2021 Summer Recap
Hello all, it’s been awhile. I was just looking and saw that I have not made a post since May! It’s hard to believe that it was that long ago that I was compiling the list of movie recommendations for y’all (link to there here). There definitely would not have been such a long break had I been feeling better. Summers are consistently pretty hard for me. Part of my POTS is that I have a hard time regulating my body temperature, so me and the heat don’t really get along.
- In May I turned 24! We went to Denton Valley for my birthday and got some fresh pro
duce for my dad to cook out on the grill, and some other goodies from their store. I also updated my drivers license, and now it is the grownup horizontal one!
- I got allergy tested and we learned that I’m pretty much allergic to everything outside in Texas. Seriously, I’m allergic to pecan trees! We have one in the front yard and another one in the backyard, just like every yard around here. Now we are trying some daily OTC meds to manage my allergies and help clear my airway to help with my TMJ pain.
- Due to my continued problems with my TMJ, I started physical therapy for it. My physical therapist also happens to be one of my old college athletic training professors! It’s really nice knowing my therapist and knowing that he really knows what he is doing! Not just anyone can treat my TMJ with the complication of my hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Because of my hypermobility everything is really unstable, so we are working on that and pain reduction. I’m hoping for a time when the base of my skull and my first vertebrae don’t constantly grind against each other and pop.
- We did a garden for the first time this year! It was really fun going out and watching the plants grow. This year was all about learning how to do it, so next year we can really get everything set up for the optimal chances of getting some veggies. TinkerBell really enjoyed the garden too, she got to go outside and play in the backyard while we watered. That inside dog didn’t know what to do with herself! We were able to get a few tomatoes, squash and zucchini, and lots of okra! We also had a watermelon plant that has now produced two watermelons, but they have not developed enough to pick and eat as of now.
- We watched the gymnastics olympics (yes, you read that right, to me the ‘summer’ olympics is really just gymnastics)! I had intended on doing a whole post over it with my insight and opinions over everything that happened, but I didn’t end up getting that done as the summer months tend to be pretty hard on me. I could still do it if you are interested, or has that train passed? Let me know if that would be something that you would want to read!
So that pretty much sums up my summer! We didn’t get out to do much since it was so hot, and I just really didn’t feel up to doing too much. Part of my autonomic dysfunction is I have a hard time controlling my body temperature, so I can get overheated pretty easily.
Now that we’ve gotten caught up, let's get into the last month of my life. I think that with the way my August went, it could be coined as August Agony. Over the last month, my health hit a major low spot that I am still recovering from.
On Friday, August 6th I woke up with a sharp pain in my stomach and back. I decided to not think much of it because it isn’t uncommon for me to have abdominal pains. I went about my day - I went to my physical therapy, went out to dinner with some family friends - and I felt okay. When I went to bed that night, the pain had gotten so bad that I could not get comfortable. I ended up getting my parents up because I was in so much pain. We discussed it and we would see how I felt in the morning to do something.
Saturday morning I was still in a lot of pain, so my dad took me to the emergency room. I honestly think this visit was a total joke. I never even went to a room. All they did was bloodwork and an ovarian ultrasound to check for torsion (which was fine and not the area of my stomach that was hurting). They told me they didn’t know why I was in pain, but it was non emergent and to see my primary on Monday.
On Sunday I was still in a lot of pain, and I started vomiting from it. So we went back to the emergency room. This go around they gave me some pain and nausea medicine and ordered a CT scan with contrast. They found that my right kidney and ureter was inflamed, so I should get with my primary doctor and a urologist.
On Monday I was in agony. I started throwing up every few minutes, even with nausea medication. When it got to the point that I had blood in my vomit we went back to the ER. We had called my doctor, and he told me to take the nausea meds and go to the ER if I got worse. He also said that if they wouldn’t admit me, he would work on a direct admit.
This time they decided to get me a CT without contrast so they could see if I had any kidney stones. My results showed something that they claimed they hadn’t seen before. None of the contrast from the CT scan on Sunday had passed through, it was all sitting in that kidney. My ureter had completely closed off from scar tissue and swelling. The ER doctor admitted that she had never seen anything like this before. That got me admitted - finally.
On Tuesday I had my first surgery. Even in the surgery they couldn’t tell if I had any stones because the contrast was still trapped in my kidney, now two days after it was initially given. A stent was placed and we would see how things went. I spent another two days in the hospital recovering and getting meds by IV. I was sent home with a course of antibiotics to treat the infection.
Two weeks later I had my second surgery to get the stent removed. In this one, they were able to see that my ureter was still closed off by a kidney stone in the opening. I also had a few other stones in my kidney. They were crushed using sound waves and I got another stent. This was pretty hard on my body and I was in even more pain than when I went into the ER to begin with and was super nauseous. The infection was penicillin resistant, so I also had to take another course of antibiotics.
Finally after another two weeks with the stent in and the next round of antibiotics, I was finally able to get the stent out. I was able to get the stent out in the office without having to go back under anesthesia. So for now, I currently do not have any stones. My urologist has ordered for me to have additional testing to figure out why my body was creating the stones in the first place.
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| I wanted something light hearted to watch, so I binged Reba while I was recovering. |
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| I had a really hard time with nausea through everything, so when I was able to start eating again I was so happy. |
Now that I have my stent out, I have returned to physical therapy for my jaws/neck/shoulders. I’m still recovering from all of my kidney stuff. I got pretty weak and all of my medications have gotten out of whack. They have taken off several of my meds for various reasons, and I haven’t made it back to my primary care doctor yet to go over what meds I should or shouldn’t take. (I see him next week to go over that!) Because I am off of my migraine meds at the moment, I’ve been dealing with daily headaches and migraines. I’m hoping that my doctor will tell me I can get me back on it, or prescribe a new one.
So that has been the last month of my life. Now that we are now half way through September I am getting ready for fall and Spooky season. Stay tuned for some Halloween season posts!
And if you made it through all of that, thank you for reading! I hope that y’all are all doing well!
XOXO Emily
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