I'm Pretty Much Iron Man

Well, it's been awhile since I updated and a lot has happened. So lets do a fun update post!

On Oct 2, 2013, I went to the hospital to have a Heart Catheterization done. This was an investigative surgery to see how far my Pulmonary Hypertension was. During the surgery they also planned to temporarily inflate a small balloon to close the hole in my heart and see what would happen.

 

During the surgery my blood pressure and oxygen levels got dangerously low and when they inflated the balloon, my heart started to fail. They found that I was already advanced in Pulmonary Hypertension - Stage 4.

Because of this, I was kept in the hospital until treatment could be started. It should be noted that my condition can be treated with medication, but there is not currently a cure. The medication is only there to try and stabilize me. If there happens to be improvement, bonus, but the ultimate goal is just to stop further deterioration.

I was in the hospital for a total of 22 days. A lot of that was waiting for the meds to be approved by insurance and monitoring after starting the meds. Currently I am on 7 medications, 6 are a cocktail of oral drugs and 1 is an incredibly potent and dangerous 24/7 intravenous drug. I mix the meds myself and there is only a 6 minute half life. This means that should there be a malfunction or the drug is disconnected at any time, I have only 6 minutes until the opposite effect takes place (in this case the drug opens the arteries in my lungs, the opposite then is they shut down). Pretty scary.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my time in the hospital:

I asked Caleb & Andy to dress up in jewelry from the Pretty Pretty Princess Dress Up Board Game and they complied. Such gangsters ;)

 My small group came to me in the hospital. Caleb & I were question partners & cuddle buddies :P Here I was on a high-flow oxygen cannula, 40 liters per minute!

 Off the high-flow cannula, just showered and my hair washed. Those were the small victories in the hospital.

 This was Day 8 of 22. I tried keeping a positive attitude and was a favorite among the doctors and nurses!

Now I'm home. I have a central line for my intravenous drugs and I'm slowing upping my dosage daily. Side effects are no fun! Not allowed to return to work yet and getting kind of bored at home! Here is a pic from my first day home after the hospital:

You can see my central line there. Forever connected. And yes, I have been compared to Iron Man. No big deal.

I can see the resemblance...

So now that we have that all updated, I will leave it be for the night. I mean, any longer and people will stop reading. But I do have some fun stories from my time in the hospital that I will share with you all shortly!

J