I had back surgery on October 31st and it was a very scary time, but God kept me safe and saw me through. During surgery I had a severe asthma attack so they had to stop surgery. I was kept in recovery about 10 hours due to a very low oxygen level, breathing issues, heavy chest, they thought I might even have a blood clot in my lungs, etc. During this time I felt like I was dying and by the look on the faces of my doctor and nurse – they were having the same kind of thoughts. I have since returned to see my neurosurgeon and he told me of how concerned he was and had bad that I scared him. My neurosurgeon is an awesome, caring person and I had the most wonderful recovery nurse that stayed with me during the entire 10 hour ordeal – – even going with me for nuclear test, scans, other tests. She held my hand many times and I told her that I felt like I was dying and I thought if I closed my eyes that I wouldn’t wake up. I could actually feel the life fading out of me. … I prayed for God to spare me to be with my family and see my boys grow up and have families of their own. My neurosurgeon would come and be with me in recovery between other surgeries. I thought to myself “so this is what it feels like to be dying”. After an hour or so of being in recovery the nurse said she was going to make a BIG exception and go get my husband to be with me as well. She said the hospital doesn’t allow any family to come in recovery, but she felt that this one time she needed to make an exception. It was nice to have my sweet hubby for support as I fought for my life. The recovery room was a very large rectangular room with surgery patients lined up on each side but with plenty of room for nurses and doctors moving about. In the mean time my husband, Joe, had called for prayer from church groups, family, and friends. During the time of my ordeal I did think – well, I guess I will get to see Jesus, Lisa, Paul, Uncle Merle, Aunt Sue, Aunt Virginia, Aunt Pat, Aunt Annie, and many other friends and family that have passed on. I went through many tests, scans, and an hour of doing a nuclear test to see if a blood clot had gone to my lungs. During the test I started to slowly feel better and started having thoughts that I might even be able to stay on this earth a little longer. Within the next hour my oxygen level went back to normal, the heaviness of feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest went away, and I knew that God had answered prayers. They never found what caused some of my issues during and after surgery – God just simply made it disappear. I praise God that I am alive and able to be with my family. I am on the mend, I no longer have constant sciatic nerve pain, numbness, and tingling in my right leg and foot. Praise God! My Fibromyalgia has flared as expected after surgery, but that is something that I deal with on a daily basis. Blessing friends!
Archive for the ‘Coping with a chronic illness’ category
I’m BACK!!!
April 10, 2013
I haven’t been on in a while. To make a long story short. I have had a lot of fibro pain and fatigue to the point of having in bed days. Our middle son, who is 21, got both hands burned at work when a torch exploded. It was a large fireball that singed his hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, nose hairs, BUT God spared his face. The only thing burned was his hands. I have never been around anyone that had been burned and it was horrible. Even with pain pills he was in so much pain. We had to put creams on and wrap his hands multiple times each day. The entire family pitched in to help feed him, doctor his hands, give him drinks, and even give him sponge baths out of the kitchen sink. It totally broke my heart. The good thing is we have one of the best burn hospitals within 30 minutes of our home and he had a wonderful doctor. We took him for treatment weekly and he was burned so bad that he had to have a skin graft to one hand and it is doing wonderful. He is back to work, pain-free, and they say he will have a complete recovery. Praise God! I am glad to be back with my friends and look forward to hearing from you and reading your posts.
On another note – our weather has been crazy lately with numerous storms, weather fronts, etc. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and then last night it got down to 30 degrees. Talk about crazy! No wonder I have been hurting so much. Yesterday I picked some asparagus, admired my flowers coming up, saw zillions of blooms on my strawberries, and noticed the peach tree was full of blooms. Today my peach tree has ice on the limbs and it looks sad with it limbs under the stress of the rain that froze on it. Last night we put trash bags around my patio banana, lemon, lime, and orange trees. We put buckets, tubs, pails, anything we could find to cover as much as we could to try to save it from the cold air. The ground is wet and it is supposed to be 28 degrees tonight and then after that I think it will go back to our normal April weather. It is so weird to get a winter storm in April here in Oklahoma.
Blessings to you!
Where Did my Sleep Go?
January 28, 2013
I have only been sleeping 3 to 4 hours a night for the last week and not sure why. Could it be that the lumbar epidural injection from the 7th of this month is causing it, could it be that my sleeping pill has quit working, or WHAT??? Even before getting sick with Severe Fibromyalgia my body required 8+ hours of sleep. Since getting Fibro I need 9 to 12 hours of sleep each night. Normally the steroid from the epidural injections will make me more energetic a few days and I might not sleep well a night or two soon after, but nothing like this. I feel like a walking zombie. I can’t even take a nap during the day right now. Could it be that my sleeping pill (Ambien CR) has quit working, is it the steroids from the epidural injections, or WHAT?? Whatever it is I am so ready to get back to “normal” and get some precious rest. What are your thoughts?
Life Goes On
November 28, 2012
My husband and I went out to eat last night with friends. We need to try to do that more often. It was a blessing and really nice visiting and laughing. I am also thankful that I had a good morning with low pain. I was able to be out and about town feeling “normal” for a change. I have been having a bad time with my fibromyalgia this year and have had more back pain issues as well. I have had back pain for many years and it is causing me more troublesome symptoms. I am to the point of needing to think about surgery to see if I can get some relief. I have Degenerative Disc Disease, Bulging Disc, Bony Spurring, Spinal Stenosis, and Compression of the Sciatica Nerve. For about a year I have had increasing pain from the pinching of the sciatic nerve. The pain starts in my lower back, runs down both legs, and into my ankles and feet. To me it is an intense burning pain that sometimes feels like it is on fire. For the last few months I have also had numbness and tingling mostly in my right leg and foot. I continue to do Water Therapy that gives me some relief while I am in the water. It would be so nice if I had an indoor pool at my house that I could get in and out of all day long. Oh, and while I am dreaming it would also be nice to have a hot tub. I might turn into a mermaid! :0) I am thankful for blessings that God gives me each day. I pray for pain relief and extra energy for me and my Fibro Friends.
So what’s going on with you? Do you have fibromyalgia, back issues or sciatic nerve issues? If so, how do they affect you?
Fatigue Monster
October 5, 2012
The BIG, BAD, Fatigue Monster has me again. After having injections in my hip I got a virus that made me so sick for 4 days, then the fatigue monster took over and I can’t seem to shake it. It has been a week since I first got sick with the virus and I am still so fatigued that I can barely get up much less STAY UP all day. I have been sleeping 12 to 16 hours at a time and then taking a nap during the day as well. I told my husband that I am so ready to get back to my “normal sick”. With my chronic illness I am in constant pain and fatigue with numerous other symptoms and when I get an illness on top of that it is almost more than I can take. I am even ready to get back to my “normal sick”. I told my husband that it is weird to want to get back to ONLY being chronically ill. Does that mean that I am ok with it or have accepted being chronically ill?? NO!!! I still don’t like it one bit and I still haven’t accepted it, but it is what I am used to since I have been chronically ill with Severe Fibromyalgia for over 10 years now. All I can say is the Fatigue Monster better watch out and go away soon or I will have my friends, family, and my fibro friends kick his butt!!
Shots!! Make the Pain Go Away…… PLEASE!!
September 28, 2012I have been having so much back pain and hip pain that I have been getting Lumbar Epidural Injections and today I was sent to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon. He ended up giving me a steroid shot in my bursitis area in my left hip. He says that my left hip is covered in arthritis, bone spurs, pinching the nerve that causes my sciatica nerve issues. My bruise is lovely that I got today. The steroid shot helped me so much by noon that I was doing little projects that I haven’t been able to do (just light work). THEN, I went outside to get the mail and the grass was wet. When I came back in I walked across our living room carpet in my tennis shoes, then onto the tile in the kitchen. I made it by the refrigerator and fell so hard on my right knee and my left hip. I pulled the area that had been hurting so much before the steroid shot in my hip. AARRGG. I was so upset that I called my husband to come home early to be with me. I was in the floor crying, I was pissed, in pain, frustrated because every time it seems I get better I get knocked down with pain or fatigue in some way. Right now I am pretty sick of this Fibro thing, the hip issue, and the back issue. Someone make it go away!!! They say that I will eventually need back surgery. I won’t get pain relief from the sciatic nerve until I have the back surgery. The nerve is being pinched so badly that all it knows to do is PAIN. I also have the bulging disc, lots of arthritis, degenerative spurring, ventral flattening of the thecal sac, degenerative changes are most prominent at L4-L5 where there is a broad posterior and left foraminal disc protrusion with bony spurring. There is moderate to severe left foraminal stenosis at L4-L5 with displacement and compression fo the exiting left L4 nerve root. So……. sometime in the future I will be having back surgery. They say this is the only thing that will help relieve my back and sciatica nerve pain. I think I will try the shots for a while and when I just can’t stand it anymore – I wll schedule the surgery.
So tell me – have you taken pain pills, pain shots, epidural injections for pain, steroid shots? Tell me your experience I would love to hear it.
WARNING! Fibro Person Coming Your Way!!
September 25, 2012“Fibro Colors” posted this today on Facebook and maybe here as well (not sure). I can relate to this SO well. I think some of it is due to Fibro Fog. Not only do I trip over invisible things – I run into the same door knobs walking through the hall day after day (my arms show the bruises), and hit the same door frames with my arms. If I am coming your way…… WATCH OUT!
