SO GLAD YOU ARE BACK WITH US.. EVEN THOUGH I DONT PERSONALLY KNOW YOU.. I
HAVE BEEN HERE ALL THE WAY SINCE YOU GOT SO BAD OFF.. I HAVE SAID A
PRAYER EVERY NITE.. NO ONE NEEDS TO GO THREW WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN THREW..
NOW YOU JUST REST AND GET ALL THE PAMPERING YOU DESERVE AND COME VISIT
WHEN YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH..... LOTS OF HUGS AND PRAYERS NICKY
On Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:31:56 -0600 ifirgit@yahoo.com (Karla) writes:
> Hi All, > > I just wanted to let you know that I am finally home, albeit in an > extremely weak state. Actually, I am not at my mom's, but at my > sister's and getting the best of care. I will try and explain all > that > transpired. I may not be able to do so in one sitting, but I will > do my > best. > > On January 10th, I last posted that I had developed sepsis during > the > night and was having rigors (uncontrollable shaking). My doctor > ordered > me to go to the ER and be admitted. Everything there was handled > very > quickly, thank heavens. I was running a temp of 103.8 and they did > find > me to be septic. I don't know alot about what transpired after but > I do > know that they transferred me to the ICU the next day. As part of > their > trying to flush the infection from my system my lungs filled with > fluid. > Basically, I was drowning. I now have a new diagnosis....Adult > Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). I wonder now if that wasn't > a > problem when I went into Respiratory Arrest back in 1999. > > On January 12th, I was placed on a respirator. It went against > everything I believed in when I signed the permission slip. I had > already been a Do Not Rescusitate but had just assured my urologist > that > if something happened during the surgery they wanted to attempt, I > would > not be adverse to maybe three days on the respirator. How could I > change my mind now? Once on the respirator I fought it pretty > vigorously. At one point they took me down for a CT scan and > despite > having my hands wrapped, etc., managed to rip part of it out. I > would > also become extremely aggitated when people came around me...my > heart > rate would race along with other things. My blood pressure dropped > to > 60/30. I was dying. They then placed me in a drug-induced coma. > My > family was told that if I came out, I would not remember a thing. > (That's not true at all!) > > On January 21st, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at removing > me > from life support, they decided to make the big step and just go > right > ahead and remove the respirator despite the fact that my blood > levels > didn't really indicate I was ready for it....I was either going to > make > it or break it. Thank the Lord, I made it. I think its because I > kept > hearing this one doctor repeatedly say that he had to keep looking > for > an answer because it would be one thing to lose me, but then they > would > have to deal with delivering a 24 week pregnant woman. Having > already > lost a son, I didn't want my daughter to lose another. > > I spent the following 5 days trying to gain strength and cope with > the > ordeal that I had been through. It wasn't just a matter of getting > better....there are a lot of psychological issues involved. The > biggest > one was going back to my original DNR status. I WILL NOT go > through > that again. This brought some arguments from family (particularly > my > daughter). Since I had survived this time, why wouldn't I do it > again? > Though I spent many hours of wonderful "travel" in my drug-induced > state, it was an awful experience. I will not put my family > through > that again. > > All the nurses were shocked when I walked into the halls. They > kept > telling me I was a cat and kept asking me how many lives I had used > up? > > I came home on Saturday. I have done nothing but lie around. I > still > cannot eat. I developed an awful case of thrush from the respirator > and > all the antibiotics and it has not gone away despite two different > medications. I am now gargling with a hydrogen-peroxide solution > in > hopes that it will help. It hasn't yet, but with a call in to my > doctor > hopefully I can get somewhere. Having lost over 30 pounds in this > ordeal and still being unable to eat, I am stuck drinking ENSURE > (yuk)! > Anyone with ideas on how to improve the taste let me know. > > I must ask that no one email me personally at this time. I haven't > had > the strength to go clean out the box...I'm sure its overfull. I > will be > back to read here though. > > I must give my heartfelt thanks to everyone for all of their > thoughts, > prayers, cards and words of encouragement throughout this time. I > would > also like to say thank you to my secret angel, Audrey :) for keeping > you > all updated. > > God's blessings to you all! > > http://www.adhesions.org/forums/listcmds.htm >