Ten Years Free // Part 2 of 3

It's funny how things can seem to take or last much longer than they actually did. I was in the hospital for less than 48 hours but if I didn't know that fact, I'd think I was there for at least a couple days.

The next day, May 15th, my other best friend came to visit me. I was feeling much better (having enough blood will do that to a person) and she has always been one to make me laugh and feel good. While she was there, I dictated a story I had made up during a game we liked to play and she wrote it down. The problem was that she was interjecting and changing things that I wasn't saying, so I was getting "mad" at her. A nurse came in and made some comment about my friend being good medicine for me. It was all in fun and I really was brightening up. This friend also drew ALL over the whiteboards in my room. Any blank space she decorated. We took pictures of it (unfortunately I cannot find them right now) and I still have the story in her handwriting, though I added a little note about the changes she made :)

I got to go home that day and we went to my Grammy and Grandpa's house for dinner. I don't remember what we had or eating it, but I probably ate it because I hadn't eaten much in the hospital or the days prior.

I was out of the hospital but the journey was just beginning. They determined that there were ulcers bleeding in my stomach. My hemoglobin (the iron level in your blood) was dangerously low. We found out later that much lower and I would have died. At this point, we weren't sure why I had ulcers. I was a kid. I didn't have a stressful life. What had caused it? Even more baffling for the doctors was that I had felt absolutely no pain. Most people with uclers experience pain in their stomach. Before May 11th, I had felt completely fine and even at that point, I didn't have pain.

Home I went but with a new diet. No chocolate, no acidic foods, and low fat. The next day, Sunday, I was back in Sunday School and my mom was telling my friends that I was okay but to watch out for me (I'm sure she told my teacher too). I remember I was wearing a light blue sweater and khaki pants. (Why I was wearing a sweater in May is beyond me). That afternoon was our choir ice cream social at our director's house. I was able to eat ice cream but no brownies or chocolate syrup for me. Man was that hard! I played soccer (still wearing the same sweater and pants) with my friends. I felt completely back to normal. Two days ago I had fainted on my parents' bedroom floor and today I was playing backyard soccer. I'm amazed to think back on it. At the time, I don't think I thought anything of it.

Just a few days later, maybe Wednesday or Thursday, I was in tears because I didn't feel well again and I was terrified I'd have to go back to the hospital. My mom calmed me down and we went to the regular doctor's office to get my hemoglobin checked. That was an experience I had a lot for a long time. 

They have this little device that sits over the pad of your finger and quickly pricks you. It hurts and every time I got it done, even if I picked my left pinky, I would smack that finger on just about every surface I could find. It was like Murphy's Law. But that device gave nearly instant results as to my hemoglobin level so that's what they used. Every time we checked, including that first time when I was so scared, my numbers were fine.

I only weighed about 115 - 120 pounds at the point in my life, but I was down to 110-105 because of my diet. I gave myself a legitimate stomach ache at my cousins' birthday party because I couldn't eat the pizza so I thought eating a lot of chips would be a good idea. Clearly not. The downside was no pizza and no chocolate. My mom bought me low fat cheese and I used carob chips, which, while not amazing, are better than no chocolate anything. On the plus side, I got to eat pita bread, drink orange juice every day (helps the iron supplement work better or faster or something), and a friend taught me how to make some healthier things. In case anyone is wondering, carob chips don't melt very well and you can "burn" them in the microwave. S'mores were hard that summer.

Life went on mostly the same, but there were still doctor visits because we still didn't have an answer as to what was causing or had caused the ulcers. I'll explain more about that in the next post. New food restrictions and lots of doctors. It was not something we had ever experienced before as a family.