Thursday, February 10, 2011

Memory Loss

The next 3 days are a complete blur. It is so scary to admit that I lost 3 days of my life. I have no memory of these days.  In order to fill you in on what happened I had to have my mom, sister & Ryan tell me what happened. I guess it is best that I have no memory from these days because I was never aware of how dangerously sick I really was.

Tues Jan 25th- I was now in a hospital room. My mom & sister came to see me that morning. They along with every visitor I had that day all noticed I was not acting like myself. They said I seemed over medicated. I was very hyper & wouldnt sit still. I was also very aggrivated.  After hearing some of the stories I am glad I dont remember this part because I semed to have been pretty entertaining to say the least!! This day my sister said we basically sat in the room all day and nurses would come check my vitals & give me more meds every 4 hours. My blood pressure was still high. At this point I was being treated as any other patient who had a C Section would be.
My family finally decided to step in and confront the nurse & explained to her that something was not right with me. I was not myself. Also at this point I was so swollen I looked like if they stuck a needle in me I would pop. I really wish I had let Ryan take pics of me during this time. In my short tempered & aggrivated state of mind I allowed no pictures! The nurse assured them that she would watch me and take care of me through the night.

Wed Jan 26th-

This day I was moved to yet another room. At this point all I was told is that I was very sick. I was moved to a ICU type area for pregnant women with complications.  I was told that I would be hooked to a IV with Magnesium Sulfate for 24 hours. This would help to lower my blood pressure. I also was hooked up to another IV which would help flush out some of  the fluid from my body. I was so upset that I would be bed ridden for 24 hours & not get to see Dylan. Once again my family said my mood was very unlike me. I was also very emotional when it came to not seeing Dylan. From what I understand I felt like everyone was getting to see my new baby boy except for me. I was put on the Magnesium at 8am. The Dr told me if by 8pm my blood pressure was down I would get to go to the NICU to visit Dylan. Unfortunately by 8pm my blood pressure was still high. I threw a huge fit a begged & pleaded to see my son. Finally a nurse called my Dr & convinced her to let me see him for 30 minutes. That nurse put me in a wheel chair & took me to see him. I wish I could remember her name, because during the 3 days of memory loss this is the one senerio I remember the most. I am very grateful for her kindness. Ironically when we got back to the room my blood pressure had gone down a liitle.

 Once we were back to the room the nurse explained to Ryan & I how sick I really was. I had developed a rare form of Toxiema. Most people develop this while they are pregnant. It causes rapid fluid retention & high blood pressure. The cure for toxiema is delivery of the placenta. Which is why when people develop toxemia they are usually induced early. My form of toxiema develops after delivery. Because of this, it is harder to treat. It was also hard becasue this is so rare that this is not a situation the Dr's deal with on a normal basis.  They explained to us that I was at a very high risk for stroke & seziures. Of course my family was very upset. They were upset that it was now wed & we were just realizing how dangerously sick I was. After finding out it made all of my strange behaviors make sense. One of the symptoms include confusion. The confusion mixed with being over medicated was what made for my lack of memory. At this point my family decided it would be best that I have no visitors. The only focus was for me to get better.  At this time I was also having another strange medical problem. I had fluid leaking from my spine. It was coming out of the spot where I had gotten my epidural. It was leaking alot & would leak through my shirts. They called in a Dr and the fluid was tested to make sure it was not spinal fluid. Thankfully it came back negative. They said they would continue to monitor it.  We would later find out that I had so much fluid on my body that any open wound the fluid would come out of... The fluid contiued to leak from my spine till the 10th day.
After 24 hours on the Mag drip my blood pressure had improved but not by much. During that 24 hour time period they were able to get 7 liters of fluid off my body!! Once again I wish I had pictures because even after 7 liters I still looked like I would pop.

I have to mention that during these 3 days Ryan was amazing. Everyone has told me that he stepped in & took care of Dylan like he had been doing it his whole life. Since most of the time I was bed ridden or not well enough to visit, Ryan would make the trips to the NICU to feed & love on Dylan. I cant imagine what he was going through. His world was turned upside down in a matter of a day. He was having to deal with a sick baby & sick wife. Of course once I was better everyone told me how great Ryan had been but I later would also discover it on my own.


During these 3 days Dylan was doing well. He did not have any major health problems. We were very thankful that he never had any lung or breathing problems. Usually that is the major problem with a preemie. His only issue in those first days was regulating his own body tempature. The first days he was put in a  enclosed crib that keeps his tempature steady. They lower it everyday so his body can adjust to doing it on its own. Besides that he just needed time to grow.

Thurs Jan 27th-  This was a much better day for me. Today I finally came back to reality. I was much more aware and becoming myself again. My mom brought me subway for lunch this day. I got mad because it was made wrong. This small incident is a big deal to me because this is my first memory I had since after the C-Section. I wil never forget that sandwhich lol...



No comments:

Post a Comment