Hospital Stay 19

Sometime in July or August I started to not feel very well. Still ok for the most part, but just not as good as normal. I didn't really even realize it but I stated to not eat as well and started to lose weight. Like I said, I still felt ok compared to how I've been in the past, so it was subtle enough that I didn't think it was anything too bad. Once I noticed I had lost a few pounds I tried to eat better, but I was nauseated a lot and just couldn't. I also had been getting tons of UTI's so I saw the urologist who had me get a CT scan to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with my kidneys. 

I had an appointment with my GI doctor in SL on August 31. It was just a checkup because I hadn't seen her in 6 months. She had me go get blood drawn while she requested a copy of the CT scan. I was so dehydrated they could not get any blood. She was able to look at the CT scan, and when I went back up to her office, her nurse told me I needed to go get an MRI right away because it looked like there was a collection of fluid that could be an abscess. Since I've had them before she was really concerned. I went and got the MRI and after a few pokes they were able to get an IV started. Then the nurse called me and said that since they weren't able to get blood drawn, she wanted me to go and get some IV fluids to get hydrated so they could draw it. When I got to her office to get the fluids, the nurse told me that the MRI definitely showed what looked like an abscess, so the doctor wanted to admit me to LDS Hospital and give me fluids overnight, and drain the abscess in the morning. 

I was kind of surprised, but at this point, I was like, "whatever." This was my 19th stay in the hospital, and broke my year and half hospital free streak. Luckily it was just overnight. It was nice to get some pain and nausea medicine and feel a little better. The next morning they sedated me a little while the put in a needle and drew out several syringes of fluid. Luckily the fluid was clear and did not looked infected at all. But, they still decided to leave a drain it for a couple days. 

The hospitalist who was seeing me was also concerned about my nutrition. I had briefly talked about it with the GI too. Everyone was concerned with how much weight I had lost. (At this point I was 83 pounds, and had weighed between 90-92 at the beginning of August). From past experience, I know that once I lose weight, it is IMPOSSIBLE to gain it back on my own. In the past I would drink 3 Boost or Ensures/day, plus eat meals and snacks, eating enough calories well above what I needed to gain weight, and after doing this for weeks and months, did not gain a pound. When I feel good and eat normally, I can maintain my weight, but once I lose it, it does not come back, even after I start to feel good and eat better again. When I eat, my ostomy bag is full within 10 minutes. I'm missing so much intestine, that I just don't absorb what I eat very well. The dietitian came and we discussed all this and she thought TPN would be a good option and recommended in her note that I start it. The hospitalist came and said he talked to my GI doctor and they were hesitant to do TPN because of the risk of infection with a PICC line, and my suppressed immune system. He really wanted me to try tube feeding first. I explained that I've tried it in the past, and it makes me sick, even elemental formulas (which are easily digested). But I agreed to try it. I agreed so that they would see it didn't really work and I could get TPN. 

In the meantime, we found out that the fluid they drained was just fluid. Nothing grew out of it and no one could really say where it came from. The best anyone could come up with was that it was a cyst on an ovary or fluid in an fallopian tube. It was kind of strange because I had recently had a pelvic ultrasound and an HSG test (where they inject dye into the fallopian tubes to make sure they are clear) and neither of those tests showed a cyst or extra fluid. So I need to follow up with the fertility doctor and OBGYN about this. The drain was removed by my primary care doctor a couple days later.

When the tube feeding was started we increased the rate it went in very slowly, but whenever it got above 15 or 20 ml/hr, my stomach hurt too bad, so we either had to stop it or bring it back down. This went on for over a week and I had a heck of a time convincing someone to help me and get TPN instead. I actually lost more weight during this time, and weighed as low as 79 pounds. If we lived in a bigger town, it wouldn't have been an issue, but there are no doctors or dietitians here in Roosevelt that manage TPN, and my GI doctor said she didn't do it either so I should find someone else. She actually called me right about when I had tried calling the last person who I thought might be able to do it, and asked if I had found someone. When I said no, she said she would do it. She forgot to send an order to have the feeding tube pulled out, and she was going to be out of the office the next day, so Chris just pulled it out for me. :) He was pretty proud of himself.

That night I was up all night with bad abdominal pain. I felt like I had a bowel obstruction. I've had them so many times I really felt like that was what it was. We went to the ER about 6 am. It took the nurse FIVE times to get an IV started. He even had a cool thing that he shined on my arm and it showed him where all the veins were. My veins have just had it over the years I think. The doctor was not convinced that that was the problem and it was hard to convince him to even do an x ray. Finally he did, and then we did a CT scan and it turned out that there were more cysts on my ovary. I had my PICC scheduled that afternoon, so we went and did that not long after we left the ER. Just a nurse did it, so I was glad I was so drugged up so I pretty much slept through the whole thing. It took a couple hours and involved a lot of blood, but he did a good job. 

So we did get the TPN started and have been doing it ever since. I have had to do it 24 hours/day, but we are working towards only doing it at night. My weight is back up to 82 pounds, so I am getting some weight back, slowly. :) I am feeling better. Still not able to eat a ton, but I am eating. The GI doctor does not really think this has any to do with my Crohn's, and I'm beginning to think so. Lately I randomly keep getting sharp pain on my left side. Sometimes it is only there for a few minutes, sometimes it is there all day. I think it has to do with cysts on my ovary. So more doctors are in my future, but hopefully we can figure it out.

I have appreciated all the prayers and love. I always feel very loved whenever I go through something like this, and I definitely feel the love of my Savior and all he does for me. Chris is also a huge plus! Don't know what I would do without him, really. :)

Waking up after the fluid was drained.

 Bruise from one of many IV's I had

The wonderful feeding tube

FINALLY a PICC line. :)

Baby Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are still trying to have a baby. I know that we have only been trying for 9 months, but we wanted a baby for 2 years before that, and couldn't even try because of my health. So this seems like it is taking so long! 

My OBGYN here said that if I was younger he would tell us to wait a little longer, but because I am 28 (I know!) we could go ahead and start trying some other things. It has been kind of hard lately with both of us being gone so much and being apart, but we have now talked with a fertility doctor and had a couple tests done. So far everything looks good. We are going to do a couple more this month and go from there. 

We read this article last week for Family Home Evening and it helped us to have a renewed hope and to think of some more actions we want to start taking to help us have a baby. 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/08/young-adults/patience-more-than-waiting?lang=eng

I love the gospel and the help it gives us through our trials!

If we don't get very far with this, then we may start thinking of Foster Care, because it is so much cheaper to adopt that way. I'm not ready for that yet though. I want a baby so bad, I just don't know if I could handle if a baby got taken away from me right now. Maybe if I already had my own child. We have not made an adoption profile yet, but if anyone knows of a baby that needs some awesome parents, let us know!

I have still been feeling pretty good. My joints have decided to act up again. I had an appointment with the Rheumatologist who wants me to start taking a medication that I stopped taking because we are trying to have a baby. She seems to think it would be fine to take while pregnant, but others doctors have told it's not. She did say that the better your arthritis is controlled, the better the baby will do, but I think I'm going to see if she will give me some steroid shots in my fingers instead. She only does them on Fridays, so I might have to make another trip to SL, but that would be worth it. My stomach has bothered me a little the last month or so, but not bad. I have an appointment in a couple weeks with the GI doctor. I wouldn't be surprised if she says it's time for another scope. I just keep praying that I will keep feeling good so we can get pregnant. :)

Tetons/Yellowstone 2015

This last weekend we went on our annual trip with Chris' family to the Tetons. We always go camping there and spend a day in Yellowstone. We didn't go last year because Chris had started his job in Roosevelt about a month before, but then no one ended up going because Brett's mom passed away. I'm glad we got to go this year. There were 18 of us!

Chris' brothers Robby and Ryan got there Wednesday night to get a camping spot. Chris mom and stepdad and sister Courtney and her husband got there early the next morning. We originally planned to leave early Friday morning but then Chris ended up getting Thursday off a couple days beforehand. I was really excited. But then the night before, he got an email saying there was going to be an inventory audit the next morning that he needed to be at. :( I was so upset! They told him they would be there at 10, and they didn't get there till 11:15, so we ended up leaving at 1:30, and getting there about 7:30 Thursday night. We missed playing on the beach that day, but oh well, there's always next year. 

Nala loved holding everyone's hand.

Friday morning most of us went into Yellowstone. We went and saw Old Faithful since we didn't see it the last time we were there. The kids thought it was great. We stopped at a picnic area to eat lunch and took these pics.

The Girls...and Robby and Calvry

The boys were hilarious. We made them get in order from oldest to youngest while trying to stay on the log after this pic was taken. Even though Chris was on the end, we made him go all the way to the other end. I love Damian in this pic. 

We saw lots of bison. Damian gave the peace sign in almost every pic I took of him.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Chris thinks he's sneaky.

It was fun to see Courtney! We only get to see her once or twice a year!

One the way back from Yellowstone we saw a grizzly bear and her two cubs. That same day a hiker was found killed by a grizzly and at least one cub in the same area. We're not sure if it's the same one though. It also started rain on the way back. We ate dinner at the restaurant at the campground and then went to bed. It rained all night. Chris, his stepdad, and stepsister planned to go on a 20 mile hike the next day but decided not to because of the rain. I was secretly glad Chris got to stay with me instead. :) It was still raining off and on on Saturday so decided to go into Jackson Hole and look around instead of staying inside the tents all day. We took this pic right before we left. 

 Since we were going all the way to Jackson, and it was till raining, some of us decided to pack up our stuff and leave from there, instead of leaving the next morning. I forgot to take any pics in Jackson, I wanted a pic under the elk antler arch. But oh well, I have one from a couple years ago. It was lots of fun and so good to see everyone. I can't wait until we can live closer to family again!

Goodbye to the Tetons until next year!

Summer 2015

 We decided it was high time we do something with our summer, we have done a couple things in the last couple weeks that are worth blogging about. A playhouse in Vernal was putting on the play Beauty and the Beast, so I talked Chris into going. It was outside at an amphitheater. We got tickets for the first row so Chris could hear better. It was really fun!

We wanted to go camping a couple weekends ago but didn't have time to do everything that goes along with getting ready for camping, so we just went up Saturday morning and stayed until the afternoon. We had to throw candy in the Myton parade that afternoon for Chris' work or we would have stayed longer. 

We like to play catch when we go up in the mountains.

We had our standard tinfoil dinners for lunch.

Just relaxing.

 We ran into a moose just standing in the middle of the road staring at us.

We have more fun things planned for the rest of the summer!

July 4th 2015

I went and stayed with my mom for the first 11 days of July while my brother Kelby went to scout camp and his wife spent time with her sister who was in town. Kyler and Steph were there the first couple of days, and then Chris came the afternoon of the 3rd and stayed the whole weekend, so we got to celebrate the 4th together. We hung out with my mom during the day, then in the afternoon we drove to Twin and spend about an hour with his mom and brothers. Wish we could have spent more time there! They had lunch at the boat docks on his grandparent's property, right above Shoshone Falls. Afterwards I think they were going to play some volleyball, but we had to leave to get back to my mom. It was nice to see them though.

Love all these little girls so much!

Calvry was kayaking.

That night we went to Heyburn and watched the Burley Fireworks with Chris' friend and old roommate and his family. We basically had front row seats. It was the best view. And it was good to see Garrett and Maddie for a few minutes.

Chris left Sunday and I stayed the whole next until Saturday. I was nice being able to spend so much time with my mom again. During the week I got to go Rupert and have lunch with my friends Carrie and Liz. Carrie and I lived together for a year in college too. Really wish I lived closer. It was so fun, I wish I could see them more. I will get to see them again at my 10 year High School Reunion (gasp!). I know, it doesn't seem like I'm that old. Or maybe it does, I'm not sure. :) I got back on Saturday the 11th, and the next Monday Chris left to go on a 50 Mile Hike with the Young Men in our ward. As part of his calling as a counselor in the Young Men's Presidency, he got to go. He was really looking forward to it for months. They were gone until Saturday. He came back very smelly and very sore, but he had a lot of fun.

I feel like we spent about a month of the summer apart, so now we need to get with the program and do some things together! :)

Girls Camp 2015

Because my calling in church is in Young Women, I got to go to Girl's Camp this year. This was my first time going as a leader. My calling is the Beehive Advisor, meaning I teach the lessons on Sunday to the 12-13 year old girls. I loved getting to get to know all the other girls better too. I have some very cherished memories of Girl's Camp and the wonderful girls and leaders I went with, I hope that these girls will remember me as well and that I can make a difference in their lives. I was impressed with girls' willingness to work and help each other, and it was so wonderful being around their wonderful spirits and hearing and seeing their testimonies.

 I was in charge of 2 crafts for the girls to do while we were there. Surprise! I cut out the words "Be YOU Tiful" on my Cricut and brought them each a piece of 2 x 4 and some paint. They painted their wood and then modge podged the words on. They loved it and they turned out really cute. 

A couple days later we did the second craft. I brought them all a picture frame, a knob, and some lace and they painted the frames, and the glued the knob and lace on, with some ribbon to hang it on the wall. It is a jewelry hanger. They also loved that and I think they had lots of fun.

One of the days the girls did a challenge course. They went through different team work obstacles. We didn't get to go with them, because they wanted to girls to work through them without their leaders' help, but we did get to do that last part while we waited for them, which was a ropes course. We climbed up a pole, walked across a log, and then slid down on a zip line. It was really fun and I was really proud of all the girls who did it. Some even did it blindfolded!

One day we went on a 5 mile hike with the whole stake. It was fun walking and talking with he girls and the view at the top was very worth it.

 There was a moose and her baby wandering around our campground the whole time and we saw it a few times pretty close up. 

These girls are so silly and fun, but so spiritual at the same time. Our theme was about being a virtuous woman, and I know they all already are, and will grow up to be great examples to those around them!

Memorial Day Weekend 2015

Last week there was a carnival in town so I talked Chris into taking me down and riding the ferris wheel. I love ferris wheels, don't know why. I guess I think they are romantic. :) Love my cute husband!

We decided to go home for Memorial Day, and after the fact we realized that no one was really going to be there for most of the weekend, but we went anyway. Chris' mom and step dad went to Yellowstone and came back Sunday night. His dad and stepmom were gone and came back Saturday evening. None of my cousins came and my aunts and uncles were leaving town. But we really needed to get out of town. Saturday we did a little shopping in the morning, and then we saw Chris' brother Robby and his girlfriend. Then I went and saw my friends Sarah and Melissa who I worked with in Twin. I miss them so much. Melissa's daughter was having a birthday was having a birthday party at the new park in Twin so I went down there and hung out for awhile while Chris went and saw his brothers and cousin. I'm mad I forgot to get a picture with them. Later we had ice cream with my roommate Amy who is from Twin and was in town. It was really good to get to see friends who we normally don't have time to see. 

We went to Chris' grandparent' house and visited with them, and then swam for awhile in his Aunt and Uncle's new pool, who live next door. That night we went and had dinner at Chris' dad's. Sunday we went to church and then saw his mom later when she got home. Monday we met Chris' family at the cemetery to put flowers on graves. We stopped in Burley to see my brother Kelby and his family. 

 

 Before we left town for good we stopped at the Heyburn Cemetery and saw my Grandma and Grandpa Hellewell's graves and my mom's three sisters. It wouldn't be Memorial Day if we didn't. 

Definitely not a Memorial Day I am used to, but it was fun anyway. I'm glad we got to spend so much time with Chris' family, and whit people we don't get a lot of time to see.