This blog will have too much information... so be warned upfront that this is full of TMI!!!!!!!
I have been sick... sick enough that my parents extended their stay over Christmas to help with Maggie...sick enough that instead of gaining weight since Thanksgiving I have actually lost about 12 to 14 lbs depending on the scale.
So here it goes... what is ailing me.
As you may have read over Thanksgiving I had a cold.. I also had a cough that had been hanging around for 6-8 weeks... so I was given antibiotics. Also over the Thanksgiving weekend I started bleeding rectally...yep you read that right... we figured it was internal hemorrhoids a common discomfort during pregnancy... I had an appointment the week we got back from our Thanksgiving vacation anyway so I waited until that appointment to discuss with my OB/GYN team. My midwife agreed that it was very likely hemorrhoids and told me to use a suppository... So I went out and got them... Well over the month of December.. the bleeding continued and the suppositories didn't seem to be doing the trick... my stomach also started rejecting meals as in they went right through me... and I started having diarrhea more and more often... it got progressively worse and often enough that over Christmas I started planning how close to a bathroom I would be 45 or so minutes after eating a meal... Including our Le Cirque dinner extravaganza.. yeah the trip back to the Hotel was also so I could use the restroom before we went looking at lights...
This is when Seana and my parents really started taking notice and the days following Christmas the diarrhea got even worse to where I was using the restroom 10 to 12 times a day and getting up at night to also use the restroom... So I had my prenatal appointment the week after Christmas as well... and we brought up my bathroom issues as well as the bleeding not going away... the OB/GYN we saw wasn't too concerned he said I was still at a healthy weight even though I had lost some weight... but to stay hydrated and try the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) all supposed to be binders. So we adjusted my diet to my dismay... we actually had already started to adjust a bit but I still was giving in to my cravings...
Well I continued to be sick over the weekend so we called my OB/GYN and he said maybe it could be cdiff which is a form of colitis caused by use of antibiotics... So he put me on antibiotics for cdiff.. which is weird to treat something caused by antibiotics with antibiotics.. but whatever... He said it would take 72 hours before I would see any difference... So I started them... New Years came and went and I still wasn't feeling better... 48 hours in to taking the antibiotics my Mom and Seana pretty much demanded I go to urgent care... So I went... and they said that it is too soon to tell if the antibiotics are working but they went ahead and ordered that I get labs done on my stool.. OH FUN...
So the next morning I did that... and I actually ended up having to do it twice because I was one sample short... yay for me. Meanwhile Seana called my OB/GYN and he had me do a full panel of blood work as well... We had to wait 2 days for all the labs to come back... which is over yet another weekend... which leads me to this week.
The test for cdiff came back negative as did all my other tests and my blood panel was fine... awesome no answers... So my midwife called and gave me a list of gastrointestinal specialists to go see.. Turns out there is one in the same building as them so I chose him... Called and got in the next afternoon... Well he listened to my list of symptoms and was figuring it to be colitis but wanted to do a colonoscopy to confirm. Since I am pregnant I can't be sedated or drugged for the procedure so it was decided... a partial colonoscopy the next morning! I also had an ultrasound scheduled the next morning which I would have to move but couldn't do it until the next morning because by then my OBs office was closed.
So to prep I had to give myself an enema... not something that is enjoyable especially when pregant and with a bruised/cracked or fractured rib (Oh I forgot to mention that the week after thanksgiving during a coughing session I injured a rib on my left side, OB said that can happen and that there wasn't anyway to treat injured ribs) So I almost forgot to call and change my ultrasound thanks to all the enema fun I was having... in fact I called 15 minutes after I was supposed to be there... Thankfully they were understanding and got me in for the next morning... With that I headed to the Bridgeport Hospital (also the hospital we will be delivering our little boy at)... After an hour or so of prepping... in I went for wide awake partial colonoscopy.
Well I can tell you that is extremely uncomfortable, especially when the Dr says we are going to go in as far as you can stand it! Ummm what?? And ummm OUCH!!! The good news, he took several biopsys and from what he saw he was 99% sure I had ulcerative colitis (this is a chronic disease where your immune system attacks your colon from time to time) NOT what I wanted to hear but an answer. So he sent me on my way with horrible gas pain... for the procedure they pump you full of air... so all that air has to come back out... yuck.
He told us he was going to get in touch with my OB to work out a treatment plan... So the next day I was told I would be taking a steroid Prednisone for a short time and a medication specifically for colitis for a longer period of time...
Well we are now at the end of the week... and my biopsy came back negative for ulcerative colitis!! It is acute colitis which is a one time thing! YAY!!
Getting my prescription filled was a chore, the medication they were going to put me on required a letter of explanation from my doctor to the insurance company in order for it to be covered... so to avoid that he gave me samples of a substitute enough for a month! And wouldn't you know it my symptoms are starting to subside!
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