June 2011

On the first of June I had my first accident since having ITP.  It wasn't a big deal really. Steve was starting the grill and wanted me to sit by him so I put the chair on the bottom of the deck by him and went to sit down, but my chair slid back and over the edge of the deck.  I crashed and hit my head on the ground, I did not black out and I was not bleeding, but since this was the first time anything like this happened I figured I better call my doctor.  I talked to the on call doctor and she said that I should go in and have a CT on my head done to make sure there was no internal bleeding.  I did not want to spend the whole night in the ER so we went to the new Burr Ridge immediate care in hopes they could help us.  Since I just had my count checked yesterday they said OK we will do your CT here.  However they had to call there tech to come in so we waited about an hour and a half.  I was a bit nervous it was my first time going in head first, but the CT is open so its not so bad.  They ran the test and it was fine so we went home.  Since we had the big snowstorm in February we had two extra days of school and the last day was moved to the 6th.  I had made Caley's 6 month dentist appointment for that day thinking that there would be no school.  I picked Caley up early and headed out to Homer for her dentist appointment.  Caley's teeth are all good!  That afternoon I saw Dr.M and my count was 37K so again I got to lower the prednisone to 10 & 2.5 every other day.  The weather wasn't all that great so even though the pool was open we hadn't been swimming yet.  On the 8th, Caley's 9th Birthday, I went and had this gallbladder scan done because I was having a lot of stomach pain.  It was a long test where you have to lay still they inject you with radioactive dye and then they put this scanner on you and you have to wait until your gall bladder lights up on the screen.  Then they have you drink this stuff that's like cream and then they watch what happens.  I guess it was OK.  On the 10th I saw Dr.Klamut the GI Dr for the first time in the Burr Ridge office, he ordered and EGD for me, which is the down the throat test to look in the stomach.  I called to schedule that appointment and the soonest they could get me in was the 16th.  On the 11th I had Caley's party at woods pool, the weather was still really cool so I moved the time of the party to daytime in hopes it would work out better. It went OK, the kids all swam and had a great time.  However it was a lesson learned and in her 9 years of life we had one too many outside birthday parties that the weather didn't cooperate.  Those of you that know me well enough can remember Caley's first birthday and how awful the weather was that day!!!  Anyway it worked out OK but this year we will do something different, Caley is already planning it!  On Monday the 13th I went to the ER with horrible stomach pains.  They started by doing an ultra sound of my appendix and it was fine.  So then I had to drink that barium stuff and have a CT of my entire abdomen done, and that was all fine.  They had given me something for pain and decided to admit me.  My count was 31K and I was doing 10 & 0 prednisone every other day.  I stayed in the hospital for three days on the 14th they decided to do my EGD.  I was really nervous about it as well.  I got brought down to the room where they do it and they are giving me all the instructions.  Lay on your side and try to relax.  My IV was in my left arm kinda in the crook of my elbow so I couldn't bend that arm.  They decided to leave the arm rail down so I could keep my arm strait.  The Dr sprayed some bad tasting stuff in my mouth and said that this is to numb my throat.  Then they attached some stuff to my IV and that is all I remember.  They woke me up and said OK we are going to take you to your room now. I have to mention that I didn't have anything to eat on Monday before going to the ER and then they would not let me eat.  Once I got upstairs I asked for food even though I was told I couldn't eat and I got a turkey sandwich.  In the morning all I was able to have after my test was liquids.  That night I had Steve bring me a sandwich because I was starving!!  My stomach was still hurting a lot and they were giving me pain medicine for it.  On Wednesday i got to go home, which was good because I had my first Physical Therapy appointment that afternoon at Burr Ridge.  I met Viki my PT and she was awesome, we decided to do 6 weeks 2x a week.  Also I forgot to mention before the EGD my count was 27K so they gave me platelets before hand.  Which was the first and only time for me so far.  My count was still at 27K when i left that day.  I saw Dr.M on Monday the 20th and my count was 48K we lowered the prednisoneEGD came back that my stomach was swollen from all the months of steroids, I was put on this medication that helped it feel better.  I was scheduled for PT on the 21st but I felt too lousy to go.  On the 22nd mom & I went down to the public aid office because I had gotten a notice saying that my coverage was being canceled, I saw my case worker and she said it was going to be fine.  I had PT on the 24th and it felt real good, still hard to move around but its getting a bit better.  On the 27th I saw Dr. Reiger and had my blood drawn there in the Burr Ridge office, finally!!  The count that day was 32K. On the 28th it was an eventful day!  Steve took Caley downtown for her birthday gift a day at the taste a long with her first Cubs game!  It also happens to be the day that Caley's cousin Delaney was born not to mention her other cousin Samantha's 20th Birthday and my parents 36th anniversary.  I had PT and went to the pool for a bit.  The summer was off to a cool start but had finally started to warm up a bit!