Aug 02, 2012 21:08
Now that I've calmed down a bit from last night (I'm still grumpy and stressed and disappointed but it seems easier to deal with in the day), I've noticed that I actually didn't talk about my ear problem. I bring it up, but don't follow through.
Okay, so, sometime last year, I was reading in bed. I was propped up on a pillow and I must have twisted my head funny because all of a sudden there's this swishy sound in my ear. It goes away when I move my head, and I think all is fine. Until a few hours later when I'm trying to get to sleep and it comes back again. I moved my head, it goes away. I figure I'm coming down with an ear infection so I make a point to schedule an appointment to get it checked.
A week or so goes by, and I get my ear checked, and yep, sure enough, I have the starts of an ear infection. This is nothing unusual for me; I seem to get ear infections a lot. I get prescribed medicine, I take it, the infection goes away. But the sound does not. In fact, it gets louder and more prevalent. At first it would only be when my head was in a certain position, particularly if I were lying down or sitting. Then, it happens regardless of my position, but only for a few minutes before it disappears. Recently, it's been constant. I figured out that it was my heartbeat that I was hearing, because I can press on my neck and the sound goes away completely. Clearly it's to do with the blood vessels in my neck as compressing them stops the sound. I make an appointment with my doctor.
He says, "Sometimes people just hear their heartbeat! Don't worry!" But, of course, I worry. Mostly because I'll be 27 years old this month and I just think it's weird that it would start all of a sudden. But, I figure, if my doctor says not to worry, I will try my very best not to. But the sound just gets worse. It's constant, it's loud, and it's distracting. I'm always asking people to repeat themselves, and pressing my neck when they do just so I can get the sound to stop so I can hear what they're saying. It's getting in the way of my life. So I make another appointment. This time, my doctor seems concerned, I guess because it's gotten worse. He refers me to an ENT.
I have that appointment at the beginning of July, and the ENT tells me that what I have is pulsatile tinnitus and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that because I can make the sound go away when I press my neck he knows what type of pulsatile tinnitus I have. It's the venous kind, which means it's my veins that are the problem. If it were the arterial kind, the sound wouldn't go away if I pressed on my neck. This pretty much eliminates the possibility that it's a tumour. It's usually caused by aberrant or extra veins. Sometimes they just act up, and no one really knows why. It's usually a genetic thing. The bad news is that because no one really knows why this happens, there's often not a whole lot they can do. I guess if it were really necessary there might be surgery they could do, but I guess they avoid that if they can.
So, of course, I'm not satisfied. What do you mean you know what it is, but you can't fix it? Isn't that what medicine is for?! Ugh. Anyway, he sends me for a CT scan to find out a cause if he can. He wants me to schedule an appointment with him to go over my results two weeks after the scan, but of course, that falls smack in the middle of my vacation so it's just going to have to wait.
My scan was yesterday. It was scheduled for 7:40am, and I was originally supposed to have to work at 9:15am, but I wasn't sure that I would be able to make it on time. I mean, I've never had one of these before, so I don't know if there's a long wait, or how long the procedure even takes. With a little bit of maneuvering I manage to switch to the later shift, even though that means that I'm waking up at 6am to get ready, and have to stay up, at least, until 10pm as the late shift ends at 9:15pm. Ugh. I also arrange for my mom to drive me there and back so I don't have to spend the entire day waiting for buses (have I mentioned our bus system is terrible??).
I arrive at the hospital, and there's no line up at the Diagnostic Imaging department's reception area, and I'm breezed right through. I have to fill out a consent form in the CT waiting area (contrast material will make you feel like you wet yourself, and give you a bad taste in your mouth during the scan, you're not pregnant are you cause that'd be bad, may cause nausea, vomitting and diarrhea, possibly death, all that fun stuff). Literally after I've finished signing my name, the technician comes and waves me through. (Digression: this is why I love Canada. I've never had a really long wait at the hospital, except for the one time I went to the emergency room with Mike when he had swine flu because the place was overwhelmed. People say that socialised medicine puts a strain on services and results in long waits, but it's just not true. Also, instead of paying $300 for my scan, it's free. Hell yeah.)
The technician brings me to another room where she tells me that they'll have to insert a shunt for the contrast material. I tell her no problem, I'm a pro when it comes to needles now. I mean, I have to get bloodwork every 3 months. So I've already got my arm laid out, my hand in a fist. I give her my left hand, though, because that's the side the tables on. I don't normally give my left hand as I am left-handed and I find that the arm feels weak after giving blood. But I figure it shouldn't matter because I'm getting injected intead of giving blood. At first she can't find my vein, but I figure that's because this one doesn't get "used" as much? After a couple of seconds she finds it, and we're chatting. I'm reading a poster on the wall when she says "little pinch" and the needle goes in.
The poster I was reading was about the amount of radiation from various types of scans and I was trying to find CT scan on the list so I didn't look over at what she was doing, and then she says "Are you on blood thinners?" I say, "No, why?" and I look over and my arm is COVERED in blood. It's actually GUSHING out. Like, holy shit, this has never happened before. She gets she shunt in and the blood stops gushing, but the inside of my elbow, about the width of my hand is red. She had laid my arm on a towel to prop it up to find my vein better, and the towel is red, too. She runs out to get a wet cloth while I'm just kind of in shock. She says, "Well, you won't have to take blood thinners ever!" So I guess I know that my ear problem isn't like, sludgey blood or anything.
After that, we go into the scan, and I lie back on the bed thing. She hooks up the contrast material, and they weren't lying when they said it'll put a bad taste in your mouth and make it feel like you wet yourself. Well, more like you suddenly realised you were sitting in warm water. But still, it's a really strange sensation. The whole scan takes about 5 minutes. I was expecting it to take longer. Once I was done, she made me sit in the waiting room to make sure that I wasn't going to bleed all over the place and then I was good to go.
I had to fast for four hours before the test, and I just figured it'd be easier to fast once I was finished eating supper the night before, so I was a total hungerbear when we left. Mom and I went for breakfast at Blue on Water. I think they have a really delicious affordable breakfast choices. Mom had a grilled cheese sandwich and I had tomato, goat cheese and spinach eggs benedict. It was amazing. Now that I'm thinking about it, I want to go back. Mmmm hollandaise sauce.
Anyway, once mom dropped me home, I took a nap until I had to get up and get ready for work. When I woke up, I was super woozy and felt nauseated and thought I was going to throw up. It wasn't a great night at work obviously. I was trying to drink lots of fluids, like the technician told me, to flush the contrast material out of my system. But, fyi, iced coffee is definitely not a good choice. Stick to water.
So, I hope when I get back from the States that I will have my results and they will show something that can be fixed or treated. Because, goddamnit, I'm really sick of hearing a contant roaring swishy sound and asking people to repeat themselves, sometimes more than once.
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