Admitted
Hey everyone,
So I don't know how many of you reading this follow my personal account, not just Invisible Wave on Social media, but if you have seen my recent Tik Toks and Instagram posts, you probably know that this past Sunday through Tuesday I was in the hospital.
On Sunday (Jan 23, 2022) I woke up with a slight headache and decided to lay in bed until about 11am. At this point I was starting to feel worse but thought food may help, and I could not have been more wrong. I ate some Sherbet ice cream because normally I hold that down pretty well and I had a feeling my stomach was about to take a turn for the worse. Within an hour, the sherbet was coming back up. From there, anything I tried would not stay down. Around 11:30 PM I made the decision that it was time to go to the ER to get a bag of fluids, some IV Zofran, and whatever else they usually give me.... Thinking that is all it would take.
After two rounds of fluids, three IVs of Zofran, and three failed attempts to hold ginger-ale and lays potato chips (the only gluten-free thing they could find me to try to eat), the doctor told me I needed to be admitted.
My mind began to race. I was so frustrated. Why couldn't I just hold this down? Why was the usual not working? Will my parents be able to come visit? Are they going to put me near COVID people?
I waited in the ER for four hours, waiting for a bed to become available in the actual hospital. During that time they did an X-Ray and Ultraound that came back normal, as well as labs which were normal.
On Monday morning around 6AM they finally came to take me to my new room. They told me I was allowed one visitor for the entirety of my stay... which lead to more conversations. Do I have a parent drive three hours to come be with me in case something happens, or do I have my boyfriend who is ten minutes away come be with me and chance not being able to have a parent if something is really wrong. Ultimately, my sweet mother drove four hours after work to be with me in the hospital.
For most of Monday they kept me on an all clear liquid diet and pumped me full of fluids, Zofran, and another medication to help my stomach calm down (even though it did not hurt.) For dinner they tried to put me on an all liquid diet, and I could not hold it down.
They kept me on meds the whole night and tried the all liquid diet again in the morning. However, they gave me yogurt, milk, and orange juice.... WHICH IS NOT EASY ON THE STOMACH! Luckily I kept the yogurt down. They told me if I kept that down and kept lunch down and felt fine, I could go home that day (now Tuesday).
On Tuesday I was feeling fine. I was ready to go home. I was ready for lunch to prove I was better. Then lunch rolled around... and I did not get a tray... my nurse walked in and said I was on an all ice chip diet until the CT results from the scan I had that morning came back.
They finally came back around 3pm. They showed no inflammation and nothing wrong... so they let me try "real food" and discharged me when I told them I felt perfectly fine.
However, I'm still frustrated. They cannot tell me why this happened. They assume it is Crohn's related, but are not sure. They are having me stop all medications until I can have a follow up visit, which is not available for a few weeks. They also criticized my current care team and made me feel bad for wanting to stick with my current team in Atlanta rather than a team in Tennessee, which I understand it is three hours, but that is my choice. I'm also frustrated because I thought I was in a really good place health wise, until this happened.
Anyways, thanks for reading this far and I hope you all have a great weekend.
Yours Truly,
Kaitlyn
@trusting.my.gut