ShaunaL
Well-Known Member
The past couple years I don't post on here enough for most people to notice if I'm not here but some people have messaged me to see if I'm ok so I thought I might let you guys know what's going on and ask for prayers. I would really really appreciate prayers and good thoughts.
Right now is the hardest time I have ever been through. I had another surgery July 27th, a first rib resection for my thoracic outlet syndrome. The surgery went pretty well, with few complications, and the first few days of recovery were much better than the previous surgery. About 4 days after I got home I started feeling tightness and pain in my chest and pain in my shoulder/arm, much more than regular post surgery pain. I thought it was just from the surgery and tried to tough it out for the rest of the afternoon. By the next morning I could only breathe with great effort and pain, my heart was pounding and feeling very strange. My husband rushed me to the hospital. I was taken back to the ER the moment I got there and within about 2 minutes I was surrounded by drs and nurses.
I had a pulmonary embolism, a collapsed lung, and severe pleural effusion - they drained a liter of fluid from around my lungs. The critical care dr that saw me first said I was already dying by the time I got to the hospital, in ICU they said I would not survive. I was transferred from our local hospital to the ICU at UCLA Med Center. I spent 8 days there in the ICU. I am finally home but still have some serious issues. They found 3 blood clots in my arm, they are still there. My team discussed several modes of treatment, I don't remember the details on why they wouldn't work, something to do with the location of the clots I think. Ultimately they decided on blood thinners. The fluid around my lungs was drained several times before it finally stopped but my lung is still not working or inflating properly so breathing is difficult. I have improved enough to finally be off oxygen though which is great. Being away from my children was horrible, they were not allowed to see me in ICU. I'm so happy to be back home so I can be with them.
I am on bedrest, blood thinners, pain meds. I can't do anything which is incredibly frustrating. I am still very scared that I will have another embolism, with those 3 clots in there. I have a nurse that comes to the house, so she would know if something was happening but it's still frightening. My biggest fear is not of dying, although I am very frightened of that, but that I have 4 very young children who need their mother. I would greatly appreciate any prayers, I need to recover from this, not for my sake but for my children.
I have been very very very lucky so far, but I really need to get past this and back on my feet. We have two people that come in and take care of me and the kids, the house, etc but I need to be the one taking care of my family. Although I am very grateful to them for all they do I can't stand not being able to care for my children. I miss my horses terribly also, I haven't seen them since before my surgery. My son and I have a new horse that is supposed to be here at the end of the month, he is so excited about his new youth show horse's arrival and I can't even be there to enjoy it with him.
Sorry about the long post, guess I had a lot to say. Thank you for letting me get all this out, when these things happen you try to be brave for your family but sometimes it helps just to let out how you really feel. Prayers would be greatly appreciated, the doctors said it was a miracle I made it this far and while they used the terms as a figure of speech I know it really was a miracle from everyone praying for me.
Right now is the hardest time I have ever been through. I had another surgery July 27th, a first rib resection for my thoracic outlet syndrome. The surgery went pretty well, with few complications, and the first few days of recovery were much better than the previous surgery. About 4 days after I got home I started feeling tightness and pain in my chest and pain in my shoulder/arm, much more than regular post surgery pain. I thought it was just from the surgery and tried to tough it out for the rest of the afternoon. By the next morning I could only breathe with great effort and pain, my heart was pounding and feeling very strange. My husband rushed me to the hospital. I was taken back to the ER the moment I got there and within about 2 minutes I was surrounded by drs and nurses.
I had a pulmonary embolism, a collapsed lung, and severe pleural effusion - they drained a liter of fluid from around my lungs. The critical care dr that saw me first said I was already dying by the time I got to the hospital, in ICU they said I would not survive. I was transferred from our local hospital to the ICU at UCLA Med Center. I spent 8 days there in the ICU. I am finally home but still have some serious issues. They found 3 blood clots in my arm, they are still there. My team discussed several modes of treatment, I don't remember the details on why they wouldn't work, something to do with the location of the clots I think. Ultimately they decided on blood thinners. The fluid around my lungs was drained several times before it finally stopped but my lung is still not working or inflating properly so breathing is difficult. I have improved enough to finally be off oxygen though which is great. Being away from my children was horrible, they were not allowed to see me in ICU. I'm so happy to be back home so I can be with them.
I am on bedrest, blood thinners, pain meds. I can't do anything which is incredibly frustrating. I am still very scared that I will have another embolism, with those 3 clots in there. I have a nurse that comes to the house, so she would know if something was happening but it's still frightening. My biggest fear is not of dying, although I am very frightened of that, but that I have 4 very young children who need their mother. I would greatly appreciate any prayers, I need to recover from this, not for my sake but for my children.
I have been very very very lucky so far, but I really need to get past this and back on my feet. We have two people that come in and take care of me and the kids, the house, etc but I need to be the one taking care of my family. Although I am very grateful to them for all they do I can't stand not being able to care for my children. I miss my horses terribly also, I haven't seen them since before my surgery. My son and I have a new horse that is supposed to be here at the end of the month, he is so excited about his new youth show horse's arrival and I can't even be there to enjoy it with him.
Sorry about the long post, guess I had a lot to say. Thank you for letting me get all this out, when these things happen you try to be brave for your family but sometimes it helps just to let out how you really feel. Prayers would be greatly appreciated, the doctors said it was a miracle I made it this far and while they used the terms as a figure of speech I know it really was a miracle from everyone praying for me.
