Well this is the mother of all posts, the whole reason I decided to start this blog. This post will actually be a two part post because I didn't want it to be too long. :)
About two weeks ago I took myself to the ER because of my Crohns, it was a first for me. I have never been to the hospital for my Crohns, even though there were times that maybe I should have. While I was in the hospital David suggested I start a log of my Crohns. When he said that, I thought he meant like a log of the foods I can't have or the times that I am having problems, but he also said that maybe it would help other people. I then realized he meant something like a blog and thus this blog was born!
Alright so let's get back to how I ended up at the ER.
Towards the end of January Emma and I got the flu. I took her to the hospital on a Saturday because I couldn't get her fever to go down. The hospital said she possibly had bronchitis. I am not sure why they didn't test her for the flu when pretty much every school in Stafford had an outbreak of the flu. The middle of that week I took her to the pediatrician and was told it was the flu. Just before her appointment I received a call from her teacher that there was a confirmed outbreak of the flu in her classroom. During this time I was so fortunate to get it myself. I took three days off from work to tend to Emma and myself, but then had to get back to work. I still felt like crap for the next week and a half. During this time I was due to take my medicine. Since I was already sick I didn't take my medication because it lowers my immune system and makes me more suspectible to illness.
Two weeks after getting the flu Emma got the stomach flu from her school (joy) and I in turn got it as well. Getting the stomach flu on top of having Crohns just seems cruel to me. OH so you're down? Here let me kick you! So I was out of work for another couple days. I was in the bathroom alot, unable to eat much, I threw up a few times and constantly felt nausea. I also was exhausted all the time. I was crashing at 8-9pm and barely able to get up in the mornings and I spent my weekends confined to the couch. God bless David during this time with helping out around the house. And I was very cold, always cold, sitting at my desk at work wearing a winter jacket and still shivering. It took me about a week or so to get over this stomach bug and I did start to feel better for a few days. Not long afterwards though I started to get sick again and actually thought I had gotten another stomach virus. All the same symptoms minus the vomitting but add acid reflux, which still made me nausea. It was absolutely terrible. I desparately needed to take time off to get better. However I was warned by my work if I took anymore time off I would be let go because of my attendance. Also during this time I was dealing with other issues in our life, it was a constant barage of one thing after another. I was one stressed out Melissa!
I woke up on a Tuesday completely drained and not wanting to go to work. I ended up with a new, painful symptom. All my joints, mainly my lower joints ached terribly and it was very hard to walk. But the show must go on and off to work I went. I only lasted until lunch time when I text David telling him about my joints and he text back saying I needed to go to the doctor because he was concerned. I called him and told him that if I went to the doctor, even if I waited until after work to go, they would more than likely send me to the hospital and I would be in for a few days. We could not afford for me to miss work and potentially lose my job. I was between a rock and hard place, a very sick hard place.
What David said to me next I already knew, but didn't want to admit to myself. I was not doing well, I was in fact very sick and needed medical attention STAT. Between getting sick over and over again and not taking my medication I had let myself get to a point that I could not get better on my own. So at my desk at work I finally had a break down and cried my eyes out. David said my health was more important than my job, if they fired me they fired me and that was that. We would somehow manage if that happened but would deal with it when the time came. I needed to take care of myself first.
I went into my boss's office and explained the situation and that I needed to go to the hospital. She was unaware that I was feeling so terribly and agreed that my health was more important and just asked to be kept in the loop on how I was doing. Crohns is invisible disease so it's hard for other people to tell when I am not feeling well unless I have told you or you are very close to me and can see it first hand.
I wasn't sure what the hospital was going to do but I was relieved that I was going to get the attention and rest that I needed. So off to the hospital I went.
Stay tuned for the rest...
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