Where Have I Been?

Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it's been so long since I blogged. So much has happened, so much has changed. I feel like it would take forever to detail exactly what has happened since I last regularly blogged. Plus, I don't think anyone wants to read the insanely long post that would come out of that.

You might remember that my family and I were preparing to move way back in November. We had just found out that our landlord was selling the house we were living in. A couple days after that bombshell, my grandmother and her husband offered to help us buy a home. So, now we were in a semi-frantic search for a new home-all the while, my cardiac health is just getting crappier and crappier by the day.

It didn't really take that long for us to find "our home" but when we were actively house hunting, it certainly felt like it would take forever. I lived under constant stress and anxiety over finding a home, going through escrow and closing before the lease termination date. On December 10th, our offer was accepted and we were in escrow. We were lucky to be able to do a 30 day escrow, and everything went so smoothly. We closed the 2nd week in January and then spent the rest of that month packing like crazy, but also going back & forth to the cardiologist for me as I was not doing well. Big moving day was January 25th, just 6 days before the lease termination date.

We thought we'd be able to relax and unpack after that day, but my health was getting worse and worse. I was convinced that my complex ovarian cyst was growing and I was in so much pain, I could barely keep anything down. Finally, on February 17th, I told my mom that I needed to go to the ER the next day. I didn't want to go that night because it was late and I knew I would be competing with the drunks who sliced their hands off their wrists or something like that.

The next morning I went to the ER. It was still busy, but I got there at a decent time. I had bloodwork done, then a CT of my abdomen. There was so much fluid in my abdomen that they couldn't even SEE my ovaries. Then, the ER started to think it was related to brain surgery that I had had YEARS ago. So I had a head CT and x-rays of a pathway they needed to look at.

By that time, it was early evening and Neurology & Cardiology wanted me admitted. They couldn't decide where I should go at first, but the availability of a bed on the Neuro floor made the decision for them. I was cleared the next day by Neuro, but Cardiology was filled to the brim, so I didn't get moved to the Cardiology floor until the following day.

Now, came the hard work. All that fluid? That was due to acute onset congestive heart failure. I was already IN heart failure, but it just got really bad over a very short period of time. So I spent 8 additional days in the hospital trying to get stabilized. 10 total days. No cardiac tests were even run until I got most of the fluid off me.

When I was finally released on February 28th, I felt better than I had in a LONG time. I've had 2 visits with my cardiac team since discharge. There's still no answer as to why things worsened so quickly. I will be having a heart catheterization, which is the best way to look at the heart without surgery. We are hoping to get some answers from that.

Now that I am feeling better, it's time to return to books!