"You can go home now", the young, arrogant doctor announced with a smile on his face. I had just woken up from my laparoscopy procedure, my mind was still filled with the meds so my comprehension was not on top of its game. Dr X ( we will call him) let me know that he found an adhesion and was able to separate it and I was good to go. Though i was in pain, I thought at that moment that it was from the procedure and it would eventually go away.
The ride home was extremely painful but I was able to take the pain as i knew my bed was calling out for me and I would be back to my old self in no time. My lower abdomen, where the procedure took place was very soar and I was unable to move without crying in pain. Unfortunately, this pain began to worsen and so did the situation.
Getting home was a blessing, I was helped into the house, down the long hallway and into my bed. The bed seemed so high, I had wished there was a step stool to help me up, but was able to somehow maneuver my body with help from the person who brought me home. As they said goodbye, I assured them that everything was fine and I would be as good as new in a few days just as the doctor had assured me.
As I lay in bed, my pillow was the only thing that helped me through the minor coughing fits from the medicines during and after surgery. I would place it on my stomach while I would cough, the pressure of the pillow would push on the incision area to hold it in place while my body would tighten and release.
I was unable to eat or drink the night before in preparation, and there was an uncontrollable inability/unwillingness to drink or eat after the surgery. It's not that I didn't want to eat or drink, but the pain was getting more and more excruciating and when I would try to eat or drink, my pain and nausea would worsen.
My mouth was extremely dry, my eyes swelled from crying in pain and I was just hoping I could hold it together when my fiance returned from work so he would not worry and did not feel the need to stay home with me the next day. I was going to be tough if it killed me...Little did I know, it almost did.
Hoping the rest of the day would go quickly, I turned on the television only to find daytime talk shows and soap operas. I was used to the hustle and bustle of a structured and continuous work day; every moment was accounted for except for breaks and lunch of course, but it made the day fly by. I loved the people I worked with (they were like family), loved my job and I loved the International Company I was working for.
I had the world by the balls, I was physically and mentally able to do anything & everything. God giving me my perfect partner 7 years prior and I was on my way to building an incredible life!!! So that was my plan...I had so many ideas for how my life could play out. Unfortunately, there was one little problem with my plan... The nick.
I laid in bed trying to pass the time by petting my new naughty little white kitten name Torry Tornado (the name fits the kitten) and loving up my white maturing Bichon Frize, who was my best friend and confident named Tiffany Toodles.
Tired and in pain with nausea, I finally fell asleep from exhaustion only to wake up in the middle of the night to even more pain! How could this be!!! I decided to call the nurse hotline which was available to our community for medical questions and advise. After explaining my situation, the nurse on the other end of the line told me to increase my dose of 1 oxycodone every 4 hours to 2 oxycodone every 4 hours and see if that helped. I immediately took another pill as I had just taken my 1 oxy, 30 minutes prior. Then I waited.
Luckily that put me to sleep and I was able to get some shut eye momentarily, unfortunately again I awoke to even more pain. It seemed like it was getting worse and worse. I was beginning to think I would not be able to take it much longer, by this time it had to have been over 24 hours since my surgery- I STARTED REALIZING SOMETHING WAS WRONG. Tossing and turning and waking up to take meds, not being able to eat or drink much, suffering from intense nausea, I picked up the phone to call the nurse hotline once again.
This time was different. After I explained my situation, this nurse told me that I was taking too much medicine and that I should decrease my dose. Listening and doing as instructed, I went back down to 1 oxy every 4 hours. By now, the pain that I was feeling was all across my lower abdomen. It was if some had filled me full of acid and it was eating me away from the inside. Every time I would cry due to pain, everything got worse. I would cry which led to tightening of my body, which led to more crying because of more pain, then i couldn't catch my breath and began coughing uncontrollably which led to EVERYTHING getting worse.
In my mind, I thought...if I could just manage my emotions, things would be better, it had to work! Something had to give! Though I thought Tiffany was just going to lay by and comfort me, she did so much more...she knew something was wrong, acted and saved my life. Because of her, I am here to tell my story today.
As I lay in bed and tried not to cry from the pain and body aches, my dog was right there by my side. Without warning, it was as if God himself took her and threw her at my lower abdomen. She took a leaping dive at my stomach and then bounced off. I screamed as my body shivered and the pain escalated until I screamed out, "HELP ME"! Though no one was there except her and I, it was the only thing I knew how to do at the time. My body shivered, I began to feel the light fevering turn into heavy hot and cold flashes, my body was dying and I knew it.
It was evening and I was scared but didnt want Jason to worry about me. He heard me scream and came in to make sure I was ok.
The feeling of fight came over me and I began to call everyone I could while I could still speak clearly. It was a work day so most people did not pick up the phone. My mom was in Bible study and turned her phone off, and I was alone...One last attempt in hopes that I was going to make it to the hospital on time was my mother in law. Calling her was difficult as the pain now had taken over, I could feel the drip of acid fall into my body. It was constant excruciating pain, then every thirty seconds or so, I would feel the drip. It felt like someone was dripping acid inside me. I had never felt such pain in all of my life.
All I wanted was to get help from the pain, just help me I thought, and screamed over and over again. The phone rang many times and as I was ready to hang up and give up, Diane answered the phone. I pleaded with her to come pick me up and bring me to the emergency room. She had literally just gotten out of the shower, she was at my house in 15 minutes.
Every second seemed like hours, I was beginning to have a hard time catching my breath. I remember trying to get dressed and it was not easy, with each movement the severity of the pain increased, each second feeling of am I going to make it to the hospital on time entered my mind. I knew I was dying. My body was shutting down. This couldn't happen! My brother had died in a car accident six months prior, we were denied relations with his children and now if I died, this would rip my family apart to no end. I had to be strong, if not for me, for my partner and love of my life and my family.
The knock on the door I was waiting for finally arrived. Diane was here and ready to take me to the Emergency Room. Slowly, she helped me to the car, then in the car, all the while I am squealing in pain. This was it, as we drove, the fear in both of our eyes was obvious. I was close to death, hours away and we knew it.
I tried so hard to be strong for her that day, I didn't want her to worry, but the pain was so severe I couldn't think, my mind was concentrating on survival. God gave me Diane that day, she helped save my life.
We pulled up to the emergency entrance and I stumbled up to the desk where they were asking my questions and I was almost incoherent. Treated as if I was just another sick patient, they told me to sit down and someone would call me when they were ready. Jason was there, my love, my gift from God. Diane had called him at work and he rushed over in time to join Diane in begging them to get me into a room. We stressed to them that I had just had a laparoscopy a couple days prior but it did not seem to concern them much.
Diane was confronting the front desk about how bad I was until after an hour of waiting, it was becoming hard for me to breath at all. As I gasped for breath and pleaded with them to please help me, they finally put me in a room. An IV was placed in my arm and liquid was filling my veins.
They must have been busy that day as it seemed like forever before a doctor was able to see me, but once I was seen by the surgeon, it took one quick listen to my stomach to know what was going on. The doctor said there was no sound in my belly and that it was bad, very bad. Then the ball started rolling, I could see the concern in their eyes as I was given a liquid to drink so they could do scans and testing. Unfortunately they forgot about me and barely got the test done, but in the meantime were able to give me something for pain. It helped the constant pain but the feeling of acid dripping was not lessened at all.
Jason and my mother in law were in the room with me, suddenly my mom was there, my aunt Susie , aunt and God Mother Vicky, and my sister Lisa. God had put them all in town, close to the hospital for me. What a blessing. If I had died, at least they would have had the chance to say goodbye. I felt it was my job to tell them that it will be OK, that I was fine. In my mind, I couldn't cause any more pain to my family. But in my mind I knew, I was dying...I could feel it.
"This isn't happening"...I thought as I lay on a rolling bed in the emergency room. My family surrounding me and me trying to comfort them because I didn't want them to worry. "Its just gas", I assured them. Though I knew it was bad and I might die, I could only think of their pain. You see, my brother had died in a car accident only 6 months earlier and the pain we suffered as a family was a pain I didn't want them to feel again. We had to not only deal with his death, but his funeral as well. If you have ever been through the unexpected death of a loved one, you know the pain, sorrow, daze, shock and decision making you have to make during this awful time.
The doctor, stood in front of my bed, scolding, almost shouting said, "Jennifer, this is serious. Your colon has been perforated and you have been septic for 48 hours. You could end up with a colostomy bag!" What he didn't say was that I was on deaths door.