So writing out everything that has happened in the Klutzke household these past eight months would take...well 8 months sooo heres the breakdown:
February:
Had Nicholas, brought home and recovered wonderfully!
March-August:
Families came to visit, settling nicely into new home,
houses going up around us in the neighborhood. Doug continues to be busy at
work. We even make a trip to Indiana in July to see everyone for the
Klutzke/Wildman reunion. Celebrated Doug and my birthdays and continue to get
closer to the 30s. Dun Dun Dunnnn.
August:
Everything begins to go downhill from here...prepare
yourselves, it gets bumpy. I took the boys to the pool one afternoon. I was
walking around in the pool holding Nicholas, and Brayden was jumping in and out
around me. One jump alarmed my mommy instinct so I turned suddenly to push
Brayden outwards mid-jump so he didn't hit his head. POP-CRACK AND ZING. My
back goes out. I literally went numb
holding on to my six month old in the pool. Took me a half hour to get out of
the pool, shuffle my way to the strollers and pool items, and then call
Doug. Doug took me to the ER from there
where they told me I had strained my lower back muscle. So okay, I took their
word for it. Well a week goes by and I decide to go see an ortho doc. Whelp, he
comes in with a very perplexed look on his face and asks "How in the world
have you been walking for a week?" "What do you mean, I ask?" he
puts up the x-ray and tells me that I have literally broken my back. My L4 and
5 completely slipped and broke away from one another. These are the lower and
much bigger lumbar in your back. Made
since to me but when you have to be a mom to two kids you really just can't sit
around. So bed rest it was and enrolling
the kids into daycare was the next step. As a stay-at-home mother, this was one
of the hardest and most unnatural things to do, but when told by family and
docs to do this, what could I do?
September:
Wake up one morning not feeling the
best, figure it’s the back medicine or flu.
Then I begin to throw up blood.
Doug takes me to my primary who tells me to go immediately to the
hospital. There they admit me and find that my blood count is one away from
transfusion and my liver enzymes are sky high! So after a week in the hospital
with multiple tests done, all the specialists are still perplexed about what is
going on. Right after discharge I do a follow-up ultrasound. Ding Ding Ding,
the problem is found. 5 years ago I got my gallbladder removed which had been
chalk full of stones. Apparently one had been missed and got lodged in the duct
in my liver. Over these 5 years that stone had caused my liver to corrode and
not release toxins like it should have.
There was obvious damage done to the liver. Now we just needed to figure out how much and
how to treat. All while this is going on
my amazing husband, family and friends are supporting me and lifting me
up. I will never believe it when someone
says they can be sick alone. I don't
know what I would have done without Doug being my rock day and night and my
children being that light of hope for me.
End of September the doctor’s find that 14-16% of my liver had been
damaged. I was going to have to go through a pretty heavy medicinal treatment
to excrete the remaining toxins in my liver that it could no longer flush out
on its own.
October:
I begin the treatment on the
evening of Brayden's 3rd Bday! I was determined to be able to celebrate and eat
some cake with my birthday boy. I will
be utterly frank when I say the treatment to detox your own liver is pure hell.
I prayed every minute and that is what I feel kept me going. God's strength and
knowing that doing this was what was going to get my boys/husband their
mommy/wife back. There was no keeping
anything down. Sleep was becoming an
all-day thing because I was too weak to do anything else. By Wednesday I began
to see the end of the tunnel. The meds
were doing what they were supposed to do and my body was getting used to the
side effects. Friday my parents and
sister came down to help with both me and Brayden's 3rd Bday party that I had
planned prior to the meds and continued to use as a goal of when to be well
by. Luckily by Sunday I was feeling
social and celebratory. By Sunday night
and Monday not so much anymore. After
finishing with the treatment for my liver, there was still another boo boo I
hadn't fixed yet. Yep, my back. They scheduled me for an epidural that Monday
after my treatment was finished. Let me
just say I really hope this epidural thing works out because I was under the
impression (and so was my insurance) that I was going to have one surgical site
for the broken lumbar. What was I thinking; I mean I'm never that easy. ;) So
four sites it was, and yes I was awake through the whole thing and when they
say a little pressure...um yeah right.
So now we are in the middle of October and I have just gotten my first
blood test back from the liver treatment. Good news is my enzymes are lower
than they were but still not in normal range. I have draws every week for a
month and then we reassess to see if I have to do the detox treatment
again.
Now?
So what does all this mean for me
and my lifestyle now? First of all
livers are the one organ that can rejuvenate, so I am expected (and will,
because I am that determined) to make a full recovery. There are some life changers though. I can't
drink alcohol anymore (not that I did much to begin with), no smoking, (well
duh), and the one that I am finding to be the hardest is no more over the counter
medications that will impact my liver process. Let me tell you that list ain't
short. Actually I can't really find one I can take. So if I have a headache or
migraine its home remedies like dark rooms, tea, quite...oh wait I have two
boys, yeah right. J
So I guess that’s my big life changer there. I do have to wear a med ID
bracelet now but I spruced that up already. :)
So now next on my list of grand medical adventures is a colonoscopy on
the 24th. Trust me you don't want the details but I'll tell you when it rains
for me it pours, especially when you deal with the liver. One of the many tests
they had done on me was called an Empty Gastric Study. This is where I go in
fasting, eat radioactive eggs (yep I'm a super heroine now) and then get
scanned. Because of the liver corrosion
and bile back-up my stomach had stopped emptying properly, so this is our next
organ or organs to tackle. They are also going to check my intestines for any
sign of damage because of certain symptoms I have been having lately, again
I'll spare you the details. So yeah I
really don't want to be interesting anymore. I would never wish this on anyone
in the world and I know I am strong enough to take it, but I am ready to get
back to being boring. I know....yeah right. :)
