Its beautiful sunny day here in Colorado, chilly at 28 degrees but still beautiful. I am happy that we have no snow here yet, lots in the mountains but none down here yet. Some days are harder for me then others and today is one of them. Not sure why but it is a tearful day for me. I said I would share why my blog is titled Nightingale Interrupted and I guess this is as good of time as any. My plan I figured was to work till about 70, but how things can change quickly. I have never been one to be ill and had always worked 60-70 hours a week. I felt God gave me the calling and the heart to be a nurse and that he always put me where I was needed. So I was so surprised to wake up one morning very short of breath and just not feeling right. My husband called an ambulance and I got admitted to hospital with congestive heart failure. This was about a month after my the first COVID vaccine. Then it was time for second COVID shot and about a month or so after that one I got COVID and was hospitalized for it along with micro blood clots and pneumonia. I missed about 3 weeks of work that time. I did go ahead and get the 3rd vaccine, it was either get it or get a medical or religious waiver or you could opt to wear a mask whenever at work. I hated the masks, you can’t breath and if you wear glasses they were constantly fogged up. Things went along ok for awhile but I never had the energy that I had before. The insomnia I had for years got worse and about a year and half ago things really changed for me. I developed lymphedema to both legs with wounds. Since then I have had many hospitalizations for acute\chronic kidney failure, cellulitis, metabolic imbalance, nausea\vomiting, weakness to where I could not stand or walk, and had to have surgical debridment of wounds. I spent 104 days in rehab the first time and then two much shorter stays of just 2-3 weeks. I now walk with a walker or use a wheelchair for outside. I’m not telling you all this sympathy but just explaining how my plans got interrupted. I truly belief from the bottom of my heart that these conditions are truly related the COVID vaccine. There is tons of research out supporting that the vaccine affects the heart and can cause or worse lymphedema. I know many people will not agree with me on this. I also know God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, there are days I wished he didn’t think I could handle so much. I believe through my 35 years of nursing I touched many people hearts, meet many great people who I am still in contact with, had experiences like no one else did, I got to be there for beginning of life and the end of life. I thank God every day for giving me the calling to be a nurse. I have also learned through all this that God gave me the best husband there is. He takes the best care of me with no complaints, he changes the dressings on my legs at least daily, he hooks up the lymphedema pumps, cooks, cleans, does the laundry and the shopping, plus still goes to work every day. My life is truly blessed, just some days I think about all the changes. It is not easy to change from care giver to patient. I also know that my faith keeps me going everyday. I going to give a little plug to awesome TV show called The Chosen. I am watching it right now and maybe this is what prompted my feelings today to see the disciples and Jesus’s life.
I will make the next blog more upbeat.
Thanks for reading
Ann