I know a lot of people have read some updates on my health from my husband's Facebook posts, but due to the number of comments and private messages that we have both received and been unable to keep up with answering (sorry!)...I decided to write a post to explain what has been going on so far.
It all basically started a couple weeks ago, when I was on the way to the park with the kids. We were cycling and Kara was riding behind me. Part of the way she got down so we could walk up an incline into a parking lot. When we reached the parking lot, I suddenly got lightheaded and basically passed out. This had never happened to me before. (I was thankful that it happened in that empty parking lot, 2 minutes later we would have been crossing a busy intersection)
I went to the doctor the next day, and found out that my blood count was 5.5. That is considered critically low. The doctor asked me if I wanted to be admitted to the hospital for a blood transfusion. Ok..you are asking me..so the answer is obviously...NO! She said, if you feel OK, you can monitor it at home. That sounded good to me...at the time.....
So, I was home for a few days, but was at the point that I barely had energy to get out of bed at all. (My husband meanwhile was increasingly worried at this development!) On Friday I forced myself to do a little grading, and was helping the kids with some schoolwork, when I felt my heart racing. Brian was here then, so he took me straight to the doctor. Since I was getting worse instead of better she admitted me to the hospital for a blood transfusion. (She didn't ask me for my opinion this time! HA!) Over the next 24 hours I received 2 units of blood...I will spare the gory details, but it was a difficult time.
I can't say that I felt any better at all after receiving the transfusion, but my blood count was over 8, so I was discharged on Saturday night. We thought I was out of the woods, but unfortunately....during the night I started running a fever. When I was discharged, they told us very clearly to come to the Emergency if I got chills or a fever...so early Sunday morning..it was back to the hospital again! I was given an IV and was under observation for an hour or so, and had some blood drawn, then sent home. I continued running a fever for the next 2 days, and we (the doctor too) were not sure if I had received contaminated blood, if I was having a reaction to the blood, or if I just caught something while in the hospital due to my weakened immune system. My blood was tested for a long list of infections and scary diseases...and thankfully they all came back negative. The fever subsided after 2 days, and yesterday, for the first time, I actually felt a little better!
I saw the doctor again today to show her a new blood report. She says everything looks like it's coming back to the normal range, but it will take time. She told me that I need to rest and recover from this, and she wants to see me after a month, unless there seems to be any other problems.
This has been a scary and harrowing experience for our family to say the least. We received countless messages, calls and emails to say that people were praying all over the world! It is hard to express what a blessing and encouragement that has been. Please continue to pray that I'll get stronger and be able to get the needed rest. After I am stable again, I may have some more tests to see why my blood got that low in the first place....but that is a story for another day!:-)
I saw the doctor again today
