I have been home for 10 days now after spending 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital. I had to call an ambulance in the wee hour of the morning. I started retaining fluid, felt like I gained the 100 lbs I lost, my legs, hips and abdomen were swollen. My body felt alien to me and not mine. I couldn't figure out why I was retaining fluid as I take 2 diuretics and try to reduce my sodium intake. I was in a lot of pain from it so I took a 600 mg Ibuprofen for 2 days knowing I probably shouldn't be taking them because they can interact with blood thinners but I was in so much pain During those 2 days I was so weak, I could hardly walk without being short of breath or after one step needed to sit down. I couldn't even lift a bowl out of the fridge. I don't know how but I managed to do some laundry so I would have clean pjs to take with me, packed a bag because I figured they would admit me then called the ambulance.

The EMTs stayed with me while I was in triage which was only an hour before I was moved into my own triage room with a bathroom. I had blood tests, a bladder ultrasound, a rectal exam, portable chest x-ray. After they got the blood test results the Doctor asked if I was bleeding anywhere, did I have an ulcer, black stools, blood urine and I said no. The Doctor told me it was a good thing I came in because I had a hemoglobin level of 20 which was life threatening. I had a blood transfusion then the nurse came in and took over 20 vials of blood via IV port to test for some unique Factor tests which they normally don't do. I asked the Doctor about the water retention and he said my blood wasn't being pumped to throughout my body because of lack of oxygen. I told him about taking the ibuprofen and he said that was part of it because of the interaction with my blood thinner.

The male nurse came back in to put in a catheter but he couldn't do it, so he came back with another male nurse and it took them half hour to get it to work. You sure do lose all your modesty.

After a few hours I was moved to a 4 person ward.

I was given really strong lasix by IV to help get rid of the fluid. I hated that catheter, it just didn't feel right and was painful. I have had a catheter before and didn't feel it all. 2 days later one of the nurses noticed that I had a latex allergy and she said the nurses in triage used a latex catheter so she changed it. It was still painful and hurt. Then I noticed my urine was very dark which concerned me because it is always clear. The nurses just said I was dehydrated because of all the fluid which is coming off me. I always tried to get into the washroom before shift change in the am and I only needed to use the washroom twice a day so I sat in my recliner most of the day but I needed help getting our of it because it was too low. One day an ambulatory person was getting me up to go for a walk she wrenched my good arm and I lost my reach, my right arm was already bad and I can only reach backwards and can't life it. That just made things so much worse, I felt like an invalid.

One morning I was in the washroom before shift change an when I stood up I felt a pressure and a pop and as I stood up there was blood everywhere. My catheter popped out and what a relief I felt. It took a half an hour for the nurse to answer the call bell in the bathroom because the shift was changing. When they came in they were shocked at all the blood. They washed me down and put me into the bed. They stopped the lasix because there would be too much urine and would cause my bladder to spasm, they had already stopped my blood thinner. The next day another nurse came in who was a pro inserting catheters. She said she got me a new type with a larger balloon and it sure did feel so much better than the other ones. What a relief.

There still was a lot of blood in the catheter bag and I knew I was bleeding somewhere. My night male nurse didn't like the look of it so was going to tell the Doctor on the floor the next morning. I already talked to the Doctor about it and he said it wasn't blood. The next morning the Doctor came in and I asked about the dark urine and he said it wasn't blood and I asked him if he tested it and he said yes. That night my male nurse was back in and I told him what the Doctor said and he said my blood urine was not tested. That Doctor lied to me! If you can't trust your Doctor who can you trust. The next morning it was tested which showed I had a UTI which I have never had and was caused by the catheter so I was bleeding and why I was in so much pain. They hooked me up to antibiotics for the next 2 weeks and which I am still taking.

My hand was painful and swollen and I just thought it was arthritis but the new Doctor coming in did some blood tests and said I had the highest level of uric acid he has ever seen. I knew I had hereditary high uric acid but not that high. I don't drink alcohol, or eat lots of red meat and rarely shrimp, no high purine vegetables and minimal sugar. He put me on Allopurinal that I will have to take for the res to of my life. I also had very low potassium and had to take supplements,

I had 3 more blood transfusions because I was anemic. Another Doctor said I needed an iron infusion. It was so weird watching this bag of black iron mixed with glucose go into my vein. After I had it the Doctor said my colour was back in my face. She wanted me to have an endoscopy which kind of scared me because I thought I had to be awake when they put the tube in my throat but she said no I would be in twilight sleep. While I was in the endoscopy lab the nurses looked at my IV port and the one nurse said she wanted to go to the 5th floor to given them a piece of her mind. I had complained every day that the port was painful and had them check it. They said it was most likely the tape holding it in, but it just didn't feel right. They said it was working so should be good. The endoscopy nurse said it was infected and had to put a new one in to give me the twilight drug and she said because it would be painful she would remove the bad one after I was asleep. After giving me the twilight drug the procedure seemed to only last a minute and I didn't feel a thing. Towards the morning I tried to shift myself in bed I noticed my stomach was sore and achey and thought maybe they had to take a biopsy and that worried me but the Doctor said they found 2 spots that were bleeding and lasered them.

I still wasn't losing enough fluid off my body and everyday I weighed myself. One day I lost 7 pounds of fluid and a few days later gained it all back despite being on a low sodium diet. One of my Doctors said he wanted me to stay until all the fluid was off but my new Doctor wanted to release me. I said I wasn't ready to go. I lost my ability to walk on my own because not everyday they got me up to walk when I should have been walking twice a day but seldom did. My Doctor was upset with the staff about that. I still had lots of fluid on my body, my thighs were double in size and was my stomach. Everyone who was leaving to go home were taken for a walking test which I didn't get. I didn't know how I was going to get up my porch steps and into my house.. I have no room to use a walker in the house and I am unstable using the cane and not walking properly. I ended up hiring a patient transfer ambulance to get me home and into my house. My sofa is so low I have a hard time getting up off of it, My cousin and I worked it out and moved cushions around so I can get up on my own. She is just a little bitty thing and can't help me. I had to cancel my Doctor appointments and nuclear heart ultrasound because I can't get out of my house and down the steps. I should have stayed there until I could walk or they should have sent me to rehab at the other hospital for a few weeks. I know I am forgetting a few things. My nursing care by the RNs, RPNs and Nursing students were wonderful except for a few that didn't listen to me when I said something was wrong. I don't miss being in a ward where there is no privacy. I was fortunate I could get up to use the washroom. I don't like the idea that they put men and women together in the same ward. For the first week the woman across from me was 93, she was very lucid during the day, had conversations with her family, Doctors and nurses and asked them questions but at night if she wanted something she wouldn't ring her call be instead of saying Nurse I need this, nurse I need that, nurse I am cold, nurse something is biting me. This would go on every night and we would tell her the nurse can't hear her you need to ring the bell. I thought I would lose my sanity if I heard her voice yell for the nurse. Most times the nurse would come in and ask what was wrong and she would say okay, After she left another older woman came in, she was a fall hazard and would take the alarm off and go to the washroom by herself. One morning I went in there and the floor was so sticky my shoe stuck to the floor and came off, I didn't know what it was and called housekeeping and even they couldn't get the stick off the floor. It happened a few more times and I realized she was peeing on the floor and because she had diabetes it was sticky. Before I went in there I asked the nurse to make sure it was clean. It sure was an experience being in a ward when usually I am in a private room. I heard every type of unimaginable body and mouth sounds I never want to hear again. I am still not feeling good, I almost called an ambulance again but didn't. The antibiotics are wreaking havoc with my intestines. I don't know if I should be drinking more water or less because I still am retaining a lot of fluid so much my one leg is weeping. Before I went in I had ordered 40 lip balms, lip balm holders and the hooks to give to the nurses, housekeeping, students in case I had to go back into the hospital after my last stay in December. They were thrilled with them because it is so dry in the hospital and they c nan attach the holder to their badge holders or uniforms. It was the least I could do for the good care I received. I just want to get well and not have to go into the hospital again. I came out with a UTI , not being able to walk when before I could walk, blood in my urine which now is back to normal and my left arm that isn't working right. Thanks for listening. Forgive me, I didn't proof read this.