What happened?

I was doing so good. Recovering just like I should, incisions looking great, and feeling great. We were looking forward to our appt with the oncologist (supposed to be today) so we could find out the plan and move forward in our journey. Then Friday afternoon I began having more pain than I had experienced since leaving the hospital. I met my dr after hours to let him have a look and everything looked fine. There was a little redness but nothing out of the ordinary. So he did a few things and told me to let him know in the morning if I wasn't better. Well, I wasn't better-in fact Saturday morning I was hurting so badly I couldn't get comfortable so Jamie took me back to his office Saturday morning. This time he tried to pull fluid from the surgical site to check for infection but there was no excess fluid that he could pull off. So he wrote me some prescriptions and told me to let him know if I didn't get better. By Sunday morning the nausea and vomiting started. I couldn't keep anything down, which also meant I couldn't take my pain meds. I have never been that sick in my entire life!

Finally my family told me enough was enough-they were calling the dr and taking me to the ER. I kept fighting this because I knew I couldn't sit in the waiting room because I was so sick. My wonderful doctor agreed and decided I needed tests run to figure out why I was so sick-especially 11days after surgery. Most infections show up within the first week. So Sunday night around 5:30 I was admitted and the testing began.

My poor hand looks like a pin cushion. They needed lots of blood and I was dehydrated which made finding a good vein even more difficult. By the time they finished I had lost all strength and I was a big baby. I was crying because I didn't feel good and everyone who walked in the room did something to hurt me. It was definitely one of the lowest moments of this journey.

As the results came in my white blood cell count was very high, CT scan showed possible pneumonia but no fluid collection at my surgical site, and my heart rate was high. So I was started on antibiotics and they began trying to find where the infection was that was causing all of these symptoms. Monday morning my dr came back to try to pull off fluid again and this time he did get fluid and it didn't look pretty. My doctor was just sick. So he went to culture the fluid and told me if it started to grow then we would have to go in and check it out. In less than 2 hours my nurse came in and told me I had just been put on npo status, which told me I was having surgery again. Then my dr called me and told me he was going to have to go in and check things out. So I went back into surgery at 2:00 yesterday.

Once they got in there it was obvious that my body had rejected the foreign bodies that had been placed in for the reconstruction. It was so bad they had to take everything out and clean it out and l eave it out. Reconstruction will just have to wait until I have finished my treatments and am healthy once again.

I felt better immediately after surgery. Feeling even better today. I am not sure yet how much this will delay us but the oncologist did not come see us today, but did reschedule our appt for Monday the 19th. Not what we had hoped for, but it will have to do. We are still in the hospital tonight as we wait to get the results of the cultures to see which medications I need to be on to kill any lingering infection and to determine if it can be meds by mouth or if they have to be IV antibiotics. Also my blood pressure is low and they are having a hard time getting it back up. It's not dangerously low, but much lower than what it normally runs so they are watching it closely.

So that's where we re now. Not sure when we will get to go home but for now we are making the best of it. I even got to get wheeled outside and enjoy some sunshine! Thanks for the continued prayers and support. I received several pictures of teachers (and some students ) from Kinsley's school who wore their "Andrea's Army" shirts to school today and they brought me to tears, not because I was sad but because I was so overwhelmed by their love and support. I love you guys! We will keep fighting!