My life has been relatively calm. I go from day to day enjoying the smooth sailing. However, I am always a little on edge when my life is easy. I know this is always the calm before the storm. And indeed this was just a break before my life went into chaos mode.
First, my back went out. I thought, “I can get through this.” Then blood clots started developing in my left leg. They traveled to my lungs. They started developing in my arm with my PICC line. I told myself this was just another bump in the road. When the blood clots in my lungs threatened several times to end my life because I could not breathe, I told God I can’t die. I have many more YouTube videos to make. My life continues on.
Next, I am notified I am a potential juror for jury service. I wonder how this will play out. I contact the office to let them know I am disabled. There is no way I will be able to serve eight hours a day. Documentation needs to be submitted, but I have to wait to receive the official disability documents from the court. It then will be a race to try to get a fast doctor’s appointment to have the documents filled out, signed by my physician and returned by the deadline. The court will make a decision if I qualify for dismissal due to being disabled.
Next, an insurance agent deceives me and tries to change my health insurance. I catch on at the end of the call. I scream at the man to leave my insurance alone. I will find out in the next few weeks if my insurance changes or if it remains the same. If it changes, I will owe about $1,200 a day for my IV nutrition and ventilator.
Then, the heat fails on our home. If we turn the heat on, the power goes out. The only way to have electricity is by leaving the heater off. I bundle up, praising God for thermal underwear and a heating pad. I am cold, but it is not terrible.
As my body is overwhelmed with all these issues, my health abruptly fails. I wake up early Sunday morning. I have severe abdominal pain. I start vomiting. I know this is a bowel obstruction. I fight through. The pain is unrelenting. Finally, I go to the emergency department (ED) on Monday. I wonder if I should have stayed home. The ED is packed!
An hour after arriving, an ED doctor sees me in a side room to do an assessment. He notices my skin is yellow. He says my heart rate and breathing are fast. He says I am sick. I feel relief that perhaps I should be here. Yet, I fight with all my might to not bolt out the door and go home.
The long ED visit continues. I am informed I have an ovarian cyst, jaundice and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). My white blood cell count is high. Other markers are abnormal. No one knows for sure what is wrong with me. I am very sick, but there is no clear picture of what is making me so ill.
I am discharged 27 hours after arriving at the ED. I am grateful to be home, but I do not want to deal with my ovarian cyst. Preliminary scans show it is the same type of cyst which nearly killed me in 2008. This cyst will mostly likely have to be removed via surgery. I do not want to undergo any procedures. I will hope and pray the cyst will go away and will not rupture or twist in the meantime. I also will pray this wicked storm of events quickly ends, and I can once again be sailing on smooth seas.
