Month of Thanks- Day 4

Yesterday, I was most thankful for modern medicine, good health, and being able to resume normal activities following my hystrectomy!

I haven't ever blogged the full story of what happened after I had Cade but it was one of the scariest times of my life! I'll give you the short version :)

Immediately following the birth of Cade, I developed something called

Post Partum Cardiomyopathy or PPCM. You can read about it here: http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripartum_cardiomyopathy. I am almost positive I had a milder episode of it after I had Sadie (they said I had pneumonia- but we now think they were wrong!) but all I know is when I woke up from recovery after having Cade, I COULD NOT breathe! SO scary! My blood pressure also sky-rocketed! I normally have really normal (110-68 yesterday) blood pressure so this was very alarming to every one. Since it was Thanksgiving the doctor (not my doctor but the one "on call") let me go home. She probably shouldn't have. For 9 days, I struggled to breathe, move, and thought I would die at any moment. I had a horrible cough as well. On the 9th day, I remember standing by the back door, door open because I was burning up, coughing soooooo hard and thinking Brandon was going to have to call 911 because I just wanted to lay down and die. I ended up going to the doctor and he did chest x-rays and asked "which hospital do you want to go to?" He said he had never seen pneumonia so bad and it was crazy that I was even able to walk. When I got to the hospital, I had several doctors asking questions, running tests, checking for blood clots, Ekg tests, etc etc.. Finally they told me it was PPCM, which is basically heart failure after giving birth. WHAT?! Apparently it is so rare around here that none of the doctors at the hospital wanted me as their patient (yeah, they told me that) They began filling me with blood thinners, diuretics, potassium, and a bunch of other stuff. I was so swollen. It was horrible! The worst part was that I was not able to breast feed Cade (which could lead to another post of why I am thankful for my sister- ha) Anyways, I spent a week in the hospital and was told I probably should not have any more children.

So for 2 years we have been VERY careful to not get pregnant. Too much information? Yes, but it's important to my Day of thanks! ha Of course, we would have loved to have another child but with each pregnancy, the PPCM gets worse and could lead to heart transplants or even death. Not an option for me! My babies need their Momma!

Also, adding to my bad health was the fact that I had been dizzy for a little over a year. To the point that the room spinned while I was laying down. It was awful. I hate feeling that bad. And I would have these moments where I could sleep for hours and I just felt so bad. After talking with my parents, I realized that maybe my problems were due to being anemic (I have also read an article linking anemia to PPCM! Very interesting!) so I went to the general family doctor and begged him to check. Yes, I really had to pressure him. He didn't think mine would be that low. A few days later his nurse called and told me I was severely anemic! He put me on iron pills but in the meantime, I decided to make a visit to my OB/GYN.

I love my ob/gyn! I could also write a whole post of why I am thankful for him! So I went to visit him and we talked different options. I'll bore you with the details and why a hystrectomy was pretty much my only option but we decided that the hystrectomy would number one keep me from getting pregnant and endangering my life and number two would stop me from losing so much blood that I was severely anemic.

September 28th, my life changed for ever!! I'm hopeful it's for the better! :) I already feel less dizzy (still dizzy at times) but I am so grateful that I am working towards feeling better! I am hoping I have more energy too! I would LOVE to start walking! Yesterday, I got the "return to normal activities" diagnosis from my doctor so on Day 4, I am thankful for a clean bill of health and new possiblities!