Post 99: Shit

Shaun helped me get in the house after the retrieval, and I went to lay down in bed. Surprisingly, I wasn’t tired. I should have been since I’d had anesthesia, but I was wide awake. I watched some tv, and then it hit me. Excruciating pain, through my right shoulder. As long as I was propped up, I was ok. When I’d start to lay down, my right shoulder would send chills down my spine. 

Then the pain started to spread. It moved to under my ribcage, and my left shoulder. I thought it may have been gas, but they didn’t inflate my stomach. I took 2 extra strength gas-x, and another dose of 1000mg Tylenol, and the pain just got worse. I toughed it out for a few hours, and hoped it would go away. 

Shaun put Julie in bed, then joined me. I tried to lay down again, and the pain just continued to shoot through me. It was like I was being stabbed, and I couldn’t catch my breath. At that point, I decided that Shaun could call the doctor on call, to make sure everything was ok. 

Within 10 minutes, we had Dr. Patel on the phone. She explained that the retrieval has been more traumatic than we were told, and that based on my symptoms, she expected I had internal bleeding. She said it’s not uncommon, but doesn’t happen often. The bleeding was causing irritation to my diaphragm, which was causing the pain in my shoulder and ribcage. She said that it would clear up on its own within a few days, but that we needed to go to the ER for Percocet, to help ease the pain and help my body heal. 

Julie was asleep, so our first priority was to find someone to watch her so we didn’t have to take her with us. We called Angel, but she didn’t answer. Then we called my sister, who was at the beach, and finally my parents, who jumped in the car and headed our way. It was around 7:45, so we expected to be home within a few hours. When they arrived, we gave them the baby monitor and the TV remote, and wished them good luck. 

When we got in the car, I sent Randi a message saying, “I feel like shit.” For anyone who knows me, this statement may be surprising. I don’t curse. Ever. It’s not language that I’m comfortable using, so when I do, you know something is very wrong. We drove straight to the ER, and checked it. Apparently, the entire town of Richlands was also at the ER. We waited for two hours before getting called back.