Before I met the UNC pain control team, I was still struggling with nerve pain. Maybe one day I will forget about this incident, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
I was still in the MICU, and my family went home for the night a little after shift change (day nurses work 7am-7pm and night nurses work from 7pm-7am). I can’t remember if I was getting a sponge bath, or if I was getting re positioned, but all of the sudden I felt this burning pain on my left side again; except this time it was different. It was almost worse than the pain I experienced on November 16th, when I had the flesh eating pneumonia. I couldn’t breathe and could hardly scream but my nurse knew I was in pain. She didn’t know what was wrong or what to do. Once I could get the words out, I told her to check around the area and see if a pillow or towel had fallen down and was touching my side. Turns out, it was a towel. I was using two on each side of my neck for support when I was sleeping since I couldn’t lie totally flat due to the issues with my lung. My nurse felt terrible once we figured out what was causing the excruciating pain.
On December 6th, the pain team came in and had already heard about my ongoing nerve pain. That’s the first day I heard of the drug “Gabapentin.” They immediately put me on it. Somehow, my nerve pain went away when I started to take it (of course not immediately, but it didn’t take long for it to work). All I remember thinking was, where was this when I was complaining about my chest tubes in November? Luckily the pain control team continued to check on me for the next 5 months.
The same day I was introduced to Gabapentin, I met Grant and Jeremy, the ICU Physical Therapists. They came in with an agenda– to get me out of bed. You lose muscle mass each day you lay in bed, and I already lost range of motion and the ability to walk at that point.
Ironically, the device they brought in to help me stand once I got out of bed was called the “Sara Stedy.” Both Grant and Jeremy were so caring. They were asking me all kinds of questions; what I liked to do with my free time, if I had any pets, and what my hobbies were. Basically, they were trying to talk to me about anything BUT the hospital, which I appreciated. But the second my black lab Bear was brought up, who had just turned one on October 30th, I couldn’t speak anymore. I couldn’t talk about him; I was devastated that I had to be away from him, especially because I had no idea how long it would be for.
That day, Grant and Jeremy got me out of bed, into the “Sara Stedy,” and eventually helped me into a recliner which I sat in from about noon to 3pm. I was nervous about this because I had a bad experience with PT at Presbyterian in Charlotte. It wasn’t anything personal, but it was one of those weekends when my favorite nurses were off. The Physical Therapy team came into my room, got me into a chair, and left for the day. The two nurses who were available to help me back into bed needed assistance, so my brother and boyfriend had to move me from the chair, back into bed which was so embarrassing because I was only wearing a gown that was open in the back.
This time it was different. Grant and Jeremy went to visit their other patients once I was settled, and when I told my nurse I was ready to get back in bed, they came right back to my room to help me. It was such a relief to know that I was going to be taken care of. To this day, Grant is still one of my best friends.
Dear Vasculitis 