To expand upon my hospital stay -
For the past few days I've been complaining of hives. Mark noticed them on Sunday but I thought it was razor burn and didn't really think too much of it, until Monday or Tuesday when the rash EXPLODED all over my legs. I called the OB's office and they told me to put hydrocortizone on it, which didn't help. I went out on Wednesday with my friend and noticed the rash was spreading to my arms and hands, so I called the OB's office again and they said to down 50 milligrams of Benedryl, which I also did, which also didn't help.
Considering I'm of the knocked up persuasion, I went to Urgent Care to have them look at it. The doctor kind of freaked and told me it wasn't hives or anything like that, that my rash was broken capillaries in my legs and they took some blood, which came back saying that my platelet count dropped from 157, which is healthy and normal, to about 10 in a weeks time. They had me taken to the hospital in an ambulance, which SUCKED, because I didn't [and still don't] FEEL physically like shit.
I spent four hours in the ER all weepy and teary and hormonal and the cute doctor told me that I have this disease that I can't remember the name of. Basically, because of the mono I had a couple months ago, it screwed my spleen up so much that my spleen thinks that my platelets are bad things and it's killing them all off. The first treatment for this disease-thingy is giving me more platelets, which won't last considering my body is eating them like Pac-Man dots. The second thing, which they normally do, is give a steroid that trains my body not to eat my platelets. They can't do that considering I'm WITH CHILD, so the next thing in an IV treatment that basically does what the steroids were gonna do but in one fell swoop. This is apparently baby-safe.
The stupid thing is that since I've gotten this disease-thingy, I WILL get it again. Also, my platelets were STILL DROPPING when the hospital released me, which I find kind of retarded because the whole reason why they kept me overnight in the first place was to monitor my platelet levels. They gave me platelets last night and my count went up, which is good, but it's not staying there, which they KNEW was going to happen and they sent me home anyway without doing anything else. I have an appointment with the hematologist on Tuesday, and if my platelet count keeps dropping [which I promise you, it will] they're gonna give me the IV treatment. But until then I have to keep the bare minimal strain on my body, which basically means I'm bedridden until Tuesday. Any kind of overt strain could cause internal bleeding or external bleeding or bruising, and if any of this ends up happening then I have to go to the ER right away.
.:breathes:. I don't feel like crap in any way. I feel a bit more fragile considering I know what's going on, so I'm a bit hyper-aware, but I don't feel physically ill. The baby is fine - I had my ultrasound on Tuesday and the rash was there and all over then, so they didn't have to do another ultrasound to check for anything at that point. The platelets won't harm the baby at all, and I was told that the IV treatment won't either.
Nifty little facts I picked up from this sucktastic situation:
- This sucks.
- The Weather Channel is a constant source of entertainment.
- People treat you like a child when you're in the hospital.
- I can't trust Mark to pack a bag of ANYTHING, EVER.
- The Internet at hospitals sucks.
- The communication between doctors and nurses in hospitals is laughable.
- You have to be a ninja to go outside and smoke a damn cigarette.
- Everyone thinks you're overreacting when you ask if a treatment is going to harm your unborn child. NOT PARANOID KTHX, BUT I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW IF THIS IS GOING TO NEGATIVELY EFFECT MY CHILD, DICKWEEDS.
- IV's SUCK.
- Sleeping pills in hospitals PWN regular sleeping pills.
Yea. I'm glad to be home but I have a feeling I'll be back there in a day's time. .:rollseyes:.
