My body was trying to tell me something

I just got home after being in the hospital for 3 days, 2 nights.  Yep, me.   For what?

Viral Meningitis.  My spinal fluid was infected.

It started last holiday weekend when we didn’t have any nursing since that Saturday afternoon (until Wednesday).  Monday, Memorial Day, I was really feeling run down to the point I couldn’t do much other than sleep and sit on the couch.

Tuesday was Cerezyme day, and we were supposed to have a nurse that day.   Even though I was exhausted, I decided to let Daddy sleep an extra hour since he would be taking Hannah to her appointment.

Surprise, surprise.  The nurse doesn’t show up.   So on two hours sleep, already feeling like crap, I went with Daddy to the appointment.   I should have known then, but looking back something was not right then because I started getting nauseous there and had to sit down in the back room.  I chalked it up to exhaustion, but now I know it was more than that.

We finally had a nurse on Wednesday, but by then I was already completely run down and starting to get nauseous more often and the headaches started.    Pounding headaches.  800 mg Motrin took the edge of them, but never fully got rid of them.  I had to cancel Hannah’s appointment with her pulmologist because there was just no way for me to drive in this state.  During my night shift that night, I was praying that Hannah would fall asleep so that I could lay in bed with her just to put my head down (she didn’t go to sleep until after midnight).

Thursday was a miserable day.  I started getting more nauseous, feverish (with chills), having trouble catching my breath, and the headaches got stronger.   It got to the point I started throwing up gatorade, which was all I was able to get down up until that point.  I was in so much pain, it truly was unbearable.  I woke Daddy up at around 3:30 am crying begging him to take me to the ER.   He was trying to figure out what to do because we couldn’t take the three kids to the hospital with us, especially Hannah who still was susceptible to everything because of her trachiitis.  My in-laws could take Ethan and Abby, but we needed someone with the skills to take care of Hannah.  It just wasn’t meant to be.

Finally, I took a Lortab around 4:00 am and that took the edge off my headaches enough so I could get some sleep.

Friday morning, we had to leave Hannah with ANOTHER new nurse (a rule we make a point not to break), and Daddy took me to Urgent Care.   I was in such bad shape that I had to ask to let me lie down instead of sitting in the waiting room because I was in so much pain and dizzy and my blood pressure was through the roof.   The Urgent Care doc came in, asked me a few questions, and they he sent me down the street to the ER.

“If this is the worst headache you have ever had, then you need to go to the ER and get an emergency head CT.”   Urgent Care called them to tell them I was coming.

They took me in pretty quickly.  Got blood work, set up an IV.   They gave me pain meds for the headache, and I was so grateful because they started working!  Then the sleeping started.  It seems like once the headache started lessening, I slept every single moment I was able.  And I mean EVERY moment.   The doc set me up for a head CT, which was normal, but he also wanted me to do a lumbar puncture to see if there was an infection or blood in my spine from a brain bleed.

By 7 pm, we started seeing the results from the LP come back.  Abnormal.   “Looks like” meningitis.

Meningitis!  I always thought meningitis was something from the 1800s or something!

Between the meningitis and my high blood pressure (averaging about 175/100, up to 205/125), they decided to admit me.  They wanted to rule out bacterial meningitis (hoping for just viral meningitis) and start getting my blood pressure under control.

The next two days were an absolute blur.  I slept A LOT during that admission.   I know I had a brain MRI, chest x-ray, and 2-D heart echo done and a ton of  blood work twice a day, and a lot of meds.   I still couldn’t eat anything, but I finally was able to get down some fruit and a fruit smoothie right before I was discharged.  But most of the time, I slept.

They put me on morphine for my headaches.  It worked, but man I don’t like the way morphine makes you feel those first 10 minutes or so!   The headaches were still incredibly painful, but the morphine did help keep them in check.  We tried tylenol first but that didn’t help at all.

Finally, I got word that my LP results didn’t grow out any bacteria and that I could go home.   So I was discharged around 4 pm (Saturday), and it was the happiest time in my life.   As soon as I got home, I saw Hannah on my father-in-law’s lap, scooped her up, and just sat down on the couch cuddling her (with approval from the doc that I am no longer contagious).

Daddy went out and got my meds, 2 blood pressure meds, an antiviral, and a headache med (Fiorcet) which thankfully helps.    But what was the second thing I did after I hugged Hannah?   Fell asleep for another couple of hours.

Obviously my body was trying to tell me something.   I can’t go on living like this anymore.   The lack of sleep, the stress, etc.  Daddy and I know we need to make some major changes in our “life plan” right now, and he made the first big one for us earlier today (which I will share in another post).

The leading theory is that my body is so worn down, my immune system is so low, that any type of exposure (maybe to one of Hannah’s viruses or one when we were in the hospital a couple of weeks ago) caught hold and I just couldn’t fight it like most people can.

All I know is this could have been so much worse.   I feel like I was really lucky it wasn’t a stroke or heart attack or something else like blood on the brain (from the viral meningitis).

I need to figure out a better way to do all of this … I need to be healthy.  I want to be healthy.