what a month! (very, very long - sorry)
Hi everyone,
I hope you have been having a more relaxing and stress free month than I have had. Mid May I posted a thread about being hospitalized for the first time because of my crohn's http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?p=298477#post298477
I was hospitalized for 8 days and told that I had a blood infection and an abscess on my intestine. For the following 10 days I had an arm pic in my arm so I could have IV anti-biotics while at home with the help of a visiting nurse. We were using normal IV bags that worked with gravity... but my nurse mentioned they have a ball that has a pump in it so that you can be out and about if needed and the ball could just be in your pocket or anything. So on my next dose I chose to have those. Well, the rate of injection is pre-set unlike with the IV bags. I immediately became itchy from head to toe and started to feel sick to my stomach. I took benadryl every 4 hours on the hour except when I slept through the time limit. I only did 2 doses of the ball injection but it took several days to get over the reaction. Even taking the normal IV bags started to bother me..but slowly went away. So I had to order more IV bags, of course out of pocket since it was considered "double treatment"... But that is the least of my worries I suppose!
Sunday the 29th of May was my last treatment of the anti-biotic vancomycin. I was still taking some benadryl just to try and regulate myself but by the end of the treatment I felt pretty good. During that week I flew my Mommy out to be with me and baby me, she left on the 31 :mad2:
During the day on the 31st before she flew out I was scheduled for a Cat Scan and my final blood cultures to make sure I was free of the blood infection. I drank the liquid (which I swear is laced with x-lax! lol) and we sat and watched TV and waited for my turn. They injected me with the warm IPV color contrast dye that I got once while in the hospital.
With in 30 minutes of being done I felt off... I thought I was going to vomit... but just sat still in the waiting room of the blood lab with my Mom. It passed but not soon enough. I felt nauseous non stop the entire day. The lab lost my physician orders and we had to wait around for 2 hours until I was finished - not a way I hoped to spend my mom's last day here....but at least we were together. Since I had the Cat scan I hadn't had anything to eat and sometimes a little something can actually help ease the nausea. So my boyfriend, mom and I stopped on the way to the airport and I had something small. Within a half hour...while driving to the airport in my boyfriend's car...... I vomited e v e r y w h e r e ! :stinks: or so it seemed. I began to sob and sob and sob apologize a million times over to them both. I think it would have happened no matter what... but the literal stop and go traffic I don't think helped much. The movements I could tell intensified the nausea.
Once we got to the parking garage my mommy stripped my shirt off me and put one on me from her suitcase. Dried my tears and then cried herself.... although my pants were nasty still, I walked in with her and hugged her the best I could and said a rushed goodbye. I may be 24 but there is no good way to say goodbye especially when you don't feel well.
I didn't eat the rest of the night and just relaxed... my nausea was gone but I felt horrible inside and out. The next day (wednesday) I had my visiting nurse come to draw blood, and told her. She was worried it was the anti-biotic but mention it could be the IVP color contrast dye. With in 30 minutes of her leaving (about 24 hrs exactly from the Cat Scan) my arms started to itch and turn bright red. It started in the arm with the pic that the IVP was injected into and spread to my other arm and face. With in another 24 hours it had spread to my chest, torso, neck, back, and legs.
I had a follow up Dr's appointment the very next day Thursday, and took benadryl and used hydrocortisone cream until then. He was happy with my blood work but gave me some meds for the rash. It was so painful, the cream they gave me was soothing but didn't seem to help improve it. They gave me methylprednisolone also and some anti-itch pills. Friday the 3rd (next day) I finally got my arm pic out, but the visiting nurse was very concerned about the rash. I was dealing with it or so I thought... bathed in aveeno soothing bath and just tried to not itch. However by the next day when I woke up, it had gotten worse. I was in so much pain I felt I couldn't move. My boyfriend and his mom talked me into paging the Dr.... and he told me to go straight to the ER for a Dr to check me out. With in 2 hours I was admitted into the hospital again....
They pumped me full of very heavy steroids and pain killer which helped very quickly. They were worried that the rash somehow would effect my kidney function and wanted to keep an eye on that... also I thought my tongue was swelling and they were worried that it would lead to my throat - although luckily it never effected my breathing! So I was in the hospital again from Saturday the 4th until yesterday Tuesday the 7th.
While I was there they looked more into my abscess on intestine and did lots of blood work (5/6 viles each AM) And surgical Dr's came in each day to speak with me. They said it looked to small to do surgery on - since that would leave my intestine susceptible to more infection. They mentioned putting a drain in but again didn't want more infection. So they put me on Cipro and Flagyl to help with the infection. Also the high dose of steroids for the rash they said can only help improve my intestinal condition.
The Dr kept saying that he doesn't have a magic ball so can not say for sure what exactly caused they allergic reaction - Some of the new meds they put me on from the last hospital visit - They IVP color contrast dye - Or even something like a tick bite was mentioned (only once though). While I was in there they stopped all *new* meds to see if that changed anything and it didn't really, so I am back on all of those I first left with. Was told never again to have IVP color contrast dye and to rest, rest, rest.
The Dr stressed heavily that I was not recovered from my first hospital visit and with this I really need to allow myself time to heal. For now I am off work for another week. When my new follow up appointment comes this Monday, it will be a Month and 1 day since the intense, debilitating cramps started that landed me in the hospital the first time around. I feel very run down, out of it, and just sick and tired of being sick and tired! But I will not give up, I am young and can get through this as long as I give myself the proper time to heal and to stay on top of my medications. Like I said, I sincerely hope everyone has had a better month than I, and if not I hope and pray it gets better for you. Thanks for letting me vent :ysmile:
Hi everyone,
I hope you have been having a more relaxing and stress free month than I have had. Mid May I posted a thread about being hospitalized for the first time because of my crohn's http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?p=298477#post298477
I was hospitalized for 8 days and told that I had a blood infection and an abscess on my intestine. For the following 10 days I had an arm pic in my arm so I could have IV anti-biotics while at home with the help of a visiting nurse. We were using normal IV bags that worked with gravity... but my nurse mentioned they have a ball that has a pump in it so that you can be out and about if needed and the ball could just be in your pocket or anything. So on my next dose I chose to have those. Well, the rate of injection is pre-set unlike with the IV bags. I immediately became itchy from head to toe and started to feel sick to my stomach. I took benadryl every 4 hours on the hour except when I slept through the time limit. I only did 2 doses of the ball injection but it took several days to get over the reaction. Even taking the normal IV bags started to bother me..but slowly went away. So I had to order more IV bags, of course out of pocket since it was considered "double treatment"... But that is the least of my worries I suppose!
Sunday the 29th of May was my last treatment of the anti-biotic vancomycin. I was still taking some benadryl just to try and regulate myself but by the end of the treatment I felt pretty good. During that week I flew my Mommy out to be with me and baby me, she left on the 31 :mad2:
During the day on the 31st before she flew out I was scheduled for a Cat Scan and my final blood cultures to make sure I was free of the blood infection. I drank the liquid (which I swear is laced with x-lax! lol) and we sat and watched TV and waited for my turn. They injected me with the warm IPV color contrast dye that I got once while in the hospital.
With in 30 minutes of being done I felt off... I thought I was going to vomit... but just sat still in the waiting room of the blood lab with my Mom. It passed but not soon enough. I felt nauseous non stop the entire day. The lab lost my physician orders and we had to wait around for 2 hours until I was finished - not a way I hoped to spend my mom's last day here....but at least we were together. Since I had the Cat scan I hadn't had anything to eat and sometimes a little something can actually help ease the nausea. So my boyfriend, mom and I stopped on the way to the airport and I had something small. Within a half hour...while driving to the airport in my boyfriend's car...... I vomited e v e r y w h e r e ! :stinks: or so it seemed. I began to sob and sob and sob apologize a million times over to them both. I think it would have happened no matter what... but the literal stop and go traffic I don't think helped much. The movements I could tell intensified the nausea.
Once we got to the parking garage my mommy stripped my shirt off me and put one on me from her suitcase. Dried my tears and then cried herself.... although my pants were nasty still, I walked in with her and hugged her the best I could and said a rushed goodbye. I may be 24 but there is no good way to say goodbye especially when you don't feel well.
I didn't eat the rest of the night and just relaxed... my nausea was gone but I felt horrible inside and out. The next day (wednesday) I had my visiting nurse come to draw blood, and told her. She was worried it was the anti-biotic but mention it could be the IVP color contrast dye. With in 30 minutes of her leaving (about 24 hrs exactly from the Cat Scan) my arms started to itch and turn bright red. It started in the arm with the pic that the IVP was injected into and spread to my other arm and face. With in another 24 hours it had spread to my chest, torso, neck, back, and legs.
I had a follow up Dr's appointment the very next day Thursday, and took benadryl and used hydrocortisone cream until then. He was happy with my blood work but gave me some meds for the rash. It was so painful, the cream they gave me was soothing but didn't seem to help improve it. They gave me methylprednisolone also and some anti-itch pills. Friday the 3rd (next day) I finally got my arm pic out, but the visiting nurse was very concerned about the rash. I was dealing with it or so I thought... bathed in aveeno soothing bath and just tried to not itch. However by the next day when I woke up, it had gotten worse. I was in so much pain I felt I couldn't move. My boyfriend and his mom talked me into paging the Dr.... and he told me to go straight to the ER for a Dr to check me out. With in 2 hours I was admitted into the hospital again....
They pumped me full of very heavy steroids and pain killer which helped very quickly. They were worried that the rash somehow would effect my kidney function and wanted to keep an eye on that... also I thought my tongue was swelling and they were worried that it would lead to my throat - although luckily it never effected my breathing! So I was in the hospital again from Saturday the 4th until yesterday Tuesday the 7th.
While I was there they looked more into my abscess on intestine and did lots of blood work (5/6 viles each AM) And surgical Dr's came in each day to speak with me. They said it looked to small to do surgery on - since that would leave my intestine susceptible to more infection. They mentioned putting a drain in but again didn't want more infection. So they put me on Cipro and Flagyl to help with the infection. Also the high dose of steroids for the rash they said can only help improve my intestinal condition.
The Dr kept saying that he doesn't have a magic ball so can not say for sure what exactly caused they allergic reaction - Some of the new meds they put me on from the last hospital visit - They IVP color contrast dye - Or even something like a tick bite was mentioned (only once though). While I was in there they stopped all *new* meds to see if that changed anything and it didn't really, so I am back on all of those I first left with. Was told never again to have IVP color contrast dye and to rest, rest, rest.
The Dr stressed heavily that I was not recovered from my first hospital visit and with this I really need to allow myself time to heal. For now I am off work for another week. When my new follow up appointment comes this Monday, it will be a Month and 1 day since the intense, debilitating cramps started that landed me in the hospital the first time around. I feel very run down, out of it, and just sick and tired of being sick and tired! But I will not give up, I am young and can get through this as long as I give myself the proper time to heal and to stay on top of my medications. Like I said, I sincerely hope everyone has had a better month than I, and if not I hope and pray it gets better for you. Thanks for letting me vent :ysmile:
The car can give me trouble too whether I'm sitting up front or not. The motions just don't help at all not to mention the stress of someone else driving during stop and go traffic. 