The Story - In two parts (2)

Christmas Day I took my last antibiotic. We laid low during the holidays as we don't celebrate Christmas at our house and we also had newborn twins and a four year old to keep illness free. I was not ready to be around a lot of people yet. DH's sister and nieces came over in the evening and the first thing my six year old niece did was jump into my lap. Right after that I felt a serious amount of pain in my gut and I wasn't quite sure what had happened. I knew something was really wrong but I could see that my incision had not ripped. That later that evening I began having what I have deemed "episodes". MY vision would get blurry, I would get hot then cold, it was hard to breathe but I was convinced that it would pass.
On Monday the 26th we were scheduled to have two Hanukkah parties at my parents home. One party for my siblings and nephews and one with some family friends that really are like family. It wasn't until I was getting my pants on and I started having more of these "episodes" that I thought something might REALLY be wrong. We gathered up the kids and went to my parents home. Once there I started having more episodes and all of the sudden got cold and could not warm myself up. It passed after about forty five minutes but the pain in my belly was pretty intense.
Tuesday morning we were to take the boys for their two week check-up at the pediatricians office. I was holding one of the boys when all of the sudden I began to have an episode. I was trying to will myself to be better. DH was holding the other baby and after about ten or so minutes of continued trouble I asked him to take the other baby too. When the pediatrician walked in she immediately knew something was wrong and asked the nurse to take my blood pressure. I knew something was wrong I just thought it would pass. Sure enough she took my BP and it was 70. The Dr. asked the nurse for something more definitive. The Dr. asked the nurse again 70 over what and the response was 70. The immediately called an ambulance and I got a one way ticket back to the hospital. I begged to be taken to my peri's office as it was 10 am and I had an appointment with him at 1 pm. The doctors at the kids office were not having it and neither were the paramedics and so back to the hospital I went. Just as a mental picture of what kind of physical space I was in, I was unable to breathe, take a deep breathe, roll side to side, walk, barely talk. I was in really bad shape but I had convinced myself that the pain was normal and I was fine.
DH stayed with the boys and finished the appointment with the pediatrician and took the boys home while I laid in the ER. Thank g-d my parents met me in the ER. Several surgeons and residents came in to see me, including my peri who had just delivered a baby. after much testing it was determined that I had a 16 cm abscess on the right side of my abdominal wall. I also had four large blood/fluid filled pockets on the left side. The surgeons wanted to do nothing and wait it out. I on the other hand was in excruciating pain. I have had a lot of very painful things done in my lifetime but this by far was one of the most excruciatingly painful things that had happened to me. I wasn't sure if when my niece jumped in my lap on Saturday night that did something or obviously something really serious had been brewing. It turns out those 'episodes" was my BP going very, very low.
Finally on Thursday after much consultation and my kidney doctor getting involved it was determined that I needed to have those spots drained and put JP drains in my gut. I was in excruciating pain that the doctors and nurses for three days had been unable to control with any medicine. I had no idea the kind of pain that it would be to have these spots drained. The spots on the left side of my belly were behind the muscle wall which meant that had to go through that in order to reach the spots. I cannot explain in words the kind of pain this was. I feel like I have a relatively HIGH pain tolerance but this made me feel like a complete weenie.
I spent seven days in patient in the hospital which included spending New Year's Eve and New Years Day chilling at the hospital in excruciating pain while most people were ringing in the New Year. I was in so much pain that I didn't even care about most things.
Finally late in the afternoon on the 2 of January I was released home. It was still a cluster mess with all of the doctors how I was going to be treated. They released me with the understanding that in two short days I would be coming back to the hospital to be checked. Two short days later and I was not much better. I was still in excruciating pain but at least I was used to it by this point and I was able to put on my brave face. They did all kinds of tests and set me home to "get better". I was told they would call me in a week. A week later still not better they decided that my body was not doing it's job and I spent the whole day in the hospital having a drain placed on the other side and spent the afternoon in the post-anesthesia with BP issues.
Everyone from the peri, radiologist on down the medical chain has been convinced that a few days with a drain and my body will do it's thing and then I will be healthy and done with this whole saga. This has not been the case. I have been back at the hospital each and every week since the boys arrived. NOTHING is ever normal when it comes to me.
Last week when I went to the hospital they did a bunch more tests assuming that this whole this was over. Nope still big pockets in my gut. They capped the drains, did some tests and on "accident" forgot to put them back on. So six hours later when I was again in extreme gut pain and went to the bathroom I noticed that I just had random tubes hanging out of my gut with nothing attached. Back down to the hospital I went at 6 pm at night to get more drains added.
It has been never ended since the first of the year. I finally got the original drain on the right side removed. Earlier last week after being a medical mystery for so long the peri finally sent me over to infectious disease doctors. The infectious disease doctors could not even believe I was walking around with how sick I have been. I think I may actually have some answers from infectious disease and maybe just maybe they can clear this whole mess up since clearly no one else can.
The boys are good, great even. I never thought in a million years that after all the things that I worried about and begged for that I would have to worry about my own life/health. I begged for these boys to live and be healthy. Apparently I forgot the part about myself.
One of these days I am going to be well again. In the mean time that will have to wait as I am already back at work because it's tax time (and my mom was just diagnosed with liver cancer)!