Thursday, November 20, 2008

UPDATE: It has gotten worse. Yesterday afternoon after taking a three hour nap I woke up feeling fabulous. I was still extremely weak, but I felt better. I took a shower and even shave my legs! However, at 2:30 in the morning I woke up with such severe chills that I could barely get out of bed. Neil was sleeping upstairs with Mary. After about 30 minutes I decided to take a really hot bath. The tub was full to the rim with extremely hot water. I sat in it for 45 minutes and had chills the entire time. They wouldn't go away. It was really hard to imagine getting out of the tub because I was so cold. Finally, I crawled out of the tub and put my robe on and crawled up the steps to get Neil. He said that he could tell instantly that I was tremendous pain. We decided to call 911 because my temperature was 103.7. While we were waiting for the paramedics to arrive I started vomiting. By the time they arrived the chills had stopped and I was literally sweating I was SO hot. The paramedics were two men that had no idea how to help me. They said that they could take me to the hospital, but all that they would do would be to give me Tylenol and something for the nausea and then they would send me home and tell me to call Dr. Gabriel in the morning. They suggested to ride out the night and call her in the morning. They also told Neil that if it were their wives they would not take them to the hospital. They were not terribly concerned with the fever. So, they left around 4:00 and I ended up staying awake until 6:00. Neil stayed up with Mary (she woke up while the paramedics were here). This morning I started calling Dr. Gabriel at 8:30, but the number was busy until 9:30! I was so upset. I finally left a message and the nurse called me back within 10 minutes. I told her what happened and she went and found Dr. Gabriel to tell her. Dr. Gabriel called another Doctor and he squeezed me in for a 2:00 appointment. They are going to check to see if it is abscessed and if it is it may be that I have to go in the hospital. If it is not they may just have to drain it. We are about to leave and I will let everyone know as soon as I feel better.

By the way, why in the heck does breastfeeding have to be so hard?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Jeesh, girl! I had the same, almost exact thing happen to me when I stopped breastfeeding Hannah, so I feel your pain! I was put on an antibiotic and it cleared up. I also used cabbage leaves to help ease the pain. I had read that somewhere and it really did help. Sounds weird stuffing cabbage leaves down your shirt, but it worked. I hope you get to feeling better soon!!! Don't hesitate to call (or email) us if you need anything! :-)

Bobbie T said...

I just talked to Neil. It sounds like you are in good hands tonight. I hope the medication starts working quickly so you get some relief. We are ready to get the kids for the day or night. Whatever you need....we would love to have them for a visit.

Frances Katrin said...

Wow, what a story! An extremely hot bath will raise your temperature, cause you to sweat, and cause you to vomit... heat exhaustion for an already sick person. Yikes! I would have been scared too!

A breast infection is seriously no fun. It is just like the flu and miserable--night time is the worst for it. I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling with it.

Alternating hot and cold wet and dry heat on the breast sometimes helps. Try leaning your breasts into/over a bowl of hot water, then cold, then hot, etc. Also, I've heard that nursing your baby while she lies on the floor and you on all fours over her works WONDERS for getting the milk to flow.

Here is a good resource on this topic, and many others:

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/mastitis.html