Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What Happened?


Mothers and Daughters/Fathers and Sons

I didn't plan to be away for so long. Not that I've always been a frequent poster but it's been months and months since my last one.
So what's been happening the last few months? Well once the weather warmed up I spent more time outdoors in the garden or hiking. Soon after the kids got out of school we left for Puerto Vallarta and had an absolutely wonderful time (twelve of us all together- best friends and their two kids, my sister, her husband and their two kids and myself, my husband and our two). We stayed in Nuevo Vallarta, visited downtown once for dinner and dancing, took a side trip to Sayulita twice but mostly spent time at the beach or poolside. Came home relaxed but that didn't last long.
A couple of weeks after arriving home I started feeling not so good. Each day it was something different, neck pain, lower back pain, mild nausea, no energy, low grade fever and then it all of the sudden hit me. I thought it was the flu but it didn't explain some of the other symptoms I was experiencing. To make a long story short, after a couple of days of blood work, and an ultrasound, I was told that I had an inflamed liver, I was tested for Hepatitis A and it came back positive (my doctor suspected this when I told her I'd been in Mexico). It was most likely something I ate in Mexico, when and where, I'll never know but I have my suspicions. I was told it would take time but that it was something I would recover from completely unlike other forms of Hepatitis. I was in bed for three weeks- my skin and eyes turned a lovely shade of yellow, I had no energy whatsoever and I lost 10 pounds ( I'm skinny anyway so this wasn't good). I was told to drink lots and lots of water, keep away from sugar or fatty foods and to have blood work done every 3-4 days (now just once a month). For weeks I was struggling with anxiety and I wasn't motivated to do much but I'm so much better now. I'm still recovering after 3 months and it's only been in the last tw0 weeks that I've felt somewhat back to normal. My liver enzyme levels are still high but nowhere close to what they were when I was first tested.
I'm grateful that I'm feeling better and if there's any good news in all of this it's that I'm eating healthier, exercising more and I'm now immune to Hep A. Get vaccinated against Hep A if you haven't, you don't have to travel to get it.
Looking forward to posting on a more regular basis.

3 comments:

GlorV1 said...

How unfortunate that you would get this just by taking a little vacation. Sorry about that. Now that you mention it, I haven't had a hepatitis A and now I am going to look into it. Thanks for the info. Glad you are better and despite getting sick, it sounds like it was a wonderful time.

Leticia said...

Thanks Gloria and yes, we had the best time.

Cris said...

I am so sorry to hear of your recent illness. That sounds terrible! I am glad you are starting to feel better. The photos of Mothers and Daughters and Fathers and Sons are wonderful!