Blah, blah, blah...

For those of you who don't know, it's been an interesting few weeks...

I started my testing at Mayo Clinic mid-April, and had four days of testing. I would drive back and forth to Phoenix each day--about a 75 minute trip each way. I did this because I was directing the music for our school's musical, so I needed to be back each night.

Thursday night I wasn't feeling so hot--in fact, I vomited all of my dinner back up when I got home from opening night of the musical. Sick. I then had to get up at 4:30 a.m. Friday morning to get to Phoenix by 6:30 for my first test. I vomited my cereal up on the way down. Sick again. I knew I was in trouble.

I had a heart stress test which again, made me vomit. My blood pressure was 230/130, a tad high. They sent me to the ER at Mayo for evaluations, and then checked me in to the hospital. Little did I know I'd be there for NINE days!! They were the longest nine days of my life, as I was so lonely. The kids were in school, Gordon was working, so I spent most of the time alone while they tried to figure out how to get my blood pressure under control. One day it would be super high, the next really low. Frustrating... The doctor was trying to get me off of one of my blood pressure meds he considered especially evil. This turned out to be a big mistake.

Finally got to check out on Sunday, just as I was about to go crazy! We went to Gordon's mom's house to pick up the kids and ate dinner with them. It was good to see the family. :)

I decided I needed to go to school the next day--big mistake. I felt like garbage, and didn't really do much good. I needed to finalize some things with my students, and we had some good talks. Decided not to go to Disneyland this year (we were slated to go next week.) This was a hard decision, but I just didn't want to go and get sick.

Monday night I vomited again, and continued to do so most of the night. I seriously thought I'd see my shoes in the bowl. We went to the ER on Tuesday, my blood pressure was high again and I couldn't keep anything down. They pumped me full of fluids, gave me some anti-nausea meds and I was feeling better, so we went home.

The "feeling better" part didn't last very long. I was sick again the next few days. Blood pressure was high, and nausea wouldn't stop. I went to my primary care doctor Thursday afternoon and she checked me into the hospital again. This time they put me on a blood pressure patch, which releases meds into my system gradually, and will continue to do so even if I can't keep anything else down.

It's working. I spent two days in the hospital and have felt fine ever since. I'm so grateful!

While I was so sick last week, I decided that going back to work this year just wasn't going to be the best thing for me. I feel awful about leaving my students, but I just have to do what's going to be the best for me right now. I need to stay as healthy as possible so that I can be ready for my transplant this summer. It's been hard to stay home and worry about them, but I know they will be okay. If I can get through this time, I'll be so much better off next year.

Just want the transplant to happen NOW!! Patience has never been my strong suit, but I'm working on it... :)