I AM FINALLY HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL!!! This was definitely that worst week of my life. It started last Tuesday when I noticed a very small blister on the top of my hand. I scratched it and clear fluid came out of the blister. It did not hurt at that time so I didn’t pay much attention to it.
When I woke up the next morning, half of my hand was swollen and it hurt. I joked with Dawson that I must have gotten a spider bite and I was going to die!!!! I went on to work that day and showed my hand and to the physician and nurse to get their opinion. By then, it was even worse than it was when I woke up. Dr. Weatherly told me that I should make an appt with my primary care physician because it looked like I needed antibiotics. I made the appointment for later that day. I was just concerned that I was not going to be able to go on the two trips I had planned over the next two weeks.
The pain started getting worse and worse. It was now moving up to my elbow. I couldn’t stand it anymore so I went home to wait for my appt. I cried the whole way home. By the time I reached my primary care physician’s office, my fever was 103.6. I was in so much pain. I couldn’t even rip the toilet paper off the roll with my bad hand! My primary care looked at the infected arm and thought I really needed to go to the emergency room to get IV antibiotics. Woah Nelly…this meant it was really something serious.
I drove myself to the ER and asked Dawson to get Chase and have his mom watch him that night. It all went down hill from there. The pain was becoming unbearable. I was begging for pain medication because the pain was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was all happening so fast. I was getting really scared that I was going to lose my arm or something worse.
I think I was finally getting my IV pain killers when Dawson got to the ER. I know I really scared him because I couldn’t control my shaking and I was moaning from the pain. I had to be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics and to determine the source of the infection.
I had so many things done to me (MRI, chest Xrays, PICC line placement for long term IV antibiotics). We don’t really know what happened. I could have been bitten by a spider or just got some sort of infection. I was convinced it was a spider bite from our weekend stay at Ft. Wilderness. They cultured the surface of the site and it came back positive with Group A Step. I mention that the SURFACE showed that because they could not get anything out of the wound. We all have Staph and Strep on our skin at any given time, but don’t necessarily react to it. So who knows if it is really Group A Strep or a spider bite. Honestly, I don’t even care anymore, I just want to get better.
Dawson was such a source of strength for me. He really took wonderful care of me. He really meant what he said on our wedding day when he would “take me in sickness and in health”. The poor guy had to guide me to the bathroom so many times, got vomited on, and was there for ANYTHING I needed him to do for me. I was so loopy from the pain and the drugs that I was hallucinating, falling asleep while drinking water, or falling asleep on the toilet. Through it all, he was right there with me. I am so thankful to have him as a husband. It’s kinda ironic that we spent our 6th wedding anniversary in the hospital and he even made that special for me.
It has been so difficult being away from Chase this whole time. I know that he was in good hands at his Nanna and Mammaw’s house, but I wanted to see him, smell him and hold him. I woke up Sunday crying because I missed him so much. The nurses said it would be ok for me to visit with him downstairs. He was too young to be exposed to the germs upstairs in the hospital. We had WONDERFUL brief visit, but enough to lift my spirits.
My mom comes today to take care of Chase and me for the next 2 weeks. Chase will finally come home today. I hear he is more of a walker than a crawler. It will be one great “mother and child reunion”. I have 9 more days of home IV antibiotics and many follow-up doctors appts. I was supposed to be leaving for CABO tomorrow! It is so great to be out of the hospital, but I am not out of the woods yet…
Thank you to all that has helped me, called me and prayed for me.