Hospital Stay Right away

Friday February 24th about 4 hours after having left the Hospital for all my CT scans I got a call at 9:30 pm from Dr Scott stating that he was contacted by the radiologist who had done my scans and stated that there was massive clotting throughout my entire lungs and there concern was respiratory failure. Dr Scott requested that I go into emergency right away (as a smoker of course the first question I had about the heavy clotting was "is this from smoking?" I had quit just 2 days before felt like a winner when he said it was not from smoking) Me and Mike left our friends house where we had been watching a movie and drove straight to IHC Riverton ER where I explained the situation and they quickly begin checking me in. As I have stated I have had multiple blessings throughout this process and another one I discovered when I got there was that even with the level of clotting in my lungs my oxygen was at 100%, my lungs sounded good when I breathed, and normally with how many I had they stated people were normally in a great great deal of pain however I felt totally normal. It wasn't all smooth sailing when they had to get the IV in that was a little hard because I have very deep vains that roll so often times they blow them out, or are just above them and think that they are in this was the case with this IV after several times of trying to get it they wrapped my arms with hot towels then wrapping to hold in the heat this is supposed to help the vains stick out and after some trying we were able to get it! :) Also with the level of clotting They immediately began giving me lovenox injections which help thin the blood and prevent new clots these go into your stomach every 12 hours and while they sting a bit they really aren't to bad however they sure do bruise the heck out of your stomach.  

My hospital stay was a duration of 5 days from February 24th- February 29th. While in the hospital I had an ultra sound done of the artery in my right thigh same area as the tumor and they were able to determine that the reason for the sever clotting in my lungs was due to pressure being caused by the tumor pressing against the main artery and disrupting the flow of blood this in turn caused the clots that then filtered up into my lungs. Once we were able to identify that this was the cause for the clotting I was told that the blood thinner I was currently on would only have to be for about 6 months to a year which I was grateful for because normally it would be a life long regimen. 

Monday February 27th they were able to biopsy the tumor this was done by taking 3 different samples of the tumor from 3 different locations. I thought that this process would be scary or maybe even slightly painful however again I was blessed by people that were very quick, gentle, and kind. I was not sedated for this procedure and while I had no desire to watch Mike was able to come in and hold my hand and he watched the whole thing-he was fascinated (at least one of us has a strong stomach). The Healing was not to bad at all there was a few nights of soreness but I was never really in pain however thanks to the blood thinners even at 4 weeks later I do still have a bruise almost the size of my closed fist. :) 

The hardest part of my hospital stay was missing my dogs! I had never not seen them for more then 3 days and I was going a little crazy missing them so my Dad and Mom had gone down to the gift store and found me a stuffed animal that was a combo of Bella and Baileys colors. I named it Baiyla :) My Dad said the only difference between the stuffed animal and my Dogs, was that if you looked at the stuffed animal its ears were up and it was listening. My papa always knows how to make me smile :D 

The last Few days of my stay in the hospital I did finally experience some heaviness in my chest and my oxygen did get a little low to where they had to put me on 2 letters of oxygen this was mostly something that go low when I was up and moving about. I was sent home on oxygen but did not have to use it for more then a few days before the chest heaviness and shortness of breath was not longer an issue. Again another blessing because most people have these side effects more intensely and for months.  With my discharge date of February 29th about 3pm I was free to get home and see my puppies, take a shower, and sleep in my own bed I was SO excited and it was just in time because I was to meet the next day with Dr Steve Scott regarding my biopsy. 

Again I just want to thank everyone who through this time Facebooked me, called me, text me, or even came in to see me! Your love and support have made this whole thing a lot less scary and I am so grateful for all of you!