A Brief Health Update

Hello, friends. As most of you are probably already aware, I recently spent some time in the hospital. Nothing too serious, just some twists and lumps in my insides, but I wanted to give you all update on how I’m doing today.

My hospital visit was Thursday night, which is when I was diagnosed with a small twist in my intestine, as well as a cyst on my ovary. After 6 hours in the ER, and a few tests, I was sent home with a prescription for Voltaren (Diclofenac Sodium), which is a pain medication, and another for Bentyl (Dicyclomine), which is another type of pain reliever, specifically for the abdominal area, to help with the pain and spasms. Neither of them have any serious side effects, and I haven’t had any reactions to either, but they do both cause drowsiness and dizziness, which has not been fun, and I’ve been getting a bit of blurred vision as well.

Friday and Saturday were rough. Those were my pain days. I didn’t want to get off the couch for any reason, I was nauseous and tired from my medications and a lack of real sleep, and I had zero appetite. By Saturday, I hadn’t eaten anything since before my stay in the hospital, so I was feeling really weak, and had a killer migraine that I couldn’t take anything for. Luckily, Kyle was off work and was able to help me with Liam. I was able to eat a frozen dinner later in the evening, as well as some crackers, and that helped a bit.

I weighed myself Sunday morning, and I had lost 3.5 pounds since this all started. I was starting to feel a little bit better by now, and was able to eat finally. Unfortunately, if I ate too fast, or too much, I got immediately nauseous. Also, everything I ate seemed to go straight through my body, and I was constantly hungry. It was a never ending cycle. The pain was much better, and my body was handling my medicine better, and I had finally slept alright.

Yesterday (Monday), I felt almost back to my old self. My appetite was back with a vengeance, and I had little to no pain, unless I was applying pressure to my stomach (like when I lean to put my son in his crib). I could eat without issue, but I had to slow down a little, or I still felt a little nauseous. My medication also hasn’t been knocking me on my ass as hard as it was at the start. I still get some blurred vision, which is a bit annoying, but I only have to take my medications for 5 and 7 days, so I can deal with it.

Today, I feel much better. I’ve been sleeping well (one benefit of these drowsy medications is falling asleep really fast), and even woke up before my son today. I ate a bagel for breakfast with no issue, and I’m not really feeling any pain so far this morning. I just took my medications about 15 minutes ago, so they haven’t kicked in yet, but I feel fine. I don’t really want to keep taking them if I don’t need to, but since I have them, I might as well. My eyes are dry and a bit blurry here and there, but I’m used to it. I also weighed myself, and noticed that I’ve gained back most of the weight I lost from not eating.

I need to put minutes on my phone so that I can call my primary care doctor and update her on all of this, but I don’t really have money right now. I have a scheduled appointment with her on August 1st to talk about my liver and my blood pressure, so I’m sure we’ll talk about it then.

I’m on the mend. I’m glad the pain was short-lived, and I don’t appear to be having any complications from my twist, or my cyst. I should be back at 100% in a day or two. Hopefully!

Thanks for reading, friends!

Jan