I'm back amongst the living!

Well, this has been quite the experience for me. I've been really ill this past 10 days or so. It all started with a runny nose the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Then by Thursday and Friday I thought for sure I had the H1N1 flu! I ached everywhere, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, and generally just wanted to die. Well, by Saturday night it was really bad so my wonderful mom rushed me to the instacare in Ogden where I was checked and rechecked by a very puzzled doctor. Their CBC machine (blood machine) wasn't working so he couldn't check any of that stuff. So he told me I might have H1N1 and if I wasn't better by Monday to go to McKay Dee and have bloodwork done. Well, as the weekend wore on, I became Jaundice (yellow) in my skin and eyes and I still felt terrible! My Mom thought it was my gallbladder and called one of the dr's she works for and he said to get me in for an ultrasound ASAP (after the dreaded bloodwork. Meanwhile Justin's work schedule changed from 2-10pm to 5am-2pm. Good change!!! So Monday morning I drove myself to the hospital and plopped in a wheelchair and my mom took me to my appointments. I was really weak and sick and couldn't walk. First was 4 vials of blood and then to the ultrasound. The results of the ultrasound showed that my liver wasn't functioning but my gallbladder was fine (no gallbladder surgery!!) So from there I was referred to a GI doctor to figure out what the heck was wrong with my liver! Wednesday I met with him and he ordered more bloodwork (the works!) So I got 9 more vials taken. Have I ever mentioned that I HATE giving blood and usually faint? UG! I managed to stay in the chair, but it sure didn't feel very good. By Thursday, I could breathe normally but still felt sick and all around just yucky! I called the GI Dr. for the results of my blood tests and he told me I have CytoMegalo Virus (CMV). He explained that it's a virus that is in everyone's body and most adults get it once in thier life, but it has flu-like symptoms so usually it goes un-diagnosed and just goes away. He told me that I have the rare kind that has liver involvement. LUCKY ME!!! He said that I seemed to be getting better so he was happy about that, but my liver is still being affected which means (you guessed it) MORE BLOOD TESTS!!! I also had been getting lots of mucous in my eyes (they were kinda bugary-gross, I know!). Well, each day they just got worse and worse and I was in constant pain if they were open or closed. They mucous was blurring my vision so I couldn't drive or watch TV or do ANYTHING! I wanted to take my eyes out! So Thursday brought a new doctor into the picture- an eye dr. Well, he told me I have pretty bad conjunctivitis and needed some prescription eye drops and then to come back in a week to make sure the there was no damage to my eyes. (CMV can sometimes cause retinal damage). Well, Friday was more blood work to check my liver (no good results yet) and more Monday. I don't have the results of today's tests yet, we'll hope for the best. I'm feeling much better and can almost see again! Everything is just blurred, but my eyes don't hurt. Another side effect is that because my bilirubin (spelling?) levels are high, I itch constantly! I've almost scratched the skin off my legs, arms, head, and well, everywhere. But I am SO blessed to have a wonderful hubby that has taken AMAZING care of me this past week, to have a mom that has done everything but got to the moon for me, and a family that has pitched in and driven me to my many appts. I am blessed! I feel alive! This is almost over!