Saturday, August 31, 2013

All set you bet!

Had my scope today - Doc wanted to know for sure whether I had inflammation or crohns issues going on with my colon/rectum.

Was given the green though. so we're set for next friday. I can't wait to be out of this pain and discomfort!

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Life is busy

School has started in full force. I FOUND A NP WHO WILL BE MY PRECEPTOR - THANK YOU RV!!! I can't believe that someone who doesn't know me and has never met me and has only talked to this crazy nursing student who randomly called them up would be willing to help me out. Either way, I'm eternallly grateful. Even better it that she's already sent in the paperwork AND she's been approved!!!

I caught a nasty cold - makes life a bit more difficult as the energy level has plumetted which makes doing school work & required readings tricky. I'm TRYING to keep up!

I have a cultural competence paper & test to do before sunday. I also have a teaching & learning test to do before then as well. Now the tricky bit is is that I have a scope scheduled for thurs which may take me out of commission for several days. Hopefully not any longer than that.

I did my preop stuff today. The nurse there knows what surgery I'm having and she mentioned that she didn't think that I would be back to work before the new year - holy shit batman, I can't be off work that long. I was only expecting to be off another month AT THE MOST!!!

School costs me $5,000 per SEMESTER and so I NEED to go back to work. I have school to pay for. I would rather NOT go into debt if I can help it.

I'm looking forward to getting this health stuff fixed, it hurts & is itchy and it makes walking more difficult. Not looking forward to the bowel prep though! Don't know of anyone who does. I'll know more about what the agenda is for surgery after the scope. Doc tried to call me today but don't know why - I get to find out tomorrow.



Thursday, August 22, 2013

Again I'm getting screwed over

I started school this week - YAY for me. Also found out that i need to find my OWN preceptor, in a state I DON'T reside in. Well THIS should be fun! And it has to be done like yesterday. I've tried posting several places on facebook and on allnurses.com but haven't had any bites yet. I hope I hear something tomorow or else I'm gonig to have to drop this course and I REALLY don't want to have to do that!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Surgery is a sure bet and so was an ER visit

Saw the surgeon the other day - was told surgery is in the cards for me.

Upon examination he indicated that due to the fact that the fistula is anterior and goes towards my vagina, that he has to go for the seton - a piece of material that essentially cuts out the tunnel and it fills in with scar tissue - we'll see how painful THAT one is!!!

I've been generally pain free for a about 2 weeks - but I have flare ups, especially if I'm too active. Bites me in the ass unexpectadly.

Home care discharged me from their services wed, said my wound was completely healed.

Thurs was a different story. Went for BM about 2200hrs and was a bit painful (sorry if TMI) and felt like I was getting another abcess or if the previous abcess was recurring and figured that I would just contact the surgeon in the AM to see if something could be done about it. Well by about 0400hrs, my pain became a 8/10 and I was crying. Off hubby and I go to the ER where I wait FIVE hours to be seen. Ugh it was rough! I sent hubby home at about 0600hrs figuring it was going to be quite some time before I saw a surgeon. Found a couple of sheets in the ER and laid on the waiting room floor - one sheet under me (protection against all the icky things on the floor that I would rather not have thought about) and one on top cuz I was cold! Plus a pillow out of my purse and my sweater and tried to not vomit everywhere from the amount of pain that I was in.

Finally saw the physician who kept interrupting me while I was giving him the background info (had he NOT ever heard of SBAR??!!) and told him why I was there. He asked a couple of questions, did a rectal exam and said he couldn't feel anything... UGH, just like the LAST ER doc who examined me almost 2 months ago and then gave me a surgeon consult who said that I DID have an abcess. This time around though, this doc ordered a CT scan which indicated that my abcess IS heal(ing)ed but that I have TWO fistulas and that CT scans are not good enough to visualize and that I should have an MRI scan done.

Doc explained that my pain was likely due to infection of the fistula(s) and gave me a loading dose of 2g Ancef IV at 1100hrs and ordered home care for the next 5 days for the antibiotic. Well home care couldn't get arranged in time so they gave me another loading dose of 2g of Ancef at 1700hrs hoping that I would get my AM dose on time. I didn't BTW, my supplies arrived at 1700hrs TODAY and so I hung my home dose by myself. I already had my SL in as the ER left it in for this purpose and I had no idea when the nurse was supposed to be by and so I did it all myself. When the nurse DID finally come around (I believe it was around 1900hrs) I just explained that I did it myself and her services wouldn't be required again unless the site went interstitial or the 5 days was up and she had to collect her stuff.

I have to contact the surgeon on monday and find out if this changes anything. Surgery is set for Sept. 04 but he said that he wants to do a sigmoidoscopy before hand. WE'll see how that changes now that we have the CT done.






Monday, August 5, 2013

Busy busy busy!!!

Things have been busy on my side of life - my BIL is getting married in approx. 2 weeks (which I don't even want to be a part of cuz I hate him so much but I'm being made to anyways -UGH) and the family has started to pour in, shopping trips ALL OVER are being done, dinners are getting prepped & cooked and LOTS of family time is being made. Not sure how much I'll be able to post in the next two weeks but I'll try.

Ramadan is coming to a close later this week - yay for everyone who is fasting!!! Truely exciting. This year I didn't have to fast because of what's going on with my tush. I should know more about what the avenue that we take will be on Thurs when i meet with the gen. surgeon (new one). I know surgery is in the cards, it's a matter of when.

I heard back from the university - they need me to prove that my immunizations were effective when I had them, OR have another shot of the MMR - plus because on their form there's no place for DTap BOOSTER (they just put DT and left out the pertussis part) now I have to have a pertussis shot - stupid university!!! Then I have to test out of the Interpersonal Communication course in two weeks and that should cover everything and THEN they'll send my acceptance letter to me. It has been SUCH a pain in the butt to get completely enrolled into this program. I hope it's smooth sailing once I'm in!

Normally I call my mom daily or every-other day and so tonight she spoke with hubby or MIL and was upset (from their end they said she sounded upset) and so when I returned the call she indicated that she WAS upset - she was worried cuz she hadn't heard from me in about a week. Good to know that if I DO go missing or something happens to me that I'll have someone looking for me!!!! I updated her about what's been going on in my life and tried to alleviate the distress. Seems that our phone jack has been on the fritz (not realizing it) and she's tried to call several times (she said that she had tried a dozen times - not sure I believe she tried THAT many times!) but didn't think to try me on my cell. HAHAHA - mothers for ya!