Almost Died- Covid19 and Acute Pancreatitis
It has been 2 years and I haven't gotten Covid19 until now. On May 7th, 2022 I started getting symptoms. I had a scratchy throat. I thought it was just allergies, but then in the afternoon on the 8th I developed a severe exploding headache, chills, fatigue, and a fever of 100.0. Then I thought I had a flu bug until Sunday, May 9th, Mother's Day. My mom went out to eat with my grandma, aunt, and uncle. I stayed home because I was really sick. I soon developed diarrhea and severe nausea. Once my mom got home I had her help me take one of those Covid home tests. Fifteen minutes later the results came back. I had Covid. The pink line was solid pink. Time for isolation. I was so scared it wasn't funny. I didn't get vaccinated because of my auto-immune conditions. I was terrified Covid will set off my auto immune conditions and make me end up in the hospital. My mom tried to keep me calm. I felt bad she was taking care of me on Mother's Day. My fever got really bad on Sunday, May 8th night. It got up to 102 and I was taking Tylenol.
On Monday, May 9th, my mom decided to take a Covid home test too because she has been dealing with a scratchy cough and a headache. I also took another one too. My mom's covid19 test came back with a light pink line, but since she has been around me all the time she knew it was Covid19. My second test came back with a solid pink line again. I called my primary care doctor to see about getting monoclonal antibodies and/or antivirus medication. My primary care doctor told me I had to call the Covid19 Clinic. After spending 3 hours on the phone trying to figure out how to get anything to help my Covid19 symptoms, I finally got an answer. They prescribed me Paxlovid.
Paxlovid is an oral antiviral pill that can be taken at home to help keep high-risk patients from getting so sick that they need to be hospitalized. Information on Paxlovid: Click Here
I was really hoping they would allow me to get the Monoclonal Antibodies since pills and I don't mix especially when I am really measured. I would have to take 4 tablets every 6 hours for 7 days. My mom was put on Paxlovid too.
I ended up not taking it because I didn't feel like eating. It didn't sound like a good idea to take them on an empty stomach and I just couldn't eat anything because of my severe nausea.
On May 10th, I ended up in the ER. I find it interesting how they handle Covid19 patients. I waited in the waiting room for 40 minutes and there were other people near me. I would have thought they would have a section they would put Covid patients in the waiting room to help prevent the spread. I could barely walk I was so weak. Thank God my mom was able to come in with me. The doctor was really nice. They got an IV in me so they could give me fluids, and nausea meds. The doctor was awesome and got me the Monoclonal Antibodies. The Monoclonal Antibodies IV drip took 1 hour and then another hour to make sure there were no allergic reactions. I went to the ER around 3:30pm and didn't get out until 10:30pm. They ended up giving me 4 liters of IV fluid and I still didn't have to pee.
On May 11th, I woke up feeling a little better, but still not great. I was able to sit in my recliner. I ended up having some food like soup and gluten-free crackers.
On May 12, I was feeling a little better, but I still had nausea, diarrhea, headache, and a fever of 100.
On May 13, my fever was gone. It was 99. My headache was getting a little better.
Then on May 15th, I started getting worse. I developed horrid pain in the upper stomach and mid-back. I had severe fatigue. Every time I ate something I ganged or vomited. My diarrhea got worse. I could not eat whatsoever. I also couldn't drink anything too because it would cause me to feel like vomiting. My mom was trying to force water down me, but I just couldn't.
By the time Wednesday, May 16th came around, I was out of it. All I did was sleep in my bed. On May 17th I took a turn for the worse. I was puking non-stop and having dirhea. I couldn't take any of my nausea, pain meds, and sleeping meds because I would puke them right up. I puked up my saliva too.
On Thursday, May 17th, my mom dragged me to the ER. My dad had to help my mom get me to the car because I was so weak I couldn't walk well. My mom and I got to the ER around 11:00am. I didn't have to wait in the waiting room they wheeled me right to a room. The nurse got an IV in me and put some fluid on me. They also hooked me up to an EKG and the monitor. A resident doctor came in and did a free ultrasound on my stomach. The doctor ordered a bunch of blood work, CT scan one with contrast and the other without contrast.
The bloodwork came out really bad. The doctor came in and told me I am having acute pancreatitis.
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a long, flat gland that sits tucked behind the stomach in the upper abdomen. The pancreas produces enzymes that help digestion and hormones that help regulate the way your body processes sugar (glucose)
Signs and symptoms of pancreatitis is:
- Upper abdominal pain
Abdominal pain that radiates to your back- Tenderness when touching the abdomen
- Fever
- Rapid pulse
- Nausea
- Vomiting
Chronic pancreatitis signs and symptoms include:
- Upper abdominal pain
- Abdominal pain that feels worse after eating
- Losing weight without trying
- Oily, smelly stools (steatorrhea)
It wasn't till 10:00pm till I got into a room. They ended up putting me in the Covid ward. I had a private room. it was really nice except the TV sucked big time. There were only 6 good channels (NBC, ABC, Disney Cartoon, CBS, TNT, Discovery) 3 Spanish channels, 4 religious channels, 4 music channels and that was it.
I was freaking out when they wouldn't let my mom stay the night with me. I have never spent the night in a hospital without my mom. She is always there 24/7 with me when I am in the hospital because I get panic attacks. I get severe panic attacks when it comes to any medical stuff because for years I have been treated like shit.
When my mom left I cried on my pillow for 4 hours. Around 1:30 am the nurse gave me some medication and I was so tired from feeling so horrid and all my crying I finally fell asleep not for long though because 1 hour later they did vitals on me. Thank God my nurse that night was really sweet. I still don't understand why they have to take blood so dang early. The blood drawer came in at 5:00am. Shift change started at 7:30am. Nurse Patrick come in at 8:00am to tell me I need to order breakfast. My breakfast consisted of clear liquids- Chicken Broth, Beef Broth, Grape Juice, Apple Juice, Italian Cherry Ice, Italian Orange Ice, Apple Juice, Decaf Tea, and Jello.
8:00am- 50mg Atenlol, 400mg Gabapentin, 8mg IV Zofran every 8 hours, Xanax (if needed) 15mg Oxy,
3:00pm: 400mg Gabapentin, 8mg Iv Zofran, 15mg Oxy
8:00pm- 800mg Gabapentin, 8mg IV Zofran, 15mg Oxy, 50mg Atenlol, 30mg Remeron, 50mg Trazadone, 4mg Zanaflex (Muscle Relaxer), Blood Clot prevention shot. IV acid blocker
2:30am- 15mg Oxy, 8mg IV Zofran, 4mg Zanaflex (muscle relaxer), another nausea med they gave me is in my hip shot (can only get it one time a day).
May 18-21 I was able to get an IV Dilaudid every 4 hours.
I take Lunesta and the hospital doesn't have Lunesta.
Here is the problem with this schedule I don't take my medication like this. When I am at home I take
1:00 pm 1 gabapentin, 1 Zofran, 1 nexium, Miralax.
8:00pm. I take 3 Zanaflex, 1 Percocet, 2 Xanax, 4 Tylenol PM, 2 Phenergan, 2 Gabpentin
1:00am I take Remeron, Trazadone, Percocet, 1 Xanax, 4 Tylenol PM, 2 Zanaflex, 2 Phenergan, Atenlol, 4 Valerian Root, 1 Zofran, 2 Gabpentin
I have done this routine for 15 years.
Friday, May 19th my mom brought our Amazon Firestick to see if we can hook it up to the hospital's tv. It worked. You don't know how happy I was. The internet at the hospital sucked so it took it time to load up shows, but it did work. My nurse (Tracy) was a sweetheart. She usually worked in the ER but I guess my floor need help.
Every time a nurse came into my room they had to put on PPE from head to toe. It was almost 12 days since I had Covid.
Friday night I had a hard time letting my mom go. I felt like a little kid who screams and cries when their mom drops them off at school.
Luckily my night nurse, Ashley, was a sweetheart. She checked on me a lot. I got to watch a severe thunderstorm out my hospital window.
Saturday, May 20th, it doesn't look like I will be discharged because I had another rough night and the doctor told me my magnesium and potassium is really low. I got the IV magnesium done really fast but the potassium took me forever to get it done because it burned so bad. It was painful. They put an ice pack on my IV but that didn't help very much.
During the day my mom and I watched Horse Racing Preakness. My mom betted on some of the horses. She won $7.00. She had two horses that came in first and a couple that came in second.
Plus, I am still on a clear liquid diet. I finally figured out how to make their chicken broth taste better. I added two salt packs to it. All-day and night I would snack on the Chicken Broth. I tried the Vegetable Broth and that was disgusting even adding salt to it. Saturday night my nurse was Ashely again. She told me her boyfriend works for the hospital but he works during the day and she always works at night. She also just bought a house with her boyfriend.
I had to have more potassium. They hooked it up around 7:30pm. All night I had to deal with the pain of potassium. I ended up telling Ashley I need a break from it around 3:00am.
Sunday, May 21th, Nurse Audrey came in around 8:00am. She told me this potassium has to be done by 10:00am so the blood person can take my blood. Audrey didn't know why they didn't hook it to my fluid bag to dilute it so it doesn't burn. Audrey has been a nurse for 30 years whereas my day nurse on Saturday and Ashley are newer nurses.
My mom finally got there in time to see the doctors. Nothing really has changed. The doctor told me I can start eating pudding, ice cream, and sherbert. I was really excited. I have been eating lots of sugary-type foods. I wish I could start eating white rice, mashed potatoes, and eggs.
The Palliative Care doctor on Saturday and Sunday was really nice. On Saturday he was trying to get to his 8-year-old t-ball game. He told mom and me on Sunday he made it to his game.
Sunday I was getting really homesick, especially missing my cats.
Sunday my night nurse was Ashley again. I slept a little bit better. However, I had a scary thing happen to me. All of a sudden I was out of my body and floating around the hospital rooms and then I pulled into a dark abandoned basement with rain dripping in it. The next moment I was in a chapel. After the chapel, I was in the middle of a town in the early 1920s by a railroad track. I saw a 1920's car almost get hit by a train. The scary thing about this was I couldn't get into my body. I couldn't move or talk. I heard Ashley coming in but I couldn't say anything. Finally, I came out of it. I have no clue what the hell happened. I think it might have been sleep paralysis. It happened around 3:30am. I was scared to go back to sleep it was so scary.
I told Ashley what happened and she thinks it was sleep paralysis. I wasn't sure if the Potassium was doing it.
Monday, May 22, was a crazy day. The main primary doctor stopped by around 10:00am. I asked him if there is any way I could eat mashed potatoes, white rice, and eggs because I had a lot of pain last night. If I am going to get pain like that I might as well eat better foods. He okayed it. A palliative care doctor came in this time it was a woman. She was so sweet. She told me we are not changing anything. My mom got yelled at a couple of times by the PCA nurse Savannah for not wearing a mask. My nurse was Julie. My mom told Julie she is tired of having to get looked at when she comes to the front desk to get a name badge. The front tells her "do you really want to see her because she is in the covid room". Julie looked over my file and doesn't understand why I am in isolation since it's been way over 10 days. Around 5:00pm Julie and Savannah comes in and told us they are moving me to a different room. My mom and I quickly packed everything. My new room is 3 rooms down from the room I was in. I was in H308 and now I am in H310. I was so upset because my Amazon Firestick wasn't working on the TV. I begged Julie if I could get my old room back and unfortunately, I couldn't. I wasn't a happy person. Julie called a friend and Maintenance to stop by and fix the TV. Around 6:30pm Maintainice came and fixed it. God was amazing.
My night nurse was Faith. She was really nice. I liked how organized she was. We had a nice conversation about animals. I think I might be getting used to sleeping in the hospital because I was able to sleep better.
was hell. I woke up really nauseous. Usually, the day nurse comes in around 8:00am to change my fluid bag and give me my medication. At 11:30am the Palliative Care doctor came in. I told her how my RSD is flaring really really bad. I asked her if I could go back to Dilaudid every 4 hours because on Monday they changed it to every 4-6hours. This Palliative Care doctor was an asshole. She had no clue about RSD. She lectured me about pain medication. She told me she doesn't think my pain doctor will prescribe me 7 Percocets. I felt like she was thinking I was a druggie and now addicted to Dilaudid. Sunday evening I only had Dilaudid 2 x. She also gave my mom a hard time about not wearing a mask properly. My mom was talking and it kept sliding. When the doctor left I started bailing. I was having a really bad panic attack. My RSD is getting so bad.
Finally, around 11:00am the day nurse came in. Her name was Ana. She gave me my medications. I asked her if I could put my Fentanyl patch on because the nurses have been putting it on wrong causing it to fall off. She gave me an attitude. I wanted them on my chest because they don't work on my arm very well. She wouldn't do it. Then she realized she need to get another fluid bag for me. She went to get it, but she never returned. I went all day without fluid. Physical Therapy came in and wanted me to walk about 3 steps and around the hallways. They picked the worse time because my RSD is really bad, but I did with no problems.
I also found out I have a huge blister on the bottom of my left heel and it popped. It hurt so bad until it popped. Then it just felt really weird.
By 4:30pm I was a mess. My RSD hasn't been this bad since I was first diagnosed. My right leg was on fire, and my left leg was ice cold and purple. My muscles were severely spasming and then tighten up to the point I can't move them. I was getting electric shock. I felt like I was in the bathtub and the blowdrying that is plugged in fell in the bathtub shocking me. I was screaming in my pillow. I needed to go home so I can get back on my regime. I was freaking out my RSD might stay like that. I told my mom I am going no matter what tomorrow. My mom told me to page the nurse. I paged the nurse. After 15 minutes Ana finally came in. I asked if a Palliative Care doctor could stop by. She left the room and 30 minutes later she comes back in and said she can't. Ana said I can let her know the questions and she can call her. My thought was why can't I talk to the Palliative Care doctor on the phone. I told her never mind. Ana asked me what was going on. My mom was rubbing my back. I was curled up in a ball. Ana went to get my medications. She finally came back around 5:30pm. She gave me my oxy, Dilaudid, Xanax, and muscle relaxer. I didn't want to take the Dilaudid because I might need it in the middle of the night.
I begged my mom to stay overnight. The night nurse was Faith again. We told her what was going on. She helped me do a game plan with my medications. At 8:00pm she gave me oxy, Gabapentin, Xanax, a muscle relaxer, Remeron, Trazadone, atenolol, zofran. By 9:00pm I was calming down some. Then around 10:00pm, Faith comes in to tell me they are moving me to a different room. Thank God my mom was spending the night. They moved to floor 7 to a shared room. I had to share a bathroom with someone I don't know. When I have RSD I have to the room cold. The thermostat was on the other side of the room by the other person. At this point I had it. I told the nurse if I don't get a private room I want my IV out and I am leaving. After 20mins they got me a private room. The nurse gave me an attitude. She said something like there are other people who deserve a private room.
My poor mom the chair wasn't a recliner. The room we were originally in had a nice brand new recliner chair. She put her legs on my bed. I told her she could crawl in bed with me because it was big enough, but she wouldn't. To top it off the TV wouldn't allow me to hook up the Firestick. This tv only had 4 channels that worked (NBC, ABC, CBS, Discovery), and that's it. The room smelled like poop. Thank God I am leaving no matter what tomorrow because I am not staying in this room. If they make me stay I will be demanding a better private room.
I need to get home because not sleeping for a whole month isn't helping my RSD.
My mom had 4 Lunestas in her purse. I didn't give a shit anymore and took a Lunesta because I needed sleep to escape the pain and anxiety. I finally fell asleep around 2:30am and slept for a good 4 hours. The blood person came in I was still under Lunesta but woke up enough to hold out my arm. I didn't wake up till 9:30am when the normal doctor came in. I told him I am ready to go home today. He said he will right up the discharge paper. Palliative Care Doctor came in. Thank God it wasn't the bitchy one. It was the really sweet one on Monday. I told her I am ready to go home today. She was really kind and wrote me up 7 days 5mg Oxycodone for breakthrough pain. Physical Therapy couldn't find me. They wanted me to do stairs again and some hand exercises. I got home around 3:30 pm on a stormy afternoon and evening.
The doctors couldn't tell me if Covid19 caused acute pancreatitis or did it just happen at the same time.
For the past 2 weeks now all I have been eating is scrambled eggs with cheese, cream of peas on toast, mashed potatoes, baked potato, Ensure Plus drink, muffins, spaghetti w/o meat corn noodles, canned carrots, soup, chicken broth, and cottage cheese.
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