WARNING: The content shared may be graphic and discuss bodily functions with or without images. Do not proceed if this will offend you or you are not interested.
Weekend Prior to Thanksgiving 2018
My Bowels Went From Normal to Not So Normal the
The weekend prior to Thanksgiving 2018, I recall my bowel habits starting to change. Normally, I am very regular and have no issues, but this weekend, things were different. I kept feeling like I needed to go but couldn’t several times. I started spotting thinking I would be starting my period any day now. I had gone for lunch on the beach with friends and felt fine besides the difference in my bowels attempting many times unsuccessfully.
Monday 11/19/2018
Monthly Cycle Started
On Monday, November 19, the week of Thanksgiving 2018, I had started my period and that evening we went to a happy hour with some prior coworkers. After the happy hour, we went to Tampa General hospital to visit Diwaine’s father who was recovering from a stroke and doing totally fine, it is a miracle that he did not have any impact. We stopped at the deli on our way home to grab a few things. I got a mixed greens salad with red beans from the salad bar. We never would have imagined that we would be back in the exact same hospital only hours later on the 2nd floor while his father remained on the 3rd floor for observation.
Tuesday 11/20/2018
4:30 am: Woke Up to Sharp Pains
At 4:30 am Tuesday, November 20th, only 5 hours after we had eaten in the deli of Tampa General Hospital, I woke up drenched in sweat. I had massive extreme pressure like the worst gas cramps you could imagine in your abdomen. I figured, I just needed to use the bathroom or pass gas and I would be fine, but not so much. This was the start of downhill events I never saw coming and pain I have never experienced before.
I got up and wobbled to the bathroom. My body started shaking, I was crippled over in so much pain that I could not stand up straight. I decided to make it downstairs to get some gas ex, moaning, almost crying, walking like a 90-year-old woman all hunched over so slow. I knew I needed to get back to the bathroom upstairs, but it was so hard to move. Finally, I made it and ended up rocking back and forth on the toilet trying any and everything I could to get some relief.
Finally, Diwiane, my boyfriend, woke up wondering what was going on and what he could do. We tried liquid constipation relief; I even tried an enema (which I do not know if I ever have done before), but I was desperate! I was in so much pain that I would have tried anything to get it to stop. At this point, I felt like I was burning up so stripped off all my clothes, I was already scared, but at this point, I started getting really worried.
5 am: Vomiting Started
Around 5 am, I found myself sitting naked on the toilet crying (keep in mind I had just started my period) miserable, shaking, on fire, and then my mouth started watering. I knew what that meant. We managed to get my hair pulled back, and I was able to grab and empty the trash can onto the floor just in time to get it in front of my mouth. So, here I am thinking, I got food poisoning and I will feel better after I throw up. That is all this is! The living hell is almost over! I was wrong.
I continued in this state off and on for about an hour in a half. I went from laying on the ground to lay on the bed, back to the toilet. At this point, I had minor relief, but something still wasn’t right. Still, at this point, I was thinking that I had a terrible virus, stomach bug, or food poisoning so I decided to try to drink some water with essential oil to settle my stomach. That came back up in less than a minute.
7:50 am: Called Nurse On-Call
Around 7:50 am, I called an on-call nurse with my student insurance and explained what had happened. They told me to go to the ER because it could be an organ and needs immediate attention. Initially, I took it with a grain of salt thinking that they are just doing their due diligence and have to tell everyone that.
8 am: Called My Mom
By 8 am, I felt better than when I first woke up but still found myself trembling, shaking, scared, in pain and barely able to move. I could not stand up straight. I could barely move. Everything hurt when I moved. So, I called my mom. She said I need to get to the ER, so we went to the ER at 8:30 am.
9 am: Arrived at ER
We got the ER, used valet, and I wobbled myself all bent over walking ½ foot at a time. I think they ended up getting me a wheelchair shortly after I arrived because I was so slow and could not stand up and barely moved. I remember it hurt to talk, it hurt to move, cough, anything. I felt best if I was laying in 1 position, not moving, not talking, and not breathing deeply. I got registered and they sent me for a consult with the ER doctor in a room.
They didn’t have any room for me in a bed, so they set me in the waiting room with a chair that reclined. They did blood work and a pap smear, started an IV, did a rectal exam for blood (which was negative). They did a CT scan with contrast. They did a vaginal and transvaginal ultrasound. From initial tests, they knew that my hemoglobin was 13 and my white blood cell count was 20. From the scans and exams, they knew that I had an infection in my colon and a growth/cyst on my ovary. I had free-flowing fluid in my abdominal cavity. When I first arrived, my temperature was 99.8 and later in the day, it went to 100.8. My potassium was low. They suspected chron’s disease and/or endometriosis.
Most of the day was spent waiting in the ER room. Every time I had to use the bathroom, it took forever, and I would about cry because of how bad it hurt. One time, my cell phone drug over my stomach and I hurt so bad. They finally got me on fluids and started an antibiotic, zoxyn, during the day while I was in the waiting room.
5 pm: Admitted to Tampa General Hospital
By 5 pm, they admitted me and found a room for me to stay in. By 7 pm, they gave me my first pain meds, tordoll. Every four hours the phlebotomist would have to come in, prick me, and draw several vials of blood to check for an infection in my blood. I had gyno ER and internal medicine ER doctors constantly in and out so much, I was barely able to sleep. They kept wanting to touch my belly to make sure it wasn’t hard. It was soft to the touch for them but brought tears to my eyes with every single touch and I just wanted it to stop.
Wednesday 11/21/2018
5 pm: All Blood Work Clear
By Wednesday 5 pm, my infection was cleared, my hemoglobin regulated itself, and my blood did not show signs of an infection so I was finally released with no answers of what to do, when, where, or how. All I knew was that I felt better. I was still slow, I still hurt, but I could move and walk without crying. It was like night and day. Still to this day, no one has been able to tell me what happened to me, but my theory is that I had a cyst rupture.
7 pm: Released Just in Time for Thanksgiving Thursday – NO Answers, BUT I Felt Better!
Shortly thereafter, I was released, still having no clue what my diagnosis was. All I knew was that if my fever returned or any symptoms, I was to report back to the ER and I was to follow up with some doctors in the coming weeks. I may have Chrones, I may have endometriosis. Do I have both? What kind of doctor can help me from here? I left with so many unanswered questions.
Continue to Part 2: Is it Crohn’s, Endo, Both, or Something Else?
