Update on me

Lesson learned: Do not ignore body pain.

I was taken to the Olmsted Medical Center last Thursday (10/17) around 7:15 p.m. I was seen in the ER, had an emergency surgery around 1:30 a.m. and released from the hospital around 9 a.m. on Friday (10/18).

A few Fridays ago (10/11), I had some sharp pains in my right side. I took some over the counter pain medicine to relieve the pain. It seemed to go away and I was able to complete four photo sessions that weekend. The pain returned on Wednesday (10/16) afternoon. My husband was at a continuing education class and I had the two kids to tend to so I didn’t have time to be down. I took some Ibuprofen and struggled through the evening of activites (making dinner, running to dance practice, evening baths, general household chores and photo editing). After laying in the fetal position and the kids waiting on me until their bed time, I managed through the pain and went to bed.

Thursday morning (10/17) was the start of MEA for the kids and they were both home. My plan was to take them to Rochester and have my mom meet me to pick them up. I still wasn’t feeling 100% and had slower start that morning. I eventually packed the car up and headed to Rochester. My mom met me at the office and we decided to go to Olive Garden for lunch. This ended up being my one and only meal for the day since I had no appetite. After a quick lunch, Grandma took the kids to the farm and I returned to work.

I finally left the office around 6 p.m. to head to my parent’s  house to rest.  As I approached St. Charles on my drive, the pain became intense. The last four miles to the farm were unbearable. I managed to get out of the car and entered their house bent over. I asked my mom to bring me some Ibuprofen to help with the pain as I laid on the floor in pain.

My mom debated on calling an ambulance or driving me to the Emergency Room. My dad rushed out of the field, threw on some clean clothes and was ready to drive me to the emergency room. As I was being helped out to the car, I heard my daughter asking over and over if Mommy was going to die. My poor little girl! The drive to ER seemed forever!

My dad and I were met by my sister (RN at Mayo) at the OMC’s ER. She assisted in getting a wheelchair and help. A nurse was asked to see me right away and was I wheeled back quickly to a bed immediately.

With no pain meds, I laid in the emergency bed for about 90 minutes before a doctor made it to my room. Is this how all emergencies are handled? By then, I think the one tiny over-the-counter Ibuprofen pill my mom gave me took some of the edge off the pain.

After the doctor finally took look at me and ordered some labs, the process began to move quickly. An IV was finally put in and a shot of morphine to help with the pain. Blood work and other tests were ordered. A few ultrasounds (one in the ER room by the ER doctor and a second by a lab tech down the hall) to the right side area revealed a mass in the fallopian tube that had ruptured. The OBGYN was paged in. The ER doctor and the OBGYN consulted. Due to size, they decided to do surgery immediately. The OBGYN’s team was paged into the hospital around 12:30 a.m. and Jenny was prepped for surgery.

The information was sort of vague since the doctor needed to get inside the right area to determine the extent of the tube damage and internal bleeding. My entire right fallopian tube was removed along with 150 cc of blood in the body cavity around that area. The rupture was bleeding out the back side. 

The surgery went well and the doctor was happy with the results of the surgery. He said 7-8 women die a year due to this type of rupture. It was caught at a good time. I was released around 9 a.m. on Friday (10/18) with some pain meds and instructions to rest.

I’m still a little tired and sore. There are three small stomach area incisions that will heal in the next few days. The cleaning of the abdomen area (blood removal) is part of the reasons for the soreness. It sounds like the doctor tried to get as much of the blood in that area as possible.

Over the weekend, I caught up on some photo editing and took some long naps. Returning to my full energy level will take a bit of time. I’m looking forward to future photo sessions and getting back into my daily routine.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. It means a lot!