What a week it has been.
There have been so many ups and downs that my head is spinning. It began when I got home last Friday. I wasn't feeling well and I started having
chills. I checked my temperature and I
was running a low-grade fever. This
continued all weekend, and by Monday I was ready to go see my doctor. She sent me to the lab to get some blood
tests run to check what was going on. On
Tuesday, her nurse called saying that my
C-Reactive Protein was very high and so was my erythrocyte sedimentation
rate which indicate inflammation in my body.
So on Wednesday, I went to see my doctor again. She wanted to rule out some things, so I had
a chest x-ray, some more blood work, tested for the flu (even though I had had
the vaccine), and nothing was discovered.
She recommended that I check into the hospital for a CT scan of both the
upper and lower body, and have extensive blood labs run. I agreed because I was tired of feeling so
bad, and I wanted to get back to feeling like myself again. She prepared the
admissions paperwork, and sent them to the hospital. I went by my house on the way to pick-up some
toiletries and other things I needed for a hospital stay. Then we proceeded to the hospital to
check-in.
As soon I was in my room and the nurses found out that I had
an Indiana Pouch, they all wanted to know about it and to see the stoma opening
in my navel. I ended up explaining how
it was created, and educating them about bladder cancer and the different types
of pouches.
As soon as I went through the initial checking in with the
nurses, the poking and prodding began.
No water, no food until after the CT scan with and without contrast. In
the meantime, they took plenty of blood.
I think that first time was about six test tubes, that evening two more,
and this morning about four more. I was
hooked up to an IV with potassium. The
next thing was the wires on the chest so they could monitor my heart and blood
pressure. Finally, about six that
evening, I went to radiology for the CT scan.
When I returned to my room, I was allowed to eat and drink.
This morning when the doctor on call came by, he said that
everything looked okay in the CT scan.
The blood labs this morning showed that everything seemed to be
correcting itself on its own, but he was putting me on an antibiotic to try to make
sure that whatever it was cleared completely.
They had no idea what is going on with my body, and where I am picking
up a bacteria that is causing my problem.
At least I was able to educate a few more people in the medical field
about bladder cancer and cystectomies. "The fact that I can plant a seed and
it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile
at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual
exercises." ~ Leo Buscaglia
When I arrived home, there was a letter from the Midwest
Book Review telling me that my book had been reviewed and could be found in The Reviewer's
Bookwatch in the May issue on Burroughs' Bookshelf. This is what Mr. Burroughs' wrote, "When life throws everything at you at once, you just have to keep
trucking. "Traveling a Rocky Road with Love, Faith, and Guts: Bladder
Cancer, COPD, Caregiving, Polio, and More" is a memoir from Sylvia L.
Ramsey as she shares her journey to facing cancer and many other ailments, and
how she found the strength to overcome them all even stronger. "Traveling
a Rocky Road with Love, Faith, and Guts" is a fine addition to any
health-related memoir collection." What a nice homecoming from the hospital!
What this roller coaster of life will bring next, we will have to wait and see! Stay tuned.
