Sunday, January 20, 2013

Doctors Doctors Everywhere

Eric and I were debating this week.  We know we'll hit the medical insurance cap this year, the big question is When?  At the rate we've been going, I feel like we might hit it before the end of January!  Last week, we started out with Sam having a Sleep Study, then Chris's therapy, an OB appointment and  Cardiology appointment for me, with EKG, and then they ordered an Echo, which I did last Friday. 
 This week started off Gangbusters too.  We managed to double book ourselves on Tuesday.  Unintentionally of course.  Monday, I had a really scary spell.  I was afraid to get out of bed.  Eric had gone to work, and I was left alone home with the boys.  And just after I'd gotten dressed, my BP went up, acting really weird, at the same time I thought my blood sugar had gone down.  I was contracty and feeling really weird. I called Christopher to come and help me.  He brought me juice and fruit snacks, which actually took the edge off.  I was able to make it downstairs at lunchtime, and talked him through heating us up some frozen chicken sandwiches.  It was really scary.  But I sure did have a great helper.  He took on the role of Mr. Willman and carried his case around to help me out, and ask me questions.  It hurt my heart having to expect Chris to take care of me.  But within a couple days, we'd interviewed and hired a helper to help us out on the days when Eric works.  AND Eric got told he can work from home 4 days a week, every day but Thursdays.  


It's hard to be too upset with these great helpers taking care of me.  

Willman and Willman, At Your Service! 



 But luckily, we had scheduled a follow up with my OB for Tuesday the 8th.  She'd prescribed me Blood Pressure medication last week because when I went in, though the baby's heart rate was Wonderful, my blood pressure was 140/80.  It did go down a smidge, but they were witnessing some of the spiking.  So they prescribed me labetalol.  I was actually pretty thrilled about that visit.  I had been so scared of the weird ways I was feeling.  I really expected them to tell me my pee was full of protein.  But it wasn't.  I have never been so happy to hear that my pee was clear in all my life.  No ultrasound that day, just got to hear the heartbeat, but it was good and strong, like 160.  As usual, baby was fine, and Mommy was the Hot Mess.  

THEN on the way home from the OB's last week, the Cardiologist called.  They could bump up our visit to the next day at noon.  So we didn't start the medication until we went to see her.  She took my BP, and I wasn't feeling too badly, though I was back up in the 140s again.  She told me to start the drugs, we stopped off on the way home.  I actually noticed a difference by the next day, I didn't feel like I was going to die.  I still was Swirling, but I felt better than I had in at least a week. She also did an EKG in the office, and ordered an Echocardiogram, which I got on Friday, and she told me to come back on Tuesday the 15th.    We also had an OB follow up appt that same day.  Blessedly, the boys both had school.  We asked Mom W. to come over and get the boys off to school so we could make the rounds.  And so we did.  

However, when I got to the Cardio's office, and they were taking my blood pressure.  It was 115/70, not bad at all, much more in my previous normal range, but before the nurse could get the cuff and oximeter off me, I started to get one of my "spells". I get this heat wave, and feel super dizzy, like I need to lay down immediately, but it was too scary for me to move out of the chair in which I was sitting.  She called out for ice water, and coolly talked to me, asking me how I was doing.  The words were hard to come by.  But afterwards she said that my BP dove down to 60/30, and my pulse dove to 53.  That's Not Good. 

At least, if you're going to be a Hot Mess, have a Mysterious episode right there in the doctor's office.  They acknowledged I wasn't crazy.  Actually they called it a Vasovagal response.  They had me give a urine sample, and lie down a bit in a room.   Eric figured they weren't too scared, or they would've sent for a stretcher or something to take me next door to the hospital.  As weird as that sounds, that was comforting.  When they came in, they had me stand up straight for a couple minutes while they took my blood pressure again.  I asked to sit again, just as it started diving again.  So I sat some more.  The doctor tells me,  that this could be related to being on bedrest so long.  It's a mystery.  But it's not my Heart muscle, the EKG and Echo show my heart,  and pumping action look great.  She thinks my parasympathetic reflexes are overshooting causing extremes in my blood pressure.  She recommended I drink gatorade for my fluids, something about more salt, but I have to be careful of salt because I shouldn't gain any more weight (already trying not to) and don't want to get pre-eclamptic, and we want to make sure my fluids were good, so she took some blood.  She also suggested I go see another guy, a Cardiologist who specializes in syncope (fainting) and "likes mysteries" and a pulmonologist for the shortness of breath, which she thinks are 2 different issues. I asked her if these spells hurt the baby.  She said, "they aren't good."  And I was a little scared by that.  Grateful though that we were heading up north to go see the OB directly.  

At the OBs office, once again we checked his heart, and it sounded strong.  But when I explained they wanted to send me on to another Cardio guy, and a pulmonologist for the shortness of breath.  So Dr. K wants to see me back in 2 weeks.  But while I was there, she asked the Ultrasound Tech to take a good look and make sure that these "spells" aren't hurting the baby.  They measured him and he clocked in a little big, and an estimated 1 pound, 11 ounces.  Hooray!  




It was so very kind of the Ultrasound tech to squeeze me in on her lunchbreak just to give me peace of mind.  


They checked the placental tear, and it's still there, tiny and healing, but not totally gone.  
Still, Baby was looking good.  Doing his backstroke, wiggling all over.  She said he was in breech position right now.  So when I say I'm getting kicked in the bladder, I really am getting Kicked.  And boxed in the diaphragm too.  He really seems to enjoy gatorade.  I alternate water vs. gatorade.  I noticed right off that the spells don't seem as bad with the gatorade, still having them, but the drinks really make the baby kick and dance.  It's pretty funny.  

Pulmonology couldn't get me in until the end of February, first available so they say.  My Dad says this has been the worst flu in ages, and since it's a respiratory one, the pulmo guys are Swamped.  I can get that.  Hopefully Cardio Mystery Man will be able to figure out everything that's going on.  I see him this coming week, he was able to get me in sooner.  I suppose I am Grateful that I got my flu shot, and that I don't have that.  I do seem to have caught Sam's cold this weekend though. I've discovered that at 25 weeks today, it hurts my uterus to cough or sneeze, and it hurts me to bend over the baby to grab tissues etc.  Those are nice regular pregnancy problems.  And I'll take them.  

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