My name is Jennie. I'm a wife and a mother. I have been married to the man of my dreams, Trever, for 9 wonderful years. We have 5 beautiful daughters who fill our lives with joy and excitement. We just had our 6th child. Our son Caleb.

I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Placenta Accreta along with Placenta Previa. Accreta is a condition where the placenta attaches to the scar tissue in the uterus. It will often continue to grow to deeper tissue (increta) and even through the uterus attaching to other organs(percreta). I ended up having an 11 hour surgery, including a hystorectomy, and bladder repair. I received 7 units of blood and blood parts. (This is a lot of blood loss for my surgeons, but minimal blood loss to those who are not as experienced in these deliveries. I spent 36 hours in the ICU after surgery. I have also had many other complications afterwards including another minor surgery 2 weeks later. These complications are somewhat normal for the type of surgery I had.

I had a team of specialists doing my surgery. Obgyns, Gyno-oncologists, trauma surgeons, urologists and anesthesiologists. This team has specialized in techniques helping with minimal blood loss. Those with accreta , loose large amounts of blood because the placenta cannot detach naturally at delivery.

My goal is to help save women's lives by giving this terrible condition a voice. So many are ignorant to its fatal attack. Doctors and women alike, need to be educated about Accreta. Many have never even heard of it. The numbers are on the rise because of so many women choosing to have c-sections when it isn't necessary. Not all women can avoid it, but many can. Please help me give Accreta a voice, by sharing the information in this blog. (There are numerous posts with information on Accreta as well as the Accreta team who took such great care of me.)

Monday, March 25, 2013

I hate Pee!

K seriously you guys, I hate dealing with bodily fluids! Having this drain, cleaning out the nasty liquid in my abdomen and a catheter draining my bladder, makes me want to gag. I am so glad it doesn't gross my husband out, cause every time it comes to emptying me, I have to hold down my lunch.   I have a rather humerous story for you all that puts me even more into the open book category. I can't believe I am going to share this embarrassing story, but hey it's all part of the recovery, so here goes...

A little back story... To refresh, 2 weeks ago, my catheter punctured a hole in my bladder. That doesn't happen on a regular basis so don't freak out if you ever have to get one. Since I had to have bladder surgery, mine was extra vulnerable. I can always tell when my catheter is kinked or not draining right, because my drain will quickly fill up with urin. Meaning, it leaked out my bladder and into my abdominal cavity. Do you want to hurl yet? I do just thinking about it... It gets worse. Read at your own risk.

So anyway, after church, I decided to take a nap. I had my leg bag on this time. It's a smaller bag with a shorter hose that you can hide under clothing. I woke up from my nap to a large amount of fluid draining out. Yep I was peeing something fierce and the catheter wasn't catching it. I sat up and the involuntary sensation to push only magnified.for some reason, I freaked out and screamed for Trever. I was super scared that one of the possible complications from my surgery, had come my way.  I jumped up as fast as possible and ran to the toilet. Now remember, I haven't peed on the toilet for about a month, so this was a little weird for me. Especially with the catheter still in.

I just sat there in shock. Not sure what to think. Trever came in and noticed the catheter hose was kinked, so nothing could come through. I checked my drain, expecting it to be full. It wasn't! I had a little extra fluid in it, but not a ton. I am just sitting there shaking when my brilliant husband said, wait this is a good thing! We concluded that the bladder hole was closing off and the liquid had no where else to go but out. I called the doctor, just to make sure. He said, yep that's what it sounds like. Sweet relief. He wanted me to set up a cystogram to make sure it is closed off all the way before I see them tomorrow. If everything is clear, then I might be able to get it all out tomorrow!!!

The funny thing was, that last night, I fell asleep. I had switched to my regular bag. it doesnt drain well as it is so again, I woke up to liquid running down. Then again, the second I sat up. The urge to push, came on really strong. Th ose of you that have had babies, know how weak those muscles can be. Try not using them at all for a month. Yeah... Lets just say that I was grateful to be near the bathroom. Urin was every where! So gross! Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well last night. I was terrified that things would back up again.

I can't believe I just told you all that!

On a lighter note, I got a call from the media relations contact at the hospital. They are getting things ready to start taking our story public. And more importantly, giving Accreta a voice. I'm not. Sure how we are going to go about it yet, but we want to reach as many people as possible so that we can save as many lives as possible.
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1 comment:

  1. nancyMarch 25, 2013 at 9:52 PM

    You can do it!! Getting your story out there is half the battle. Let me know what photos you want or can use! I would LOVE it if they were used.

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