TUESDAY, GETTING ADMITTED...PART II

So, once I got wheeled down to my room...

Gown on. Check.

ID Bands on. Check.

Husband by my side. Check.

IV started...Not my favorite part.

In my opinion, IV's are one of the worst things that can happen to a person in a hospital.

While being chauffeured to my room in a wheelchair, I saw my nurse (Barb) who got me ready for my c-section and also did the IV for that procedure. One try...didn't hurt at all. So, when she stopped by my room to say hi, I asked if she could put in my IV. She switched some patients around and was able to add me to her list. I was glad to have a familiar face taking care of me.

Barb got set up for the IV....and then couldn't find any real good veins! She said that I had lost so much fluid after delivery that all my veins are now hiding. She gave 2 attempts, one on each arm before going to get another nurse to try.

The second nurse came in....found the vein she wanted...but it "blew".

Yes, there were tears. But, wait! It gets better! These nurses at least stopped trying once they realized it was not going to work. So, they decided to call in the "Big Dogs" and have a flight nurse (a nurse that goes out on ambulance calls) to come and put in the IV so I wouldn't have to continue living as a pin cushion. I was told that these people can see veins that no one else can.

This should be a piece of cake, right?

A couple minutes later...in walks a VERY TOUGH, VERY STRONG, VERY SERIOUS LOOKING woman that obviously does not tolerate any sort of non-sense and was just eyeballing everything in the room...including me. A part of me is thinking, "what movie am I in"??? She walked out of the room after noticing things were not ready for her and got another nurse to get the supplies wanted. After, everything was ready...she grabbed my arm, looked at it for almost 1.2 seconds and stabs...and digs...and moves the needle around some more. Pride is a bad thing! She finally gives up on that vein and gets ready for another one. The Ob nurse tells me to make a fist to help "show the veins"...to which "turbo-nurse" immediately says to me....RELAX YOUR ARM. Yes, Ma'am! I have never relaxed one whole side of my body - let alone my arm - as fast as I did to her demand. Never mind that the left side of my body was way tense and I was dripping sweat from every inch on my body!

At least her second attempt was successful, thank goodness!

And, to her credit, she did apologize for having to stick me twice!

ALRIGHT...I'M DONE WITH THE DETAILS...HERE IS THE WRAP-UP! (May 11)

I started "Getting Admitted...Part I and Part II" while in the hospital because a random nurse I had for 3 hours one night refused to listen to me regarding what had previously happened to an IV taped the way she was insisting on taping it. So, in order to protect the latest tube in my arm, I made myself get out of bed at 3am to keep an eye on my IV to make sure it didn't "back flow" and have blood clot in the line which would of course cause it to stop working. But, the vein "blew" instead of the line clotting...so, either way...another IV had to be started.

So, I guess I should have just gone back to sleep!

Anyway, for those keeping score at home....there was a total of 11 attempts for 3 good IV's which eventually all "blew" due to the potent antibiotics that went around the clock for my entire stay at the hospital. So, finally one of the doctors ordered a PICC line to be inserted in my arm. I had no idea what a PICC line entailed. But, it is a more "permanent" IV and they use ultrasound to guide the line. It started in a vein on the inside of my arm and snaked its way up past my shoulder and into my chest. Lovely visual, huh?

But, now....I just want this whole experience behind me. The "23 hour watch" turned into a 10 day nightmare. There was A LOT of praying, too many IV's, lab draws, 4 different types of IV antibiotics used around the clock, pain meds, high fevers, x-rays, CT Scan, 2 different hospital rooms, nurses telling me that I was really sick, 2 days of thinking I might actually die from this infection, a PICC line, 4 blood transfusions, tears, and an "exploratory surgery" to remove a large infected hemotoma and flush out or remove any other infected areas before I was discharged from the hospital in a drug induced haze!

I'm still having some healing issues...I will spare you all the ugly details....but, as always...

THERE IS MUCH TO CELEBRATE!!!

GOD IS GOOD!

We have 3 adorable monkeys...

Brooklyn and Alex are great big sisters!

Riggs is such a sweet baby!

Scott is a loving husband and invested father!

My mom is amazing...staying a month to love on her grand kids

and to help while I was recovering.

And, our family & friends have blessed us beyond measure.

So, it is time to move on with life....and enjoy how God has blessed us!