So I took a super long break from blogging...totally unplanned but now I'm back. Just to recap how I spent that break. After my miscarriage, I went into a depression and stopped working out and taking care of myself. Just as I got myself back in the game, my gallstones became a major problem. The pain was so severe that I went to the emergency room the day after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I must have been interrupting their weekend plans because they gave me some strong pain killers in an IV, wrote me a prescription for pain killers and sent me home. Over the next few days the pain increased substantially and my eyes and skin yellowed. I went to my doctor who told me she would submit a request for me to see a internist and it would take about 2 weeks. Then she went on to tell me my blood and urine tests were normal. What she seemed to have overlooked was the fact that I hadn't had any blood drawn and the urine sample I submitted was brown...yes that's right, BROWN. So I said, "excuse me that cant be right, my urine is brown so there is no way that's normal." She stepped out of the room and came back after 5 minutes or so and said the urine was too dark to be tested. RED FLAG! Hello...maybe this is serious. Anyway, her parting words were that I should go to the hospital if I am in pain.
I was furious. So I left the doctors office and went home to relax which is no easy feat when you have a toddler. The next morning I was in so much pain, hadn't eaten in days and could barely stand up straight. I drove myself to the emergency room. The minute I arrived the nurse asked me if my skin was normally that yellow and I said no. She told me I looked very ill and she was concerned. Finally, someone was listening to me. Someone gave a shit whether I lived or died. Gave another urine sample and agonized through the 8 or 9 attempts to get an IV in just to have one put in my wrist...the under side (OUCH). The doctor saw the black urine by that time and admitted me to the hospital immediately. The ultrasound revealed that my bile duct was blocked. This led to my jaundice which was extreme by that time. I was far more sick than I thought. The first surgery I had was to remove the stones and clear the bile duct. That was a success. It was super weird during the prep because you are on your stomach and there is a tube in your mouth and you cant close your mouth or swallow...very unpleasant. The second surgery was the biggie. My gallbladder was removed the following day and I was terrified. I had never had a major surgery like that. So 4 incisions were made in my stomach and then I was puffed with air to make space in my abdominal cavity. Gallbladder removed! After care was hard. I couldn't move very well and I was in a lot of pain. I spent 4 days in the hospital healing. My red blood cell count was decreasing and I was close to having a blood transfusion but luckily the numbers stabilized and started to increase.
The morning I was to be released Steve dropped Lorenzo off with his sister. He then came and picked me up. What we didn't know is that while Lorenzo was with his aunt he was hit repeatedly. Steve picked Lorenzo up and brought him home. When I changed his diaper I saw that his entire buttocks and thighs were purple. I was completely beside myself. I screamed and cried for several minutes. We took Lorenzo to the emergency room to be examined and ensure there was no internal damage. The police came out and took pictures of him. The person who hit him was arrested.
Thankfully, Lorenzo did not have any signs of internal damage. I had so much fear and rage and it was just a really, really difficult time for my family. Lorenzo would not let me out of his sight for weeks. He woke up screaming night after night. As a mother my heart was breaking because I didn't know how to help my son. I was truly helpless.
All ties have been severed with Steve's sister.
Lorenzo's bruising eventually went away and hopefully he doesn't remember what happened to him. The person who hurt him was sentenced to an extremely short time due to jail overcrowding but he is to attend anger management classes for a year and there is a perpetual order of protection against him. So that's how my year ended.
I vowed that 2012 would be a great year and so far it is. I'm back on my program and I'm preparing Lorenzo for daycare/preschool. I'm incredibly nervous but I trust the staff and I know that they will take great care of my baby. He starts on Monday so it will be very interesting to see how it goes!
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