I will start things off with my health symptoms I
have been dealing with and then I will go into detail about Mike’s current health
journey.
On March 30th 2014 I started
experiencing various types of strange symptoms. My vision at times would get
blurry and I was getting strange head sensations that I can’t find the words to
describe. In general my head feels “off”. I get hot flashes and my face becomes
flushed for hours. I have dizzy spells, tingling in my hands and feet followed
with numbness. I’ve had a racing heart, shortness of breath, difficulty
sleeping, confusion and a general sensation of feeling “off”. Now I have 24/7
blurry, “funky” vision. To find out what
was going on I started by seeing an allergist which then turned into seeing a neurologist,
an ophthalmologist, optometrist, neuro-ophthalmologist, rheumatologist, neuro-endocrinologist,
and numerous appointments with my primary care. I’ve had CT-Scans, a MRI, MRV,
spinal tap, 10-day event heart monitor, blood glucose monitoring, countless lab
draws and the list goes on. Six months later, I have no results as to what has
been going on with my body. My symptoms have been so debilitating at times I’ve
been unable to get out of bed and go to work. I took numerous days off from
work and left early on many days. My life was completely altered. I stopped doing everything
to the point it was hard to even run simple errands like going to the grocery
store. I've spend hours crying from my horrible symptoms and have had no
answers. Through it all I constantly turned to Mike and my mom. Like many
others they have been there for me, even in the wee hours of the night. Even
though they would feel helpless while my body felt like it was attacking itself
they were there for me. Now that’s enough about me…
Looking back Mike didn't seem to
have a lot of symptoms… Starting around July 2014 Mike started
having stomach discomfort. He had some
constipation and stomach pain. We didn’t think much of it. We both figured it
was just from eating a bad diet and that it would pass. He would go weeks with constipation and then goes days with diarrhea
for about two months. Me being the nagging fiancé I was at the time I told him
go see the doctor or continue to suffer. Him being stubborn he reaffirmed to me
over and over that he was fine. On September 2nd Mike went to play
softball on his men’s softball league. He wasn’t feeling well all day but insisted
on playing (did I mention how stubborn he is…). It was one of those 90 degree
days and super muggy. He was struggling through the whole game. His friends
kept telling me how awful he looked. He was in a lot of pain and sweating profusely.
He was up at bat and swung to hit the ball. What happened next is where it all
began... He screamed in pain and started to fall. His friends looked at me and
said he’s not well he needs to go to the emergency room. In fact I knew he was
going no matter what he said. We got him in the truck and I rushed him over to
Holy Family in Haverhill.
Mike has neuro-cardiogenic syncope which is a
fancy term for “fainting disorder” it’s pretty common in fact. As I brought him
into the emergency room he looked worse and worse. He was keeled over in pain.
As many of you know when you go to the hospital you have to register, wait for
intake, get vitals and wait to get called into the ER. Well… Mike didn’t last 5
minutes before he started to faint and I yelled for a nurse. Well they didn’t move
quickly enough and he started stumbling around. I grabbed him and pushed him onto
an open bed just in time for him to pass out. They instantly brought him in and
hooked him up to an IV. It was now 7:00pm. His stomach pain was getting increasingly
worse. I called his mother to come be with us. The nurses started intravenously
giving him pain meds and he was in la-la land. He was quite comical. We joked
and said he “pretended to faint” so he would get in sooner. We waited to see
the doctor. After an hour and a half the doctor came and asked the typical 20
questions the nurses all just asked. She sent him for a CT scan and we awaited
the results. Around 10:00pm the doctor came back. She said that there was a “mass”
on his pancreas. Mike and I BOTH didn’t think anything of it. We figured they
would just remove it and he would go on with his normal daily routine. She said
that Holy Family was not equipped to perform the surgery and recommended that
he be transferred to St. Elizabeth’s over night to have the procedure done. The
doctor said there was a renowned pancreas specialist at St. Elizabeth’s and that
he would be in great hands. So we looked at each other, weighed out our options
and off he went via ambulance. Mike’s mom rushed me home and I frantically ran
around my place searching for clothes, toothbrushes, and random objects to pack.
I couldn’t get out of my own way. I didn’t know what to think but to just pack
faster. It felt like I was upstairs packing for hours as the minutes ticked by.
I picked up Mike’s dad, Ken and off to his brother’s house in the middle of the
night we went. Mike’s brother lives close to St. Elizabeth’s so we met him
there and then he drove us to the hospital.
Mike was admitted to the 6th floor. Ken, Doug and I roamed the hospital trying to find his room. The hospital had a real creepy and eerie feeling at night. The only way in was through the emergency room and then through the hospital to the patient rooms. The hospital was a maze built on a hill so it took us a while. When we made it to his room it was about 12:30am now. He had a roommate that we tried not to wake up. We realized nothing would be happening that night so his brother and dad left and I stayed with Mike. I didn’t sleep that night… Mike was sleeping on and off. He was having pain, receiving meds throughout the night and having his vitals taken. There was nowhere for me to sleep. I paced the hospital halls, checked out the vending machines, and I stared out his window at the Boston sky line for hours. It is so loud in the hospital at night. Machines are constantly beeping, doors are slamming, nurses are laughing, and the list goes on. Eventually around 4:30am he insisted I lay down with him on his twin-sized hospital bed. Cramped up I may have closed my eyes for 45 minutes before the sun came up and the hospital was hopping with the staff change over.
Mike was admitted to the 6th floor. Ken, Doug and I roamed the hospital trying to find his room. The hospital had a real creepy and eerie feeling at night. The only way in was through the emergency room and then through the hospital to the patient rooms. The hospital was a maze built on a hill so it took us a while. When we made it to his room it was about 12:30am now. He had a roommate that we tried not to wake up. We realized nothing would be happening that night so his brother and dad left and I stayed with Mike. I didn’t sleep that night… Mike was sleeping on and off. He was having pain, receiving meds throughout the night and having his vitals taken. There was nowhere for me to sleep. I paced the hospital halls, checked out the vending machines, and I stared out his window at the Boston sky line for hours. It is so loud in the hospital at night. Machines are constantly beeping, doors are slamming, nurses are laughing, and the list goes on. Eventually around 4:30am he insisted I lay down with him on his twin-sized hospital bed. Cramped up I may have closed my eyes for 45 minutes before the sun came up and the hospital was hopping with the staff change over.
 |
| St. Elizabeths Hospital |
We waited all morning for someone to come in and
tell us what was going on. A doctor and his team finally came in around 10:00am
to let us know what they were planning to do. I found it so interesting how they
worked in “teams”. I had never been in the hospital for anything so I didn’t
know what to expect. They said he would have some more scans and wait for him
to have an endoscopy to biopsy the mass on his pancreas. So we waited and
waited. Mike wasn't allowed to eat anything because of the procedure he would
be having. He was getting pretty hungry and understandingly irritable. He started to get a migraine. We asked for tylonel and it took over an hour to come. Everything took a long time. To get meds you have to call the nurse, who then asks the doctors, the pharmacy has to approve it then you have to wait for the nurse to bring the meds. It was
now 2:00pm and our patience was running thin. We still had no idea when the
procedure would happen. His mom Judy and brother came back to visit. I was able to go to Doug's house to shower and pull myself back together. Then back to the hospital we went. Finally the doctor came back in and told us that the pancreatic specialist was not in and he would not be able to have the procedure happen
until Thursday. We were pissed. Why did we get rushed here in the middle of the night if the damn doctor wasn't even in. I swear they knew it but just weren't telling us. Mike almost lost it. Being self-employed he insisted that he
could not stay another night. He was pissed and the doctor knew it. There was
nothing we could do but wait. We learned very quickly that we would be waiting…
a lot...
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Each Bravelet that is purchased through this site donates $10 to Mike's Fight.
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