Day 50

I'm going to try and tell you what happened to me and why I am still in the hospital. The week after Christmas I thought I had come down with a  stomach virus. I was unable to eat,  my stomach was cramping and I also threw up a few times. I stayed in bed for a week. I didn't eat anything and I tried to drink some. Well New Year's Day my hubby said I was going to the doctor on my own or he was going to call  an ambulance. I was pretty out of it by then. I remember being carried out of the house by Philip(hubby) and my Daddy. They put me in the car and drove me to my CF doctor's hospital which is  UMC in Jackson, MS.  I was in ICU for 6 days and  some of those days I was unconscious. I was put on dialysis because my kidneys had shut down. They squeezed 7 bags of iv fluid into me. I woke up after four days, but I was out of my head. I was told that people with kidney failure,  it is not uncommon for the person to have delusions. I couldn't say the words that were in my head. It would come out backwards or I couldn't say it at all. I saw water dripping down the walls and from the ceiling. It was crazy because I was sincere in my thoughts. I saw it!  I had crazy nightmares.  I couldn't drink anything because of the dialysis. I guess I was seeing water dripping because I was soooo thirsty.


After 6 days I was moved to a regular hospital room, out of ICU and I basically layed in bed for the next 19 days. I was miserable because I had accumulated so much fluid in my mid section and legs I felt like a walrus. The drs wanted me to sit up 3 times a day. I couldn't even turn myself over in bed. I had to be lifted by one or two strong people just to sit up. Someone had to be behind me to support me or I would just fall back on the bed. I had no strength at all. Finally after 25 days at UMC I had initiated getting me transferred to Duke because they were a transplant center and UMC is not,  lung transplant anyway. A social worker began checking on what it would take for my  insurance to pay for the transfer. It's always about money,  huh? So I found out that my insurance wouldn't pay for me to go to Duke, but it would pay for me to be transferred to UAB in Birmingham, AL. It is the nearest transplant center and I agreed that would be fine with me. 


Over the next few days everything was sorted out and I was transferred from UMC to UAB on a jet with two nurses on board. I took some pain meds before we left and I slept most of the 30 minute flight. I got to the hospital and was put in a step down ICU and I've been here since Jan. 25th. Since being at UAB, I have been given meds to get rid of most of the fluid and I've been walking and exercising in the room everyday. I feel stronger mentally and physically. I'm still having problems lifting myself up from low chairs, but I can get out my hospital bed on my own. I still have someone standing in front of me in case I don't make it. I'm getting there. It is just a slow process. 


Thank you all for your prayers. I feel them all working in me along with God's love. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Love To All..............