Sunday, May 10, 2009

In Which...Caryn tries to catch up

Okay so I really like how Natalie Allen starts off her blog posts it's cute and catchy ( hers start out "the one where...." )and I'd like to steal the idea. Walker and I have been reading "Winnie the Pooh" by A. A. Milne.... and he starts his chapters off with "In which Pooh and Tigger etc..." so I'm stealing that too... not an original thought in my head! So in looking back to try to catch you up I realized that I had an omen on Jan 1, 2009 the first day of this "Awesome year"...what was the omen....I got one of those little helicopter caught in my hair....who starts out their year like that.Then I had the whole Hospital thing happen that I blogged about but then magically deleted...but I will give you the cliff's notes version... woke up on Thursday morning to a sharp pain in my back ...I thought I slept on my back wrong so I got up and stretched it out...but it kept getting worse then I began to feel the need to throw up, so I threw up and figured I had the stomach flu. Went back to bed, but was just feeling so uneasy, I felt i had to throw up again, I was so uncomfortable, my back hurt from feeling sick...it just got to be too much so I made myself throw up. I was so desperate for a break in the pain...after that I went back and laid down. At that point, I realized I was trying not to breath too much because that hurt, I was shaking and there was no relief. That's all I want was a moment of relief, just to take a breath and steady myself. David meanwhile was try to help, and usually I'll tell him exactly what he can do to help... but this time, between crying, all I could do was ask him to make it stop hurting...looking back this may have freaked him out, but I was a bit busy so.... Anyway I guess I got to a point where I realized that I was vomiting because of the back pain, not the cause of the back pain was because of the vomiting...and I wanted an ambulance, because they could get me some form of medicine, FAST!!! So I told David we have to go to the Hospital NOW something is wrong. By the time we got to the ER I could barely walk, and I was shaking so violently that I couldn't write my name, Quinten had to help me. They called me back to "check me in" and the nurse is asking questions and i can't talk, I'm trying not to breathe, and trying not to scream "DRUGS, I NEED DRUGS", so I was a bit annoyed, and I know it is their job, and to to be honest, they got me back there really fast (it didn't feel like it at the time because I swear time had slowed down to taunt me). My favorite part was being asked the question "...on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most painful, how would you rate your...I cut her off to say "10, I'm a 10 now". A 10 is when you say to yourself, if you can't fix this, then for real I'd rather be dead (I'm not joking). They got me in a ER room and the ER nurse came in and said "...on a scale of 1-10"...she looked at me and said "Never mind honey your a ten"...within in mere moments I had an IV, and morphine coursing through me. (anyone still reading) I now love morphine. About an hour after I had calmed down, they did a scan and found a kidney stone....yep a tiny little stone was wreaking so much havoc. Now here is how the explained it to me, 1-2mm stones are normal, 2-3mm are big, 4-5mm your probably going to need some "help" getting them out...mine was 6mm! I never do anything small ...and I loved the way that the nurses were all "ughhh a 6mm you poor thing".... see at this point I had a Morphine crush on all the nurses. I truly loved them for helping deliver the medication that was keeping the pain at bay. So long story short I was admitted and at 7:00 am the next day I had surgery to have the Stone broken up and removed, and then have a stint put in. Then I got to enjoy more manageable pain and pee blood, and lay comatose on a couch for the next week until the stint was removed. People say that having a kidney stone as painful as labor....I'd like to say a stone is worse (at least mine was)...and at the end of labor you get a baby for all your pain and suffering....Kidney stones...nothing. It also put a good perspective on my pain tolerance....the whole rest of the stay when asked the "from 1 to 10 pain question" I was always like well this is no ten, so like a 6-7, it hurts but I'm happy its not a 10. The good news is that once you have had a stone you are more likely to get them...AWESOME! So moving on from that I spent February trying to recover....I spent March gagging over the hospital bill that just kept rolling in. April my insurance was kind enough to drop coverage of my insulin I was using but, said if I still wanted it I could spend $269 to get it a month...so I had to switch back to the other stuff...and we went from a 2 car family to a 1 car family ...NOT by choice. Then we went roller skating with The Johnson's and I was trying to do a Double Back flip on my skates...okay fine I was going really fast and tried to stop and totally biffed it...and the first thing to hit the hard floor...my knee..followed my all of my body weight on it...I'm honestly surprised that I didn't shatter my knee. 4 days later on a rainy Wed evening at my mom and dads I came into the entry way and my wet sandals, and their ceramic tile met briefly as my feet went flying out from under me...I landed almost simultaneously on my rear and back of my head. When my head hit I yelled out in pain and everything flashed white. My thud and yell were followed by the doorbell ringing. So whoever rang the bell got to hear the whole thing. Not only that but then my mom and dad came into the entry way yelling "what was that"...What happened" "are you okay" "what was that noise" "Caryn fell" and the entire time I'm thinking painfully there are people still at the door waiting to come in...so I'm like "answer the door"...and who is outside but my mom and dad's Home Teachers...(Stake)President and Sister Goodson. Does it get any better? I took off in flash and got home and iced the small planet that had formed on the back of my head. Now everyone was all freaked out because that actress had just died from a hit to the head. But I made it clear my hospital days were done...until Friday when I still was sleepy and my head was still pounding and was finally convinced that i should get it checked out... So back to the Hospital..weeee! What did they ask "on a scale of 1-10 ....." I said listen " I had a stone and that was a ten this is like a three", because I can't think of another kind of pain that can top the stone. So after a CT scan all is well in my head (insert head joke here) and now we are looking forward to a new round of jaw dropping bills. So I know that was a lot and well pretty whine-e...so let me tell you about the great things that have Happened. Our great friend Melanie got baptized and it was amazing to be a part of it and learn with her. We acquired a dog a small shi-tzu named Winston that has been passed around the family, and yes he has his moments, but our boys love him and we have a lot of fun with him. Going to the hospital helped me realized how thankful I am for so many things...people in the ward...daivd...my mom and dad...being healthy. Losing a car helped David and i see that we can still be happy and loving and thrive even if we don't have everything the way we want it...as long as we are doing thing the way the lord wants it, we'll be okay...honestly okay. I learned nothing from having the helicopter stuck in my hair!?!

2 comments:

heidi said...

hi. remind me to avoid helicopters at all costs.
i am glad that you survived.
i am glad that you learned something.
let's not have a repeat performance.
but i hope you got to watch all sorts of movies.

Miles said...

(This is going to come across as Miles, but it is really me!)

Even knowing the complete story, I laughed OUT LOUD at your witty retelling! :-) You are the best, and I sure do love you!

Tam