Cheers To A Year On TPN!
Wow! A whole year on parenteral nutrition!
It sounds like such a strange thing to say because I would’ve never expected something to have happened to my health that was severe enough to need this form of medical assistance.
If you are new to the blog, I encourage you to go back to the beginning of the story and find out how I got to where I am today because it can look pretty crazy initially.
As you can likely gather from my medical journey, TPN (total parenteral nutrition) was both literally and figuratively a “life-saver”.
I was first put on TPN back on August 19th, 2021 (exactly one year from today!!) because I was brought into the hospital in a state where I was very close to dying.
My primary undiagnosed medical condition had gotten so severe to where my body wasn’t tolerating any food or liquid and was doing everything it could to stop me from eating (which is known to trigger a lot of my symptoms).
My flare for that year had begun on June 24th, 2021 and lasted 7 ½ months long. It made me deteriorate quicker and more severely than previous times.
I continued to eat amongst vomiting and becoming more incapacitated to try and maintain my health as best as I could.
As weeks and months progressed, I began having daily flare attacks which included hives on my abdomen and lots of swelling, breathing difficulties from inflammation, and swallowing difficulties which resulted in me being unable to swallow my own saliva and having to spit it out into a trash can.
I had planned with my medical team to be admitted to the hospital in mid-August, but the date kept getting extended because of the surge of COVID patients entering the hospital, which made inpatient hospital beds unavailable.
I had mostly stopped eating the day before the “expected” admittance date, but the admittance got extended 3 more days which resulted in 3 more days of barely any fluids and “food” (which I was only able to lick a bit of maple syrup from a spoon to give me some energy to keep my eyes kind-of open).
Once we called 911 to take me to the hospital (since my body couldn’t wait any longer for a bed to open up), I had to wait 2 more days to start TPN (read more on this in my story “PICC Placed...?”).
My medical team saved my life and TPN gave me way more than any of us expected or anticipated.
TPN not only brought me out of my severely malnourished state, but it also helped my unknown condition in a way that none of us can still really comprehend.
TPN allowed my body to flourish and lessened my flares to a nearly non-existent amount (unless I trigger one by eating or overdoing something which causes fatigue).
I was able to return to school, travel, get a job, and have a future that I am excited for and that I feel I can still accomplish.
TPN has saved my life AND also given me back my life.
I’m very fortunate that TPN meshes really well with my body and my particular symptoms because this most definitely is not the case for everyone.
Nowadays, I’m actually having to fight for my right to have my life back and I’m having to advocate for myself against my medical team that TPN is what is right for me and my body and it’s the thing that is allowing me to flourish.
Today is in no way a day of sadness or despair, it is a day to celebrate the huge gratitude I have for my medical device and TPN for allowing me to be here today, because my journey would’ve ended a year ago without it.
Read what happens next in the story titled, “Summer’s Ending, Junior Year’s Beginning,”!