Catching up…

I’ve been away from my blog for a while now as I’ve had too much going on, so I’m going to be doing a bit of catching up over the next few days as there’s been so much I’ve wanted to blog about but just not been able to. So I’m going to backdate a few posts and if you’re interested you can step back in time with me and find out what’s been going on lately.

The last few months of my life have been the weirdest, most wonderful, most woeful, tiring, emotionally draining  months of my life. As some of you may know I got pregnant at long last recently and what a miracle that was. It’s the first time I’ve ever been pregnant in so many years of trying and although my pregnancy was brief, it was wonderful to experience.

After a few weeks of having weird tastes and changes in appetite and larger boobs I woke up with severe shoulder pain in my left shoulder and although it faded during the day, it came back with a vengeance in the evening. A call to NHS24 and lots of questions, their advice was to go to A&E immediately as this pain could be caused by internal bleeding or an ectopic pregnancy or both.

The pain subsided, tests proved that I was pregnant and all I could do was wait and see what happened. I went for a scan the following morning and they couldn’t see anything in my womb, but it was too early to be able to anyway, so I didn’t see that as a bad thing. I started having my HCG levels checked every 48 hours at the local hospital and these steadily rose and doubled as normal and all was looking great but I was booked in for another early scan a week after my trip to A&E and that’s the weirdest day I’ve ever had.

The scan went on for ages as they knew they were possibly looking for an ectopic – I had an ultrasound and then an internal and they took loads of screen grabs. I then had to have a load of blood tests done and see one of the consultants on duty. From the scan it was inconclusive whether the pregnancy was viable or not as it was still very early to see anything and the only way to be sure was to wait for the results of my blood tests. If my HCG levels were still doubling there was nothing to worry about. If they had plateaued then that would indicate it was an ectopic pregnancy and I would have to go into surgery straight away.

Yikes! I must add that I was going through all of this on my own as Colin was away in Germany on an artists residency and I was on FaceTime with him everyday relaying all the stuff I was going through – it was really hard for both of us and he came back after one week away as he was so worried. We had a really lovely father’s day and then he was back on the plane and was miles away again. When I got home from the hospital I spent most of the time on FaceTime with him trying to figure out what was happening and wondering whether I would be having surgery in a few hours.

I called the hospital at 4.30pm to find out my results and my heart sank when they told me the sad news that my HCG level was the same as the result I got earlier in the week. I had to get a bag packed and get to the hospital for 6pm as they might be able to fit me in for surgery straight away!

It was a manic couple of hours of sorting out the dog and my stuff and emailing all my clients to let them know I was going to be off work for the next few weeks and then getting into a taxi and getting driven the hospital. Colin booked on the next flight home and would be back on Friday.

I didn’t go into surgery until Friday afternoon and so most of Thursday evening was spent lulling around with a canula in my left hand (rather painful and very annoying), writing my diary, reading magazines, demanding lots of cups of tea from the nurses (who were very happy to oblige)  and taking spooky photo’s with my iPod…

On Friday afternoon I got taken into surgery and had to have my left fallopian tube completely removed. The team at Forth Park were absolutely amazing. The treatment I got was second to none and they got me through a really hard time and were so supportive. Colin managed to get back on Friday evening and came straight to the hospital after picking up the dog and picking me some lovely wild flowers!

I’d love to take this opportunity as well to thank my mate Dan for being an absolute gem throughout – looking after my dog whenever I was unable, taking me to A&E when I needed to get there in an emergency and sitting with me there for hours and hours, rejoicing with me at the steady rise in my HCG levels and drinking whiskey on my behalf to celebrate, then providing his shoulder for me to cry on when my world fell apart.

I’m all better now and have stepped off the emotional roller coaster and getting back into the rhythm of normality and looking forward to the next round! So look out for back dated posts appearing over the next few days while I catch up with where I am at the moment…