NO NEWS TODAY

BESIDES ME SLEEPING THE BENADRYL OFF, NOTHING NEW IS GOING ON!

ERIN

day 2 = no good

So the Spinal Tap I had done on the 29th. has left me in some remarkable pain. I'm talking, A ginormous bruise, severe headaches, light sensitivity,pain from the injections sight down to my hips and when I stand up i have so much feeling of pressure that I can barely feel my legs.

The pain was so intense that Dilaudid, Nubane, and Oxycodone was not even thinking about touching the pain. I ended up having to sleep in a chair STRAIGHT UP (as in  the back of the seat was no were near my back)

Well of course the Dilaudid and Nubane reacted together an made everything worse. I'm not sure what happened because the ended up giving me Benadryl to knock me out. something had to have happened because I have to see a psychiatrist in the morning.

If only I knew what I did.

Erin

3 days vacation and im back

I went home with IV antibiotics, and a picc line, and was told that i, or an RN could do the treatment at home, and flush with saline  and heparin

so this time i was ever so lucky enough to come back for :

PICC Line removal

Spinal Tap #2

Platelet Transfusion

Blood Transfusion

Lots of blood work

Chest X ray

Panaramic X ray

To have all of these test done you should be able to diagnose meningitis, pneumonia.

 i thinkits time tohave a second opinion with my liver dr as well... Allen and I are serioursly thinking about Emory in atlanta.

good by for now,

erin

WAITING TO BE DISCHARGED

I FINALLY GET TO GO HOME TODAY!.....WAAHOOOO!!!!!!..

BUT IM GOING HOME WITH "ATTACHMENTS".  THOSE ATTACHMENTS BEING, A PICC LINE, IV ANTIBIOTICS, AND A WONDERFUL FRIEND THAT IS GONNA DO ALL THE WORK FOR ME.~THANK YOU VERY MUCH TAMMY MARTIN!~ I LOVE YA LOTS.


AFTER THE FEW DAYS OF HOME ANTIBIOTICS, NEUTRAPENIC PRECAUTIONS, AND OTHER GOODIES. I HAVE TO HAVE THE PICC LINE REMOVED. THEY ARE NOT THAT BAD BEING TAKEN OUT. BUT FOR SOME REASON I CANT WATCH IT COME OUT LIKE A NORMAL IV. JUST BOTHERS ME CAUSE ITS SO LONG, AND ALOT BIGGER. IT MAKES ME QUEEZY TO WATCH IT COME OUT. LOL.....


THE FINAL REPORT:

MENINGITIS: BUT STILL UNSURE OF WHICH ONE.


NOW THAT WHEN I LEAVE THIS PLACE AND GET HOME. IM GONNA "TRY" TO KEEP ON UPDATING ON EVERYTHING~

THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS.
ERIN



**day**4**&** counting**

FRIDAY NIGHT VISITORS.

I HAD A SPECIAL FRIEND COME VISIT ME LAST NIGHT! WHITNEY IS ONE OF THE BEST FRIENDS I HAVE EVER HAD, AND I LOVE HER DEARLY!

SINCE THE DR'S. TREATED THE PROBLEM BEFORE KNOWING WHAT IT WAS, IT LEAVES THEM STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. THEY ARE STILL DETERMINED THAT ITS MENINGITIS, JUST NOT SURE WHICH ONE. THEY KNOW ITS NOT BACTERIAL, IF IT WAS I WOULD BE IN ALOT WORSE SHAPE THAN WHAT I WAS IN. BUT WE DO KNOW IT HAS LEFT ME ANEMIC AND NEUTRAPENIC. SO LUCKY ME GETS TO WEAR A MASK EVERYWHERE I GO NOW.

THEY SAY I MIGHT GET TO GO HOME TOMORROW, OR MONDAY. IT DEPENDS ON THE RESULTS THAT ARE STILL PENDING. I MIGHT GO HOME ON ORAL ANTIBIOTICS, OR GO HOME WITH THE PICC LINE AND DO IV ANTIBIOTICS AT HOME. MY RASH IS CLEARING UP ALSO. EXCEPT FOR THE BIG SPOT ON MY ARM.

 C-YA LATER,

ERIN

    

day 3 and counting

so today makes the third day iv been sittin here bored out of my mind. worrying and wondering if i have meningitis or if its something else.

as of right now. i am on 3 different IV antibiotics.  much better than  the 5 that i was on.

now im still waiting on the final results of the MRI and the LP.  The infectious disease Drs. are consulting with the liver doctors, and they are saying tight now that it was meningitis, they just dont know what kind. i now have a rash all over my body. its not bacterial. so it has to be viral or the kind that teens usually get when going to high shcool or college dorms.

if your confused.... its ok.... because i am too!

now lets hope im able to give some better answeres tomorrow.

night all,
erin

Day 2 of home away from home!

DAY TWO OF HOME AWAY FROM HOME!

after the MRI and CT SCAN

there were still more painful things to go through.

• LUMBAR PUNCTURE - In English this would be called a "spinal tap". the spinal fluid looked really good but they said they were gonna send it off, to see what is going on.
• PICC LINE - a catheter that runs from a main vein in the arm to the heart. its supposed to be done as a sterile procedure. much better than an IV will ever be.
•  2 CHEST X-RAYS - to make sure the picc line is in place.

Im not sure if the drs. were just saying it but they said that i made all the grown men look like babies crying and screaming during a spinal tap. well i did cry, but i didnt go all out and make a fool of my self.

the picc line was pretty easy. no where near as bad as the spinal tap. until the x-ray was done and the radiologist had to come back down and replace it. now it hurts. but still much better than any IV


ready for day 3?





it would be cheaper to just rent the room!

Guess where I am!?!?...

the hospital AGAIN!!!!

once again im in the MICU. A special little place they take you when your really sick....or in my case, you have meningitis and they dont know if your contagious or not.

my platelets and RBC counts have gone down the past three days to the point that I have had

•  3 bags of plasma
•  2 bags of whole blood
•  3 bags of platelets
 

i had to have the plasma  in order to have the lumbar puncture (spinal tap) done. We are still trying to rule out the bacterial meningitis due to having to send out the LP fluid for more testing.

 

Southern tennessee medical center did

•  CHEST  X-RAY- it came back normal besides the fluid around the brain stem.
•  CT SCAN- abnormalities showing fluid and swelling on the brain.
•  BLOODWORK- everything was way  out of wack so i was sent to vandy once again.

now that ive been here for going on three days and counting, ill get ya caught up the best i know how.so just sit back and relax a minute or too.... :)



 DAY  ONE OF HOME AWAY FROM HOME.

 

1.  MEET ALL THE DRS. AND GET SETTLED IN - we did this fairly quick. I met the liver Drs., infectious disease Drs., MICU Drs.  I had no problems what-so-ever getting settled in.
2.  CT SCAN -  This scan showed the same thing from the other hospital.
3.  MRI OF BRAIN - This just basically confirmed the CT SCAN, and gave them a better option of doing the spinal tap.
4.  TONS AND TONS OF BLOOD WORK - nothing new here except it showed that i needed lots of blood products. 

 

 

way past due on updates!

im a little behind on updates.  About two weeks ago, I was admitted to Vanderbilt AGAIN!
This time was for:

• DEHYDRATION
• NAUSEA
• VOMITING
• RETAINING FLUID
• BLOOD TRANSFUSION
• ABDOMINAL PAIN
• LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

After literally about 30+ times, (with ultrasound), they finally got an IV.
Ya wanna know where?......wait for it..............the most painful place possible....RIGHT IN THE JUGGULAR!
yep... and its still sore. But finally after four days there, someone elses blood....I started feeling better and this little piggy went WEE WEE WEE!!!! all the way home.

THE END!

:)

Unfortunately, the pain has came back tho... :(