Bye-Bye 2012! Good Riddance.

You've probably noticed that I haven't posted anything in a few months... 4 months to be exact. Well, right after Ava's 1st birthday, I went into the hospital with, what we thought was, extreme dehydration. I'd been put on an antibiotic (Cipro) the week before for a sinus infection. My head hurt, my sinuses hurt, I felt sick, I was throwing up, I couldn't hold anything down... I was done messing around. Luke called his angel of a mother to come get the kids and he took me to the ER.

I think it was partly because it was 7am on a Tuesday morning and partly a miracle that I got right in... no wait. They gave me Zofran immediately to ease my intense nausea which helped a little but not entirely. They also gave me morphine for my migraine that I'd had for 2 days... again, that helped a little. I was taken down to get a CT scan that came back clean with no sinus infection or anything else, but because I couldn't eat anything and my weight was down so much, the ER doctor (as well as my primary doctor that she was in contact with) wanted to admit me to run more tests to figure out what was causing my problems.

We thought it would be a day or two in the hospital and I'd be home. Oh no... 12 days later (that Luke was there for every second of - husband of the year award goes to.... LUKE SINAK!) - as well as 2 MRIs, a spinal tap, a spinal fluid plug and an angiogram - they still had no answers and I was still in intense pain. I had a team of doctors working on my case - I almost felt like I was on the show House or something.

I don't remember much from the hospital because of the incredible amount of narcotics I was on. Luke and a couple friends have filled me in on a few of the happenings:

1. Luke had to take my phone away from me because I was trying to call or text random people. My brain wasn't working right so all I remember is trying to work my phone but being unable to. Seriously, you should have seen some of those texts.
2. Luke and my friend Kim took me downstairs to get a change of scenery. The lights really aggravated my migraines so I had to wear my sunglasses to which I so proudly proclaimed, "Look! I'm Angelina Jolie!" 
3. I was having serious hair issues from laying in a hospital bed for a week and a half without washing it. Trust me, I wasn't happy about it. So I insisted that Luke go downstairs and get me a hot oil treatment for my hair... like it's 2002 and that's the best thing I could think of. Awesome.
4. I'm sure there are many more, but I can't think of them at the moment. 

Anyway, even after the 12 days in the hospital, they were no closer to finding a solution so I was sent home with a miriad of prescriptions to help control my pain. Most of these bad boys were narcotic. I was in no shape to care for my children on my own and with the meds that I was on, I didn't want to be left alone. So, my incredible angel-like in-laws took me and my kiddos in during the days while Luke worked. Penny (my mother in law) shuttled me from doctor appointment to doctor appointment and never complained. This isn't a suck-up comment, but I truly hope I can be half the mom-in-law to my future daughter-in-law that she is to me. 

I started going to the chiropractor to help the headaches as well because they seemed to be muscular more than neurological. My chiro is amazing and worked wonders. She didn't cure things but she sure took the edge off. Along with that and time, we were able to ween down off all my narcotics so (4 months later) I'm only on one mild medication to control the chronic headaches. I'll be on it for another 3 months, after which, I'm hoping to be able to be off all meds. 

During the first month+ of being home from the hospital, my AMAZING church family provided dinners... every. night. I'm still incredibly moved my this gesture of love from these incredible people that I may or may not have known at the time. Our church has since planted and I'm so grateful for this part of my horrific experience to see, first hand, the amazing caliber of people that we are so lucky to have at Quest. If you are reading this and provided us a meal (or anything else) please know how truly thankful we are for you and your generosity. 

So, what caused all this?

The doctors are leaning towards viral meningitis but they couldn't be sure because they were unable to pinpoint the virus that was causing it. Other people thought that this whole thing was caused by an allergic reaction to the Cipro. My family has a long line of allergic reactions to that particular antibiotic that I didn't know about at the time. All I know is that I won't be taking that medication ever again and all this is in the past - nothing can be done about it... time to move on.