I need a place to just surge my pain without people knowing my name, or who I am. So, here we go...
I got home today after a week long stay in hospital following the discovery an ectopic pregnancy that nearly killed me.
I'd been unwell for weeks, contacting my doctor because I'd gain weight for no reason, was overbearingly tired, moody, unhappy and had a barrage of tests done to see what could be wrong. When I first started to feel unwell, I'd done a pregnancy test as I was on the Mirena Coil and wanted to make sure. The test was negative. The GP tests showed nothing as well. So off I pottered feeling worse and worse, odder and odder until Thursday last week (23rd July) when my belly exploded in pain at 4am in the morning.
By 9am, unable to bear the pain, and of course having no idea what could be wrong, I was taken to A&E. It was clear that I was in pain. They were watching me trying to control my pain before crying out uncontrollably as I suffered what I now know to be shoulder tip pain, a classic symptom of internal bleeding. The pain was so intense that even oramorph didn't touch it. In the end, I was close to sedated while A&E worked furiously to stabilise me enough to get me moved to the emergency care wards where tests could be continued. One doctor and six nurses worked on me for two hours, pumping me with fluids, antibiotics and painkillers. My blood work showed infection, due to the coil, and the location of the pain, the doctor's suspected my gall bladder. I had x-rays and eventually an ultrasound.
The ultrasound detected something in my reproductive region. They could see a sac of fluid with some more fluid behind it. As my test results, blood and urine, specified no pregnancy, they believed it was a cyst. The plan was to pump me with pain killers, fluids and antibiotics and operate in the morning as it was late. I remained stable through the day, although I now recognise that I was on the very edge of consciousness.
When they operated, they found my abdomen full of blood.
What they thought was a cyst was actually an ectopic pregnancy that had terminated itself. It was a sack of fluid and clots. My fallopian tube had been obliterated. It was all removed, along with my coil.
I lost 3ltrs of blood, needing four units of blood to replace it all. I had additional palettes as well.
My lungs partially collapsed from all the blood. General surgery had to come in and check that I wasn't bleeding anywhere else.
The one good thing. All this was done as keyhole surgery, so my wounds are minimal.
They showed me the pictures. (They asked first, and I wanted to see as I am a curious mare).
I can't thank the doctor's enough for saving my life.
After, I spent two days in intensive care, but remained quite lucid while they worked to re-inflate my lower lungs. Spent a further two and a half days in a general ward.
This is where I'm going to be brutally honest. I didn't want another baby. We have two kids already and my hubby and I have always been clear and decisive that we want no more. I'm angry with my body for doing this to me. Not just doing it, per say, but for not being able to tell the doctors earlier what was wrong. It nearly killed me.
I've been patiently explaining to some friends that I haven't lost a baby, I didn't know I had one, and it nearly killed me. Pretty much see something a million miles away from a baby.
I'm emotional because I nearly died, and would never have seen my mum, my dad, my brother, aunt, husband or children again, and they'd have never seen me.
That is all.