{"id":673,"date":"2013-06-07T08:20:32","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T12:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.viciousgrin.com\/blog\/?p=673"},"modified":"2013-06-07T08:26:44","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T12:26:44","slug":"this-is-the-story-of-how-i-almost-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/07\/this-is-the-story-of-how-i-almost-died\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the Story of How I Almost Died"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warning: Um. Sad.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

2012 was the year my husband and I started to really try and start our family. We\u2019d already spent our 2nd<\/sup> wedding anniversary, in June 2012, heartbroken when I suffered a miscarriage at five weeks. In the intervening months, we kept trying and \u201cgot lucky\u201d on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

I knew better and to keep it all under my hat until the magic 10-week mark. We told a very small number of friends and I made my first appointment for 8 weeks out.<\/p>\n

I had some lower abdominal pain that I considered was just my body adjusting to growing a person inside. I woke up the last week of January with vicious morning sickness. After spending the morning throwing up and being miserable, I started to also get serious neck pain on the right side of my neck. I presumed I pulled a muscle.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t get better as the day progressed, so I called for a late appointment with my GP to try and figure out what was up, informing them I was pregnant. My doc examined me and diagnosed me with a bladder infection. \u00a0My neck started spasming while she was examining me and I screamed in pain and cried, it hurt so bad. I don\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

After some hilarious comedies of errors getting my urine sample, I was sent home with scripts for antibiotics and anti-nausea pills for my morning sickness.<\/p>\n

Two days later, February 1, still fairly miserable from my neck hurting and my bladder infection, my doctor called and told me that my urine cultures were negative. They strongly encouraged me to call my OB\/GYN and get in for an ultrasound, immediately.<\/p>\n

The receptionist tried to convince me that everything was normal, I was gestating a person these things are normal, and to wait for my appointment the following week. I protested and insisted. They got me in that day.<\/p>\n

The ultrasound tech couldn\u2019t find the fetus using the external method. She needed to use the ultrasound wand to check internally. Yeah, that one. I could see on the screen as she moved the ultrasound around to check everything out.<\/p>\n

She told me that she found the fetus, but it was not in my uterus. It was implanted in my right fallopian tube. If you didn\u2019t know, babies can\u2019t grow there. Ectopic pregnancies are life-threatening to the mother.<\/p>\n

I heard the heartbeat. At 7 weeks, your baby already has a heartbeat. I didn\u2019t know that.<\/p>\n

The tech went off to find a doctor to see me because we needed to take care of this, immediately. I sent my husband a text message that the pregnancy was ectopic and that we\u2019d be losing the baby. I didn\u2019t understand the severity of my condition. At all. I thought they were going to administer something to end the pregnancy and send me home to follow up in a few days.<\/p>\n

My doctor told me that she was admitting me to the hospital for surgery and they\u2019d have to remove the tube. She was straightforward and said that the worst case scenario was a full hysterectomy but she didn\u2019t anticipate that being necessary. I was devastated.<\/p>\n

I left and called my husband to tell him I needed surgery and he needed to leave work. He was an hour away. He told me to call my best friend, one of the small crew of people that gets early notice of wtf is up in our lives. She asked if she could come to the hospital and sit with me.<\/p>\n

I am a fiercely private person (there\u2019s a reason you are reading this rather than hearing it in my voice or face-to-face) and my instinct was to tell her no. I would be fine. But I surprised myself and told her yes. I\u2019ve never been happier to disobey my instincts yet.<\/p>\n

And then I did something that baffles my doctors to this day: I drove myself to the hospital. By all rights and logic, I should have been doubled over in pain, unable to do anything, least of all drive. Not only did I drive myself, I parked ridiculously far away, too and walked all the way around the hospital to get to the emergency entrance. I didn\u2019t even valet park my car. When I do give birth, I will be a fucking champion of pain tolerance, I can only assume.<\/p>\n

I sat in the waiting room with my BFF for about 25 minutes trying not to cry and concocting an elaborate plan to say she was my husband\u2019s sister so she could come back with me. She said she\u2019d gotten his permission for the clever ruse. Why not my sister? She\u2019s nearly a foot taller than me\u2026 No one would have believed it.<\/p>\n

I was admitted, hooked up to IVs, blood drawn, and I think a super classy urine sample taken in the emergency bay with a portable potty in the presence of two nurses (one male) and my friend. Dignity? Bah.<\/p>\n

My doctor, who was also going to be my surgeon came in and ran through everything with me after an initial exam by the prior doctor on call at the hospital. When my doctor asked me if I had any questions at all, I asked her when I get my cyborg replacement tube? She patted me on the arm like, \u201cThat\u2019s nice, sweetie, but no.\u201d I am officially initiated as a Lathrop \u2013 I joke in the face of fear and harrowing hospital visits.<\/p>\n

My surgery was apparently uneventful and nothing unexpected or otherwise exciting happened. They removed my right fallopian tube, orphaning my right ovary. They also drained the blood that had built up around my liver and was putting pressure on my neck on the right side. So that problem went away, too.<\/p>\n

I was given a doctor\u2019s order for two weeks of rest and to avoid long car rides during that time. Eating could resume, normally. I would not be denied Jell-O, however. That shit is required when I am laid up and unwell.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a story about my recovery or my ensuing months-long depression, so I\u2019ll leave those for another time.<\/p>\n

I never really felt any fallopian pain until about 45 minutes before my surgery. That was because at that point, my tube had completely ruptured. If I had waited for my 8 week scheduled appointment, I would have been dead in hours.<\/p>\n

The key here is to listen to your body. Some pain just isn\u2019t normal and okay in the early stages of pregnancy. Abdominal pain plus neck pain plus vomiting are signs of something seriously wrong. Do not convince yourself it\u2019s nothing and everything is ok, because \u201csome discomfort is normal\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s just morning sickness.\u201d Your discomfort may be someone else\u2019s doubled-over, crippling agony.<\/p>\n

Or in my case, my discomfort was my brush with death. She looked at me and said, \u201cNot today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warning: Um. Sad. 2012 was the year my husband and I started to really try and start our family. We\u2019d already spent our 2nd wedding anniversary, in June 2012, heartbroken when I suffered a miscarriage at five weeks. In the intervening months, we kept trying and \u201cgot lucky\u201d on Christmas Eve. I knew better and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[39],"tags":[78,127,69,128,48,129,35],"class_list":["post-673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trey-and-jess-life","tag-adventure","tag-babies","tag-death","tag-hospital","tag-life","tag-scary","tag-web-stuff","item-wrap"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":163,"url":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/29\/wedding-brain-dump\/","url_meta":{"origin":673,"position":0},"title":"Wedding Brain Dump","author":"Jess","date":"May 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Two weeks and counting now till the big day. 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Promises. It has been super hot here the last few weeks. We haven't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "House Adventures"","block_context":{"text":"House Adventures","link":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/category\/house-adventures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/22\/a-tale-of-two-kitties\/","url_meta":{"origin":673,"position":3},"title":"A Tale of Two Kitties","author":"Jess","date":"September 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Two weeks ago, my 9-year-old cat, Fiona, was acting most unwell. She was very lethargic and didn't appear to be eating, drinking, or using the litterbox. I took her to the vet and after a quick exam, some blood was drawn and an xray was done. Her test results did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Odds and Ends"","block_context":{"text":"Odds and Ends","link":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/category\/odds-and-ends\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fiona-Bandage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fiona-Bandage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fiona-Bandage.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fiona-Bandage.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fiona-Bandage.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Fiona-Bandage.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":251,"url":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/02\/radio-silence\/","url_meta":{"origin":673,"position":4},"title":"Radio Silence","author":"Jess","date":"July 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been quiet here in the country the last week or so. I've had to drive in to the office every day this week which is soul crushing and draining to say the least. There's a very good reason I take full advantage of my ability to work from home.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Odds and Ends"","block_context":{"text":"Odds and Ends","link":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/category\/odds-and-ends\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":606,"url":"https:\/\/viciousgrin.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/28\/newold-restaurant-in-my-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":673,"position":5},"title":"New\/Old Restaurant in my Town!","author":"Jess","date":"March 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Two posts in one day? What is the world coming to!? But, I was checking my oft-neglected RSS feeds and had to reblog this from Frederick Maryland Online. Mealey\u2019s Table\u00a0will open in \u201cSpring 2012.\u201d Here are some articles about\u00a0the chef, the\u00a0excitement of the town, and\u00a0jobs at the new restaurant. 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