20 dec
it's been 2days since i'm officially diagnosed by OHSS - ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. typing this from the hospital now since i was advised to be hospitalised on sunday (20 dec).
right after the embryo transfer, i was feeling rather ok for 2 days but suddenly my belly started getting very bloated and i had weight gain of about 2kg. the doctor advised to take in lots of electrolyte/ion water, which i did and after 3 days i became normal again. this was the dangerous part - i thought i was normal, but i wasn't and i stopped taking in ion water for a day. the next day was really unpleasant. i bloated so much i wasn't able to sleep because lying straight down causes my stomach to really hurt. i had to walk like a grandma cos it was so painful to straighten my back. i wasn't able to eat anything - we had a family gathering at this really delicious and expensive hanwoo restaurant and all i was eating was tomatoes T_T 2 slices of tomatoes and 2 pieces of beef was enough to stuff me - and that was the first meal i had for that day, at 7pm. this is my tummy before i was hospitalized.
well... of cos something was really wrong then. i tossed and turned for the night and kept waking up every 30mins because my stomach was hurting and i couldn't find a position to sleep where i felt less painful. so the next morning we decided to visit the hospital and i was hospitalised immediately.
i had my blood drawn and was attached to some drip, and i had to constantly write down my intake and outtake so they could monitor how much food/water went in or out. it was such a pain because my urine smelt and i felt like puking everytime i pour it in the measuring pot. sometimes i just gave up and estimated XD usually all the water i take in becomes urine almost immediately but this superpower doesn't seem to work in this condition. instead, most of it gets eaten up by my overinflated ovaries and vagina and i grew 1 kg every day. at the beginning i had only 50ml of pee, unless they gave me med to increase the volume. i was retaining all the water i drunk...
i was 46kg when i got hospitalised and i soon grew to 49kg on the 3rd day. somehow i woke up with unbearable pain that day and the doctor suggested to remove the water via a syringe. i had an ultrasound check to make sure i was really water-filled, then my tummy was pierced with a needle that was connected to a tube that checks out all the water inside. the injection felt like someone drove a knife through me but at least it was just a 5seconds pain. the worst thing was the doctor suddenly said nothing was coming out and she had to poke me again in around the same area. UGH. just what's the chances you get stabbed twice? anyway the process took about an hour (the nurse told me 10mins but i laid there for at least 40 i swear) since the water was coming out through a very thin tube. i had about 2.5litres of water removed from me and i went back to 46kg. wow.
there wasn't much pain on the injection despite being stabbed twice for the rest of the day, and i felt normal again with a normal belly. i could eat somewhat normally and nampyeon told me i should take this chance to drink lots of ion water. but i really hate ion water and i drank only more than the usual. somehow it felt the faster i drank the faster i would fill up....... i had the process around 11am and i was able to have a normal lunch afterwards. unfortunately the whole happiness didn't last very long and i was filled up again at night. the doc did warn that the effect would only last 2-3hours... but i had hope my body would spare me the torture longer...
we canceled the hospital food because i could only take 1 or 2 bites before becoming really full. that said it's not like the food was bad but i guess some of them just didn't stir my appetite.
i really like this omelette seaweed soup and it's probably the only thing i finished lolol.
they have like different dishes everyday so i kinda looked forward to eating them sometimes, it's just that i would feel so full and out of breath only after a few bites. we canceled the food after 4days of wasting the food. when nampyeon was around he'd eat it for me but usually 80% of them gets thrown away if not. it was such a pity. and i had to eat them at 8am, 12pm and 5pm. the timings were just not right.... considering my med times were 8am, 4pm and 12am. i can only sleep for 5 hrs before i'm being disturbed to eat!
just right after i took the water out, i was 49 again the next day, but it didn't feel as uncomfortable as i did previously. unfortunately i had to switch my IV needle today, since it's customary to change every 3 days to prevent infection. lavie came over to visit that day with laogong and i was a bit sorry i had to let my guests see this sorry state of mine on their journey to korea... i changed my needle around 3+, had a shower before getting poked again. aaaand i thought i'd be able to switch to my right hand this time but the nurse had to burst my vessel just after i told her to be careful. so i'm poked again, on my left hand near the bone area........ ughhhhhhhh............ my IV drip freedom gone............
and the next day i was 50.. then 52... and i was just bearing it all in. my organs felt crushed by all the water, esp my heart, lungs and butt. or rather it might be cos i was lying/sitting in bed most of the time that my butt was sore. but it was really difficult to breathe whichever position i was in. thankfully when i found the optimal lying position, i could sleep rather well. other than that mostly it just felt like someone placed a 2kg rice on my heart for the most part of the day. when i reached 52, even my underparts start to swell... i had backaches and my waist is often painful when i try to move around and i need to bend like a grandma when i walk. even so, when i brush my teeth and wash my face for just 3mins, the bending position killed me so bad. my bloat was so bad my vagina swelled and my back hurt so much.
one thing for sure though, my appetite improved after i was able to eat whatever i wanted, at times when i felt hungry. laogong bought me tomatoes with oriental sauce because i kept craving for this after the family gathering, right before i was admitted. i was not able to finish one whole cup though - it had to be divided into 3 meals =_=
probably my last few time eating sashimi.. i'm told to stay off raw food T_T
it was awesome that the selection of food around my area was so good. i can have normal breadie breakfast! i really hated eating rice for breakfast and i never touched the rice, not even once. i was glad egg drop was around and i had it pretty often!
i even managed to try the Mad for Garlic snowing cheese pizza... takeout price was only 12k! and we ordered dominos cos i wanted to eat their truffle rice.
there were some famous jjige shops around as well - the kimchi jjige is a really must-eat!
spicy stew! they have really nice mandus with chewy skin and sundaes inside the soup!
nagasaki jampong from the same shop.
just in case you're wondering - all the food is for 1 person portion and nampyeon ate 80% of it most of the time. i got full quickly with just 1 mandu and some soup. the most i ate out of all these was probably 3 slices of pizza at one time.
on the 4th day, the hospital decided to have a renovation (AT MY WARD). the nurse told me to move at 730am but i had no guardian with me since nampyeon had to go work. how was i to move the stuff on my own?!?! it was a terrible day. they gave my cleaning pill late, then told me i had to take a blood test all in the midst of organising my stuff to move room. and she kept all the lights on despite me asking twice to please shut it. the nurses were probably all in derangement as well. thankfully, i was able to plead for a delay in migration and laogong came over at 1030am to help. with my left hand on IV and the right poked for a blood test, i really think i would have concussed there in the midst of the mess. the construction only started at 12+ and the water were blocked from 130-530pm. i couldn't understand why they told me to move at 730am. grrrrrr....
throughout all this i have to really thank my laogong for bringing me so much comfort and thoroughly taking care of me the whole time she was here, with such conscientious effort. she bought things that i wanted to eat (tomatoes and oriental salad!! jjige!! tofu!!), cut them up and made them for me, brought me all my essentials (my enlarged butt needed new panties, i needed all my facial stuff too), helped me do my laundry at home.. helped me when i needed to go toilet, changed my clothes and tucked me in bed... cleared, cleaned and organised my whole area constantly and kept urging me to hydrate. she was a total angel T_T i couldn't have a better nurse. she was just there when i needed her and she reacted even when i didn't say anything. i think she should really carve her career as a caretaker....
on the other hand when it came to my nampyeon to take care, he was such a monster. he ate the things my laogong bought for me, threw it on the floor and when he couldn't find things he made a mess. he just cannot clean himself up >:( he couldn't understand what i was saying most of the time and kept telling me to speak properly and give clear instructions, and kept getting irritated at me. when i asked for a piece of wet tissue he threw it at me!! gosh!!! i was so pissed and it was 12am at that time and i almost shouted at him if not for the other patients in the room. seriously, our area is all within arm's reach and it's not as if i'm asking him to walk 2miles and back. it was really simple stuff like give me this and give me that and he would be like can't you tell me to give you both at once, why must it be one after another. i was in so much agony and snapped - was he there to anger me or to help me??? i think i might be better off if he weren't there. and the worst thing was he was just lying there looking at his webtoon, so it's not exactly like he was busy!!!!!!! ughh. after we argued that day, he sort of turned better and more attentive but he would still get irritated if he couldn't understand what i was saying. but seriously why can my laogong understand but not my nampyeon!??!? he's the WORST NURSE ever. c'mon i don't even think he snapped at his dad when he had to take care of him some months ago overnight. oh and he snores so loudly! gosh! he says he doesn't have enough sleep because i keep waking him but he stayed up all night to read his webtoon!!
31 dec
i am finally discharged on the last day of 2019 and i couldn't be happier. at first i thought i would have to prolong my stay because the doc was not able to see the egg sacs in my uterus even though my blood test pointed that i'm pregnant. there were suspicious of whether it could be growing somewhere else, which is a rather terrible thought because i would have to remove my babies immediately. but i had no idea you could see something that soon, and thought that maybe she had made me do the ultrasound too soon. while it didn't appear on the 30th, it appeared on the 31st - 2 sacs! still, it was too early to be happy and i could only know for sure the following week when i come back to visit. my pee volume also went back to above 100ml (without the medicine) and it was considered normal finally. the doc gave me a choice to stay or get discharged, as she said that even if i did stay the hospital won't be able to help my condition further. at this point i was about 53kg and my bloat was still massive but it wasn't due to the water retention (though i'm sure it was part of the reason), but more of the fact that my ovaries bloated to about 10cm each. it was something that my body will gradually recover from.
so yes, i got out of hospital in this state with a waist size of 34inch x_x
3rd Jan
3 days has passed since i'm discharged. my legs swelled on the first day from walking too much, and i was advised to keep lying in bed. my legs couldn't take the sudden increase in weight and went really stiff.
while it wasn't particularly painful, it was really annoying. my weight has dropped a little since then and i'm now at 50.5kg. the doc says it would take about 1-2 weeks for the bloat to go away and i can't wait till then.... it's still so hard to move and climbing the stairs is hell - i get small electric shots through my back if i climbed too fast. everytime i wake up the bloat will spread across my body and i would feel choked, and when i lie down the bloat will spread again and make it hard for me to breathe. thankfully it was only a few seconds of choking if not sleeping would be really hard. but, i couldn't sleep straight and needed to prop my legs up because sleeping straight stretches my tummy out and makes it hurt. i'm guessing my body didn't grow enough skin to cover the bloat in such a short period so when i try to straighten myself, it restrains and sends out pain to tell me not to stretch the body. ughhh. i'm still walking like a grandma.
