone. I'll have to tell you about her on another post!

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