So back on January 4th I was sitting on the couch beside my son putting his boots on so we could go into town (I was turned towards him). He was helping putting his boot on and as such he dropped his boot, as I went to bend down to pick up the boot, my son also went to pick up the boot. To stop him from falling off the couch, I quickly swung upwards to pick him up and heard a snap in my back. I yelled for my husband (since I was stuck in the bent over position) and he was in the bathroom. He came out and did a check that i could move my head, arms, fingers, toes and legs. With his help I moved to a standing position and started walking around the house (very slowly).
From Saturday to Tuesday I was trying home remedies (tylenol 3, robax, ice, heat, aleeve) and nothing was working so Tuesday (Jan 7th) night my husband finally convinced me to go to the hospital (i could no longer turn my head so could not drive myself during the day. My husband dropped me off at the er while he and my son went to Tim Hortons for something to eat. I walked to the counter and told them what was going on and then waited for the next hour in the waiting room. The chairs were hard and I could not sit in them so was standing, but couldnt stand for long periods of time either so the longer i waited, the more pain i was in.
I was finally taken into an examination room to wait for a doctor, I waited another 20 minutes and the doctor finally came in and did a check. He wanted xrays and told me to lay in the bed until the xray tech could come reach me. A minute later a nurse came in and gave me a shot of morphine. I waited a couple of minutes (literally two minutes) and a woman came and got me and we walked down to xrays. She took a couple of pictures and then asked me to stand so she could get a straight on xray. She then asked how long my back had been bothering me - a couple of days. She then showed me my xray. My lower back looked like a C. I looked at it and said it is not supposto look like that is it - no not at all. She ordered me back to my examination room and the doctor would be there shortly to check on me.
I went back to the examination room and laid on the bed. The doctor came in and said that he had spoken with the doctor at the university hospital in Edmonton (3 hours away) and that he wants to see me that night for a CT scan. I asked if I needed to drive there since my husband had to work in the morning and I was not able to drive. He told me the ambulance would be taking me. I phoned my husband and told him what was going on. I convinced him I was okay and that I would call as soon as I knew what was going on. I then phoned my parents (who live on Vancouver Island) and asked my mom if i needed her could she come to me to watch my son (if I was going to be in the hospital for some time) - she said yes.
Two nurses came in and strapped me to a board explaining that I was to wait on this board until the ambulance got there. Ten minutes later the ambulance attendents came (seriously the two nicest ladies ever) and strapped me to another board as that was the board requested by the team in edmonton. We were on our way to edmonton.
I fell asleep on the way (morphine finally kicked in, there was another drug they gave me too for nausea but i do not remember its name).
We got to the hospital at 1am and waited until 230 to go to the CT (apparently while we were on our way there was a car accident which required ct scans). As I was wheeled into the room there were four nurses, two doctors, a surgeon, and an anesthesiologist. I commented on how this is a lot of people for a CT scan. One of the nurses explained how they were my surgery team - WHAT!!!!!!!!!! What my doctor did not mention is that he thought i had either fractured or broken my back and I needed to go to edmonton for back surgery!!!!
They unstrapped me from the board on the stretcher and transferred me to another table and removed my clothes for more xrays. I then waited 45 minutes for the surgeon to come back. The surgeon explained how he had good news and bad news. He explained how my back was neither fractured nor broken; however my 1 2 and 3 vertebrae were twisted together into a knot but I did not need surgery. He told me the next two weeks would really suck especially since the only thing I could do was take medicine and do my normal daily actitities (on a very slow pace and stop as soon as it hurts). I got up and got back into my clothes while I waited for my prescriptions. I felt nauseous and dizzy, one of the nurses caught me and he and the ambulance attendants helped me back onto the stretcher for our ride home. The other ambulance attendant went to the tim hortons in the hospital and got me a water and donut (since one of my meds i needed to take with food). The doctor then gave me a bunch of prescriptions as well as some meds to take right then and there. We were then discharged and sent home.
We left the hospital at 4am. We got back to bonnyville at 650am. I called my husband and since my son was still sleeping he called his friend to come pick me up and bring me home. I got home and went straight to bed.
When I woke up I could not get out of bed or roll over, I was in so much pain. My husband called the hospital but they would not or could not give him any advice except to call an ambulance to bring me back into the hospital. My husband gave me a percaset (which he had from a previous injury) and I got out of bed while he and my son went into town to fill my prescriptions. I was on T3, naproxen, and valium. . .the downside is that they only worked when I took them all together. The worst downside was that they made me sleepy which is not an option when I am a stay at home mom of a two year old. My husband took wednesday off. . .by wednesday evening he called my mom to come up and help. My mom got the only seat available for thursday. She did not get here until Friday morning at 2am (my husband picked her up after work). . .my poor husband had to leave for work at 5am :(
The first couple of days my mom was here I was completely worthless. All I did was sleep. Last friday I still was not feeling well so i went back to the doctors (as I was almost out of medicine). Good news, my vertebraes are not in a complete knot which means i can start physio therapy. Bad news, still on meds, still can not do anything, still on bed rest.
My mom is still here, probably for atleast another two weeks, since
I still cannot pick-up my son. I am getting to the point where I am so frustrated because I feel completely useless. I have a very hard time asking for help so I am doing more than I should (which makes my husband and mom mad) and that is also making my healing take longer.
I am going into SERIOUS craft withdrawl. I have received a bunch of crafting supplies in the mail (which I won from challenges) and cannot wait to start them. And there are still lots of challenges for January that I want to get at and have such great ideas for them but cant because I can't stand for longer than 10 minutes without being in pain and I can't scrap
sitting down.
So for now I am bedridden with sporatic bouts of cleaning and cooking but besides that I spend my time laying on the couch and sleeping. I am also sleeping on the sofabed since our bed is too soft.
Please bear with me as I heal, I promise as soon as I am able to scrap I will be at it!!!! until then stay safe and warm :)
