Monday, March 30, 2009

Ouch I need water!

This past week has been such a challenge for me. I've had migraine headaches off and on. The first 3 days were really tough. I've never had a migraine headache before so I didn't know what to expect or what to do. Honestly I was scared and still am a bit of getting another one. I tried to hold out for 3 days. I don't like going to the hospital. I will try to avoid the ER as much as I can. I spent way too much time as a child in hospitals with asthma. So this time I tried hard not to end up going. My dear incredible husband is just a beautiful work of art given to me from God. He has been such a wonderful help to me in the past weeks. He's looked after me and the kids while I was down and couldn't fully function like I usually do. He's a rock that I can count on. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband. He worked from home Friday to keep watch over me. My eyes were hurting so bad it was difficult to even open them. So he called the OB Dr. office as soon as they opened. They called in a prescription for me. I was told to take one pill each hour and if it got to 3 pills I had to come in to be evaluated. With my history of preeclampsia they wanted to make sure the baby was doing well. My dear husband had a time getting the medication. The pharmacy was out of it, and had to call another pharmacy. The pharmacy they called said the medication they called in had been pulled from the shelves! Ugh! The pharmacist called my OB to clarify and finally they prescribed something. My husband came home with them medication and kept close watch. I took the meds, slept work up still with the headache. I took more and slept.

I did end up going in to the hospital as much as I didn't want to. My husband was adamant about us getting this checked out. We got to the hospital I am to deliver at and saw they had a nice facility. They asked me loads of questions about me. I always hated that part. When you are in pain and need care you really don't want to answer questions. I do understand that they do need information before admitting a patient though. It's just a difficult process to go through when you just want the pain to stop. It didn't take to long though. They asked me on a scale of 1 to 10 how would I rate my pain, I said an 8.

They walked me to my room and I was to put on the hospital gown that we all love. After I was dressed for patient status, I laid in the very small bed and they took blood pressure. The readings were all was fine. I was relieved to know that the tests they ran came back all normal. Baby Helaina is doing fine. They decided to give me an IV drip because they had another patient come in before me in the same condition. She happened to be dehydrated. So they assumed the same for me. This is was maybe the millionth time I've had an IV so I was used to it. The kids however have never had and IV (Praise God and we'd like it to stay that way!) so the were watching closely. As the lady searched for a vain on my wrist the kids were anticipating it to be a no mess procedure, like having your blood drawn. Well this wasn't a clean process. I had some blood squirt out and my son couldn't take it. He had to go behind the curtain. One daughter who wants to be a doctor found it fascinating, the other just kept watch. They pumped 2 1/2 bags of fluid into me. That really didn't help much, so they decided to give me some pain medication via IV. The nurse told my husband this would be a good time to go grab something to eat because the meds were supposed to help me sleep. The nurse said she had to push it in slow and as she was she told me to close my eyes. They were already closed... migraine... eyes are sensitive to light! lol! She tried to give me a visual of the meds going in and giving me relief. She did a great job but my mind was racing. It didn't put me to sleep at all. I was very uncomfortable in the small bed. There I lay in the dark hospital room wondering what in the world was going to happen. My mind starts to race thinking about death and wills. I as lonely at that point. It didn't last long thank God because my husband and kids were back. That made me happy. I find it amazing how close we are at times. I love having a family. They provided comfort mentally and kept my mind off of the pain. Overall I was a happy patient. I asked them to bring me back a Snickers bar and they came back with a king size one! So I munched on the bar as the fluids were going in.

A resident doctor (?!) came in and asked a few questions. She told me there wasn't much they could do and left. I didn't know what to expect other than to be discharged. I looked over to see my son and daughter laying on the floor, my husband standing against the wall, and my other daughter asleep in the chair. I felt so bad for them. I had to go use the restroom and give them some blankets that were in the closet. A few moments later another nurse came in with some Percocet tablets. The nurse was pregnant too and reminded me of Natalie on the show Facts of Life. She had me take those and I laid in the bed a bit longer. She came back with the 3rd bag of fluid and then I had told her I was starting to feel better. I think at that point I really just wanted to go home. The pain was still there but not as bad. I told her it was about a 3. She then said she would go inform the resident doctor that came in of my rating. About a 1/2 bag later she was discharging me. I was happy to be going home. I wasn't 100% but I was better than when I went in.

We got home around 11pm and went straight to bed. The next day I was still feeling ok. So we went on about our day. Later on that night my eyes started to hurt again and the pressure was back. I took the meds for headache and tried to go to sleep. I remember telling my husband I needed to get a will prepared. This has been one of the most scariest things I've experienced. Today we went to church and I had someone pray for the headaches. It's a dull pain but bearable. I'm trying to keep hydrated. I'm supposed to drink 3.1 liters of water a day. I had no idea how bad dehydration could get.

The headaches have come and go. Tonight, I'm ok and baby Helaina is still as active as ever. I'm feeling better and I pray I'll continue to feel better.

1 comment:

Deanna said...

Migraines are aweful!
So very sorry.
I never had these during a pregnancy.
Mine came when in my 40s. I'm in my 50s now and doing much better.
God bless you and may you never have another migraine.