Background of my story
December 23, 2013
"Ouch, what in the world? Babe, what is this?" I was holding the side of my plump cheek ready to cry from the torturous pain. "I think its an abscess near your wisdom tooth?" my husband reply while stretching my mouth out of shape. "What? I really don't have time for this, I need to go to work plus this weekend I am tied up with meetings and working on the house. Seriously, I have no....OUCH!!!" Yep me, the busy body worried about others rather than focusing on myself, typical mental health therapist. Needless to say this was the beginning of my journey of AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). In this background, I will admit in advance, there’s many days in the beginning of my journey I do not remember do to sedation. However, I have sat with my love ones, family and friends to put the pieces together. December 23, 2013 Chris (my husband) and I drove over to the urgent care with a concern not a worry of the pain I was experiencing with my bottom wisdom teeth. After being seen by the urgent care doctor, his reaction to what was in my mouth puzzled me. Even the nurse said my mouth looked weird. Both the nurse and doctor decided to call all of the oral surgeons they were "hooked up" with as my mouth looked pretty red and swollen. My wisdom teeth hurt and the pain was unbearable but their faces were well, let's just say I think they were being pranked. Christmas Eve arrives as I sit in the Emergency Room (ER). I look around thinking to myself, ok they will put me on pain meds and we're out. Two bags of morphine later and I am ready to jump out of my skin from the pain this medicine is not taking away. Yes morphine, Dilaudid, and fentanyl did not work (all the nurses and doctors know what I am talking about). My mama never told me there would be PAIN like this but yes I was experiencing it. My assigned doctor ran test with more tests and then another set of tests. By the time I realized it, we had been in the ER for almost 24 hours. And what was I doing, texting coworkers and friends about their presents coming to them a little late. Needless to say they thought I was really touched in the head. I did not know soon I would literally be fighting for my life within a matter or minutes. An oral surgeon was assigned to extract my teeth. Now, this man really reminded me of the doctor from Back to the Future as he screamed, "We go into surgery in 30 minutes!" Soon, my sedated body would start the fight of a lifetime. According to my husband, my recovery from surgery did not go as planned. Blood dripped into my throat causing me to receive a tracheotomy (a procedure performed in your neck area to allow a tube to suck out any secretions, in my case my blood). My body could not stay stable in the condition as the AML caused my platelets and blood count to decrease. I was in need of a blood transfusion. But, our small town hospital in Columbus, GA could not receive blood in a timely manner. On Christmas night, I was placed into a helicopter and sent to Emory Hospital in Atlanta, GA. Riding a helicopter is on my bucket list…but this does not count! I stayed in ICU for 7 days. My body had been through a lot. My husband, family and friends prayed as the doctors revealed an extra swollen person with tubes going and coming in all openings to them. I can only imagine what my friends and family were thinking. The picture to the right is from December 27, 2013 when the swelling of my face began to go down. It is also the picture taken to share with friends in Chicago as they had seen my facebook post of me being admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve. For the entire month of January 2014, I believed in the idea of living. I did not focus on the chemo running through my veins, the fact that I had not eaten in weeks, my blood shot eyes, or the tracheotomy placing friends and family into fear of loosing me. The month started with my PICC line being installed on January 1, 2014. Talk about a way to start the New Year! A PICC line is like a port to allow fluids (such as chemo) to enter in the body and blood to be drawn out of the body (think of an IV running into your chest). Trust me, I know my body was exhausted from the trauma it had experienced. But, it had to be done. So, I had to request Marvin Gaye as the performed the procedure. Come on, I didn't open Christmas gifts and just wanted one thing! January 2, 2014 my first chemotherapy treatment...7 long days. I made it! And then I really started by road to recovery. I began occupational and physical therapy. Occupational therapy helped me to bath myself. Physical therapy helped me to walk again. Even though I had not receive anything other than ice chips to eat, my IV medications provided just enough strength to stand up, to walk the hallways and to endure this journey. I discharged from the hospital on January 31, 2014. Recently, I just finished another round of chemo. In the next page, I will share daily more experiences of what I have learned in this journey. I hope sharing my experiences will not only allow me to share and express myself but to interact with people wherever they are in their journey. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to post on the last page or contact me at [email protected]. |
Chris and I days before my admission December 27, 2013
picture sent to friends...I am alive October 2014, we are celebrating our two year anniversary in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
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