A Kelsey Emergency

I’m going to start off this post by saying that I have an Ileostomy. I’ve had an ileostomy since I was 17 and it saved my life. Having an ileostomy has been a great thing for me, but with it can come some serious complications. Illnesses that just cause others to feel under the weather, like a common cold or stomach bug, can knock me right off my feet.

And that brings me to yesterday. I must have ate something that my stomach didn’t agree with or picked up a stomach bug, but Thursday early morning, I was so sick. My ileostomy started to act up, I was nauseous, and even the thought of having a drink made my stomach turn. I woke Chris up at 4:30 and this is how our conversation went:

Me: I don’t feel good.

Chris: What’s wrong?

Me: I don’t feel good and I feel dehydrated.

Chris: Do you want some water?

Me: No.

Chris: Do you want some Tylenol?

Me: No.

Chris: What do you need?

Me: Nothing.

Chris: Do you want to cuddle?

Me: No…I feel like throwing up.

I had a very restless night and managed to get some sleep between 5:30 and 6:30, before my alarm went off. I got up, determined that I was okay and could go to work. That lasted all of 5 minutes before I crawled back into bed. My energy was depleted. Thankfully, I have an amazing support team. Chris wrangled up the boys, got them ready, and made them breakfast. Then my mom came and picked them up to take them to daycare (which she does not want to do again since the boys were so upset when she dropped them off). At around 9:30, I realized I needed help. I couldn’t catch up on my fluids, my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, I had leg cramps, and struggled to breathe. I called Chris, who left work to pick me up and take me to the hospital. When we got there and I saw the wait time was 4-5 hours, I wanted to turn around and walk right back out, but I felt too sick. So I went back to triage where they took my vitals and immediately hooked me up to an IV (having a resting heartrate of 140bpm is alarming). I was able to wait in triage, instead of the waiting room, for a bed to become available, and luckily it only took about 20 minutes. The entire time, Chris made sure I was comfortable and made light of being stuck in the hospital. On a side note: I don’t think Chris has a career as a doctor in his future.

After having 2 litres of fluid pumped into me, I was given the okay to go home, rest, and drink lots of fluids. That evening, the bowl of soup I had managed to eat gave me terrible indigestion and made for a long evening of very stinky burps (haha, so attractive on my part). I was so exhausted that Chris and I went to bed at 8:30.

As of this morning, I am feeling much better and hydrated. I am so thankful for my wonderful boyfriend who has officially experienced his first “Kelsey emergency.”