A Night at the Hospital
Came home from the hospital this morning.
The gist of it is this... I was feeling very ill last night, as mentioned maybe in a previous post and some tweets. I've got a terrible, hacking cough, bad chest pain, it hurts every time I breathe, and just feel miserable. For those who feel this post may hold TMI, you can just avoid reading it.
Around 10:15pm last night I called a cab and went to the Ottawa General Hospital ER. Got to the hospital around 10:30pm and was checked in at the main desk around 10:50pm. I was sitting in the waiting area, coughing on and off as the hours went by, and was also coughing up a bit of blood in the phlegm that was coming out of me.
Around 2:35am, I was finally sent for a chest x-ray set, though I'd not yet seen a doctor. I was so shaky by this time, that I wasn't sure I could walk the length of the hospital to the x-ray department and so the triage nurse called for a porter to get a wheelchair for me to go down. After 20 minutes, she told me that it a busy night in the main hospital, even though Emergency was pretty deserted. I finally caved in, and walked to the x-ray department; it wasn't a long walk, as it turned out, about 10 minutes. But I was choking on phlegm and shaky and weak by the time I got there, and was hacking up a storm. They took a set of four x-rays from different angles, and then when they looked and saw they had been good x-ray plates, sent me back to Emergency.
It was close to 5:00am that the triage nurse called my name, and they took me in to one of the beds in the main emergency ward. Pretty empty, with only some 5 other beds occupied. Needless to say, they gave me a bed that was so short I couldn't lie down. But there were some comfy Chesterfield electric lounge chairs or whatever they're called just in the hallway, so I left my stuff at the bed area, and sat in one of those. I asked at the Nurse's Station, and was told the doctor would be around some time after 6:00am.
Around 5:25am, one of the nurses came in with orders for some blood tests. She took the tests, and also did an EKG on me, and then went away. She had a good touch with the needle, so I hope I don't bruise too badly.
The doctor, an older man by the name of Dr. Hebert, came in to see me about 6:20am. He and I recognized each other from a hospital visit I had last year. He told me that he'd gotten back most of the test results, though he was waiting on a couple more, but had some immediate thoughts. He asked me a bunch of health- and personal-related questions, listened to my chest from various angles, and asked a few more questions. Then he told me that he would be back to see me when the final results came back.
At 7:10am, the doctor came back to see me, and confirmed that all the test results were back in. He told me that I'm pretty ill, with a combination of asthma, allergies, a reaction to the heat in the house (as the ductless air conditioner doesn't do the job of a central a/c system), but that the EKG and blood work also showed that I had high stress markers and the blood work indicated a bunch of markers for some possible heart irregularities that I may have had the last couple of days, though the enzymes were barely present. The x-rays came back clear - no sign of bronchitis or pneumonia, which I had feared. The doctor prescribed five days of Prednisone, to stay as a/c-ed as I can, to take it easy, and continue to take my inhaler puffer.
I was released from the hospital around 7:40am this morning, and took a taxi cab home. I managed to sleep here at the house for about four hours. Have since taken a shower, and eaten a light brunch. Going to try and spend the rest of the day sleeping, napping, whatever. Maybe watch some pvr or perhaps read some Sorcerers Of Ur-Turuk RPG material.
I'm exhausted, feeling sorry for myself, and feeling sick. On top of that, I'm coughing like mad and my throat be absolutely raw.
The gist of it is this... I was feeling very ill last night, as mentioned maybe in a previous post and some tweets. I've got a terrible, hacking cough, bad chest pain, it hurts every time I breathe, and just feel miserable. For those who feel this post may hold TMI, you can just avoid reading it.
Around 10:15pm last night I called a cab and went to the Ottawa General Hospital ER. Got to the hospital around 10:30pm and was checked in at the main desk around 10:50pm. I was sitting in the waiting area, coughing on and off as the hours went by, and was also coughing up a bit of blood in the phlegm that was coming out of me.
Around 2:35am, I was finally sent for a chest x-ray set, though I'd not yet seen a doctor. I was so shaky by this time, that I wasn't sure I could walk the length of the hospital to the x-ray department and so the triage nurse called for a porter to get a wheelchair for me to go down. After 20 minutes, she told me that it a busy night in the main hospital, even though Emergency was pretty deserted. I finally caved in, and walked to the x-ray department; it wasn't a long walk, as it turned out, about 10 minutes. But I was choking on phlegm and shaky and weak by the time I got there, and was hacking up a storm. They took a set of four x-rays from different angles, and then when they looked and saw they had been good x-ray plates, sent me back to Emergency.
It was close to 5:00am that the triage nurse called my name, and they took me in to one of the beds in the main emergency ward. Pretty empty, with only some 5 other beds occupied. Needless to say, they gave me a bed that was so short I couldn't lie down. But there were some comfy Chesterfield electric lounge chairs or whatever they're called just in the hallway, so I left my stuff at the bed area, and sat in one of those. I asked at the Nurse's Station, and was told the doctor would be around some time after 6:00am.
Around 5:25am, one of the nurses came in with orders for some blood tests. She took the tests, and also did an EKG on me, and then went away. She had a good touch with the needle, so I hope I don't bruise too badly.
The doctor, an older man by the name of Dr. Hebert, came in to see me about 6:20am. He and I recognized each other from a hospital visit I had last year. He told me that he'd gotten back most of the test results, though he was waiting on a couple more, but had some immediate thoughts. He asked me a bunch of health- and personal-related questions, listened to my chest from various angles, and asked a few more questions. Then he told me that he would be back to see me when the final results came back.
At 7:10am, the doctor came back to see me, and confirmed that all the test results were back in. He told me that I'm pretty ill, with a combination of asthma, allergies, a reaction to the heat in the house (as the ductless air conditioner doesn't do the job of a central a/c system), but that the EKG and blood work also showed that I had high stress markers and the blood work indicated a bunch of markers for some possible heart irregularities that I may have had the last couple of days, though the enzymes were barely present. The x-rays came back clear - no sign of bronchitis or pneumonia, which I had feared. The doctor prescribed five days of Prednisone, to stay as a/c-ed as I can, to take it easy, and continue to take my inhaler puffer.
I was released from the hospital around 7:40am this morning, and took a taxi cab home. I managed to sleep here at the house for about four hours. Have since taken a shower, and eaten a light brunch. Going to try and spend the rest of the day sleeping, napping, whatever. Maybe watch some pvr or perhaps read some Sorcerers Of Ur-Turuk RPG material.
I'm exhausted, feeling sorry for myself, and feeling sick. On top of that, I'm coughing like mad and my throat be absolutely raw.