We will start with the nausea and vomiting... I'm not sure what I was eating or drinking at this point but it had to be coming from somewhere. I could not keep anything down. My body did not like all the chemicals being pumped into it. It was hard not being able to get up to go to the washroom to be sick. Instead I had to lay in bed and get sick into what the nurses call "kidney basins." I will call them useless basins because they served no purpose, they were so small and held hardly anything. I'm sure you can figure out the end result... That's my little rant for the day. Looking back now I would take the nausea and vomiting anyday over what other complications were to come!
Useless basin
In addition to the nausea and vomiting, I was having hot flashes. I am NOT looking forward to menopause (hopefully they have created some kind of cure for hot flashes when my time comes for that!). I just could not find a comfortable temperature. I was having hot flashes with a fever of 103F at the same time. My room was an igloo in order for me to be comfortable and not complain. I feel sorry for my family that had to put up with that in order to be with me.
Now to the more serious complications. The date is now August 5, 2009, 5 days since being admitted to the hospital.
I was having severe headaches. If you've ever had a migraine, multiply that by 10. I couldn't be touched without screaming in pain. Makes it difficult to run tests on someone that fights and screams anytime you touch them. I had no remorse towards my family either. They would try rubbing my hand or head to comfort me and I would respond with a punch, hit, pinch, anything I could. And the restraints come back...... (I'm a terrible patient.)
My doctors noticed that I was having an increased difficulty breathing. I had fluid on my lungs which caused a lung injury. They concluded this was a side effect of the ATRA treatments and it was decided that the ATRA would stop for now...
The doctors also decided to put me on a ventilator to help my body out and give it a rest for 24 hours and further evaluate. As you can imagine I was not a happy camper about this. I couldn't handle being touched in any way yet they were going to shove a tube down my throat. While the doctor's were preparing to do this I tried to sit up, looked at my Mom, and chanted "I WANT TO GO HOME," hitting her with every word I said (sorry Mom.) I feel like I've been apologizing for a lot of things haha. The doctor's further sedated me to let my body rest. Even though I was very heavily sedated I was still trying to sit up and pull my hands from the restraints. I must be very strong or very stubborn! I think a combination of both got me through this illness. :)
On this particular night my fever remained and the temperature in my room stayed very cold. My Mom slept in a jacket, touque and mittens haha. Through the night my blood pressure was very high and my heart rate was very low.
**Three separate CT scans had been done in the past 3 days to evaluate my brain bleeds. These would show that the bleeds were no better or worse.**
