December 8th, 2012

Right now I am sitting in my grandma's pukey green-colored 50 year old recliner typing my story on Caring Brige while an Adam Sandler movie plays in the background. It is gloomy outside, and the nation is also gloomy as we recover from a gunman killing 20 children in their kindergarten classroom. My kids are not in the house because grandparents have stepped in and have been meeting their needs the past week. I have a 1/3 of my head shaved with a oozy new incision trying to scab over. This incision will not be lonely because there two other fresh incisions to keep it company. I also have a PICC line in an arm vein and the line ends right above my heart. The PICC line hooked to an IV bag that drips high potent antibiotics into my circulatory system.

This scene is a result of a silly clumsy act. A week ago, I bent down to pick up Mr. Evil Porkchop (from Toy Story 3) off the ground. I was feeling a bit dizzy so when I went down, I quickly swung my head up. As I came up, I smashed the back of my head on a unfinished corner of our counter. Some blood came, but I really wasn't too concerned. As the day went on more blood came but the cut looked only like a paper cut. Two days went by, and in the shower a better amount of blood came from this superficial cut. After looking further Kyle saw a second deeper cut on the crown of my head. Right where my VP Shunt, a device implanted last year, was. We kept the wound clean and slathered with Neosporin. Blood would start squirting out randomly, but the cut still looked harmless.

On Saturday I had to go my personal hell...Chuck E Cheese for a birthday (sorry Sadie) and flu symptoms began setting in. Honestly I thought is a overall body reaction to the noise, flashing lights, and awful pizza at Chuck E Cheese. After fleeing the party, I realized it wasn't just Chuck E. In fact I had a small fever, sizable headache, and melon sized lymph nodes on my head. I drove myself to the ER scared of infection. Because the cut really did look harmless, the ER released me with painkillers and told me my headache was due to hitting my head. This made me feel like a hypochondriac and I was glad I had driven myself and not worried anyone, but Kyle, with my trip. It simply was a bump on the head.

Sunday I woke up early with the kids and felt embarrassed, but I physically felt better. The cut was getting more swollen, but my lymph nodes had relaxed. The fever was gone and we were off to Longview Community College to enjoy Christmas in The Park. After the lights, we snuggled in the living room and watched the classic movie "Elf". As Buddy the Elf consumes spaghetti and syrup, chills come over me. My fever rose to 102 and my stomach was severely hurting. After getting the kids to bed, Janet came over and we headed back to the ER.

A quick side note: since my original diagnosis of Idiopathic Intercrainal Hypertension, we felt like we needed the support of both of our families. Thus we moved back to the KC area in 2011. Both families' support has allowed our kids to live an uninterrupted life despite all mommy's medical issues. And for that we are eternally grateful.

This time my neurosurgeon's office had called to make me a direct admit rather than having to go through the ER. This was relieving because the ER waiting room seemed full, and full of saucy characters. Matt, the nurse who checked me in and wheeled me up to my quiet room was an old friend from high school. His comforting face made the process smooth. Let me remind the reader that Kyle and I were thinking I just needed some IV antibiotics and I would be bopping out of the hospital the next day.