I Am a Very Unhealthy Person

    Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a time where I feel completely healthy. Where I won't have cramps, or a headache, or back pain, or some weird click in my wrist and I can just feel healthy. Yesterday when I was in the hospital all day for a kidney infection, the nurse asked me some standard questions and one of them was, "Would you consider yourself a healthy person?" I had to laugh because honestly, my answer would be no. I mean I was in the hospital with a kidney infection for starters. But as I started to tell them about my medical history from the past few years, even the Emergency nurse looked a bit concerned. So this experience has me reminiscing on some fun medical adventures I have taken in my life going all the way back to middle school. 

    If you knew me when I was around ten or eleven, you'd remember how I was always either on crutches, had my hand wrapped in a tenser bandage, a brace on my knee, a brace for my wrist or something else to get me out of gym class. I can now admit to all that read this post, I was milking it. I know, probably a huge shock to my parents. Sure, I would twist my ankle or my elbow or something. I had a horse step on my foot and that one really did hurt quite badly, but as a whole I could've gone without the crutches and bandages. 

 I'm going to do my best to make a long story short because I know a lot of people are familiar with this one. In March 2021, I got my appendix out. In a word, it was awful. Because of the Coronavirus I had to be by myself in the hospital in excruciating pain not knowing what the outcome would be. 

I was there for seventeen hours from start to finish until they took me in for surgery to remove my appendix. Before that, I experienced my first IV and Covid test and actually my first ever trip to the hospital in general. It was so weird being there alone, having to give my own consent for them to operate on me. My nurse was amazing and she made me as comfortable as I could. I wish I remembered more about the whole thing because it was probably one of the craziest experiences of my life. But I came out without an appendix and a little bit more tough. 

Another more personal health issue I have had ongoing for several years is my cramps. This is something I don't mind sharing with people even though it is quite a personal part of my life. I had no answers as to why my cramps and general period pain was so bad. I just kind of accepted that I was always going to hurt and there was nothing we could do. Until I ended up in a doctors office, where they gave me the best news. She said that there was a surgery they could perform on me to fix all my pain. She made it sound so casual. Something along the lines of, "You know, we can put you in the surgery waiting list and it will get rid of all of this pain." I was so excited because I was finally seeing the light at the end of a long dark tunnel. I had waited on the surgery waiting list for about a year, when they called me one morning and said they had an available slot only two days later. I made all the arrangements and showed up at the hospital for my surgery. 

Day surgery is very different from emergency surgery. Things moved along quickly and my mom was there and things were going well. I woke up feeling woozy (which I am pretty sure is normal after surgery?) but I am not lying when I say I don't remember a thing from afterwards. Two whole days after the surgery are a complete blur. I have seen photos and videos of myself in those couple days and I feel like it's someone else in my body and the whole thing never happened. It is such a weird feeling. It was the most weird feeling when I stumbled upon my post-op notes and I found the doctors note saying that they didn't find what they thought they would find, and that the surgery was "unsuccessful" I was beyond confused. What was wrong with me? I guess I was right and I was doomed to a life of constant pain. I later received my Nexplanon implant which has helped me a lot with my pain since then.. but I have always found it odd that they put me through the whole ordeal of surgery before offering up some type of strong birth control. 

    Since those experiences, I have been diagnosed with a migraine disorder. I have a migraine every week. It kind of goes three days on four days off. It's pretty awful. Also, everytime I see a doctor or get my vitals taken people are shocked with how high my blood pressure is. Yesterday at the hospital it reached a record of 180 over something scary. It was enough to make the nurses and doctors talk about me around the emergency room. I also have a sore back, sore eyes, sore hips and knees, trouble sleeping, tendinitis in my wrists and so much more. So yesterday when asked if I consider myself a healthy person, I laughed, said no and dove into the same few stories I had just shared with all of you. 

    Today I am on the mend. I was given some blood pressure medication, deep breathing exercises, IV antibiotics as well as prescription antibiotics and a doctors note to rest up for the rest of the week. At least being forced to stay home has given me the chance to blog again, and spend some time with my not so little fur baby.