May 20, 2016 |Jen Hartnett-Orser
Was feeling a little too overwhelmed to blog - here are excerpts of my FB posts:
Day 11:
Spoke too soon. I am no longer #unplugged
Back on IV for another week. Double the dosage. Hoping this does the trick.
Taking a moment to be angry, and a little sad/sorry for myself.
In the grand scheme of things, this is frustrating and annoying. NOT life threatening, and I'm still so grateful that there IS a way to fix this.
My pity party shall be quite short. And mainly related to my IV location. Grrrrr. (edited to add: IV placement is the fault of my dainty veins.....and PITY party is mostly over now! Feeling ok-er!)
WE had been planning on going camping with a group of friends (ok, in a CABIN....but still!) and due to the timing of the ER and nursing visits - I couldn't go on Friday - and sent the boys on ahead of me. Not knowing if I'd be able, or even feel like joining them....frustrated because, once again, my lack of health causes disruptions to our family. HATE being incapacitated, and inconveniencing others..also - ruining all the fun happens quite frequently too. My entire day today fluctuated between rage and extreme sadness.....tears and extreme anger. ugh... SO not me.
I treated myself to half a bar of organic milk chocolate- some trashy tv and an early bedtime. Getting into bed I saw this posted by one of my BFF's: Followed her further advice by watching some Kevin Hart - and Mad Lib Madness on YouTube - which is a little 'below the belt' in terms of content - but hilarious nonetheless!!!
Day 12:
Feeling mucho better after a good nights sleep. NO problems with snagging my IV in the night, and that is a WIN!
Found some pure vitamin E in my holistic
bag of tricks that feels like heaven on my face.
Up before my alarm by my snuggly cat, and now I'm rocking out to my favourite tunes.
Heading west today because somebody awesome recently told me that laughter is THE BEST medicine.
Sherkston crew: I'm coming for ya...make me laugh!
#happycaturday #bestfriends #roadtrip
Totally worth the 6 hour travel day. Love these people. And I'm CAMPING!!!!!!!!
IV is wrapped and feelin ok. BBQ is smoking, and the cabin is adorable.
#SuckItCrohns
Ima have fun anyways!!
Day 13
If laughter is the best medicine, I am fully cured.
I was on the fence about coming this weekend. But thankfully, I did. Even if I'm tired tomorrow, even if I 'should' have stayed home to rest. Seeing these people and laughing this hard was the:
Best. Decision. Ever.
Even if it means I had to camp.
Channeling my inner Susan Sarandon from StepMom:
Days 14-16
I got pretty quiet about everything - healing was going well - and on day 16, my IV came out again....not wanting to jinx myself- I didn't post or mention it at all! Which turned out to be a reasonable idea, as the following day, things flared up again, and back to the ER I went!
It just so happened that this was our 16th anniversary - we did manage to go out for a nice dinner before our road trip to the ER....I normally go alone, becauuse it's boring, and long, and I'm generally really good at entertaining myself for long stretches....I read, listen to things goin on around me, play on social media, and even meditate! Not so for my darling hubs. So I try not to subject him to this type of thing whenever possible. He was a good sport and tried - but since we went in so late, we got the skeleton crew staff and had to wait. 4.5 hrs. (got home around 3:30am)
Day 17:
Jen Hartnett-Orser celebrating our anniversary with Chad Orser at Peterborough Regional Health Centre.
May 28 at 3:25am · Peterborough ·
Because no good date night is complete without an excursion. Apparently the day pass without IV shall not be extended to even a weekend pass. 7 more days. Which, for those keeping score, will bring us to a grand total of 24 days. Le sigh.
Upside?!? Chad Orser gives the recliners 2 thumbs up! And Kerri, the ER rockstar got a line in my LEFT forearm! (A favourite among those with a preference)
Seriously though. For those that know us well, you'll understand why today is our 'Un-iversary'. And why we celebrate this day even more so than our 'official wedding' one.
People tend to post sweet throwback photos on anniversary days.
And that's cool. But today, I think THIS pic is pretty sweet.
16 years of accruing frequent flyer miles at hospitals....16 years of amateur narcolepsy. 2 kids that have survived us, and so far are turning out pretty great (keep your stick on the ice Riley J Hartnett & #JackyBoy!)
5840 days of adventures, and obviously a love that can see us through the dark days and let us enjoy the sunny ones that much more.
#happyuniversary #happylife #sunshineonacloudyday #SuckItCrohns #love #bestfriends
Day 19:
Apparently the ER Rockstar didn't 'stick it' quite as well as we initially thought - and my IV started to inflitrate (which means the fluid was going into my skin, not my vein) So my OTHER, reasonably decent forearm was puffy and angered, and my face was beginning to swell, and become extremely inflammed again.
I called my nursing team, who recommended i hit up the ER to request (Beg,plead) for a PICC line - s the ER nurses are the most skilled and experienced ones at starting IV's, and even they were striking out. During these 19 days I believe I am up to 7 sites that have been used - not to mention about another 5 attempted and failed sites. U.G.H.