Shawn Hospitalized

[lydamorehouse]

 I'm writing this from the fourth floor of United Hospital. 

It's been a doozy of a last few days, let me tell you. On Monday, when I was scheduled to work at White Bear Lake library, Shawn informed me that we would first need to make a stop at our clinic's Urgent Care. That stomach bug she'd been complaining about for a week was just NOT getting better and she was worried something more serious was going on. So, off we went. 

Three hours and a CT scan later, Shawn was being admitted to United Hospital. 

The scan showed a very oddly placed blood clot, one in her superior mesenteric vein. Googling will give you All The Scary Details, especially if you follow the links (though thankfully, Shawn seems to have escaped the worst of this, but it's the risk that is keeping us here indefinitely, I suspect )

Consequently, the docs have been very diligent. They put Shawn on antibiotics right away, because of concerns about what a stunted blood flow might do to her intestines (see horrific link). She's, of course, on blood thinners to break up the clot. They kept her off food and drink our first day, but tried her on clear liquids today... a bit of a setback, as she didn't react well to them, the feeling of being bloated and pain came back. She's back OFF food and drink again, which is disheartening to say the least.

We don't really know a lot about what's going on. We're in a holding pattern while the bevy of doctors (I think our team has four specialists: hematology, GI, vascular surgery, general surgery) tries to figure out WHY this happened.

No one has any answers, and if you followed the link, you know that this particular thrombosis is very rare. In fact, Shawn had one of her technicians who was doing a scan get excited and rush off to look at the initial CT scan to see what this blood clot looked like. Every doctor is having her recount details of her symptoms--which aren't many: pressure and pain in the stomach, chills, a bit of diarrhea, and general aches--because she's a bit of a medical mystery. 

So, this is what we do for a while. 

No one likes living in a hospital, but Mason and I are coming and going, though mostly staying surrounded by books and laptops and electronics. I'm grateful that I have the kind of job I can just take off to be with Shawn and that Mason has nowhere he needs to be. When she called to check in, Shawn's stepmom told us the story of how she was left alone in the hospital when she was seven, which I think was meant as a "you can totally leave Shawn there, she's grown up, and people can handle it," but I kept saying THIS IS A TERRIBLE STORY. I WOULD NEVER DO THAT. YOUR FAMILY ARE BEASTS. I don't think she appreciated it, but holy crap. Who does that? Especially to a seven year old??!!

Anyway.

I don't normally think of hospital stays as lucky, but this is very much one of those situations where I feel extremely grateful that 1. Shawn followed her "this doesn't feel right" feelings and 2. that we got a doctor at that urgent care who listened to her and thought, 'yeah, let's just do a scan to be sure.' To be fair, the doctor was expecting to find pancreatitis, but, turns out, he was looking in the exact right spot to find this.

Sheesh.

I hope all y'all had better a better Monday (and following) than we have!

Comments

[revolutionaryjo]

!! I hope everything goes well and y'all can get out of the hospital sooner rather than later. Glad it was caught and diagnosed! ❤

[lydamorehouse]

Thanks, Jo! Super glad it was caught (having read the scary bits, myself,) and fingers will remained crossed that this is resolved soon.

[umadoshi]

Yikes! Thank goodness she decided to get checked out. I hope the doctors can get it figured out and that she'll start feeling better soon.

[lydamorehouse]

Same! Thanks for the good thoughts, and, yes! I'm also so grateful for a doctor who actually listened to a 50+ woman and took it seriously.

[pameladean]

Holy yikes, how trying for everybody. I am glad this weirdness got caught and hope they will be able to get Shawn back to a happier state soon.

P.

[lydamorehouse]

Yeah, as crappy as it is to be in the hospital, this is the very best place for her to be at. Biggest bummer? Today is Mason's 16th birthday. He's being a trouper about being in the hospital with his mom, but holy crap he's going to get the best Birthday Observed in the history of birthdays observed.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[j00j]

Oh yikes. <3
I'm so glad she paid attention to her symptoms and was believed and that you're getting the help you need. And that you can be together-- that is huge. Hope the mystery is solved and things resolve soon.

[lydamorehouse]

Thanks! Like I said, I rarely think of having to go to the hospital as lucky, but HOLY CRAP WERE WE LUCKY!

[oracne]

Thanks for the update! I am following on fbook as well.

[lydamorehouse]

I saw! Thank you!

[sraun]

Ouch! Sounds like you've heard the words I never want to hear from a doctor - "That's interesting" - multiple times.

I hope they figure out everything soon, and she recovers quickly.

[lydamorehouse]

Thank you so much. Fingers crossed, for sure.

[satoyan]

I'm so glad for you all that she listened to her instincts! Am rooting for everything to go as well, comfortably, and easily as possible from here on out. ♥

[lydamorehouse]

Thank you. She's been beating herself up for not going in sooner, and, finally, we had a nurse who was very much, "Honey, you did good. Women are much less likely to take these warning signs seriously because we're socialized to push through pain." I'd been saying that, too, but it was good to have someone ELSE underscore it. So, yes, so good she listened at ALL, no shame about when, especially since it's becoming clear that we likely avoided the worst case scenario.

[opakele]

My apologies, I am behind.

I will continue reading, but this is scary news.

I hope for the best.