The Week of Doctor Visits and Ambulance Fun!
So, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, to follow up from the hospital stay Sunday through Wednesday. My doctor was pretty awesome, but there wasn't a lot he could do for me because what was bothering me is my head and that's my neurologist's department. He prescribed me something for dizziness, and sent me off. He also told me to come back after all this is taken care of to see him about the cyst on the back of my left wrist - which is *NOT* carpeltunnel, HAH. -Is vindicated-
So I went out to sit in the courtyard outside the office and wait another three hours for purplestripe66 to get off work and be able to come pick me up. Made phone calls to my sister to apologize and update her on what had been going on, because last she knew she was getting calls warning her she may have to make some sort gof 'will to live' decision - seriously, no words for how much the hospital I was in sucked >.< - and my mom, mostly because I was bored and wanted someone to talk to. Talking seems to help me with remembering things, so.
Around 2:00, my chest started to hurt. It's not the first time this has happened; first time was in Idaho, second was here (during our NaNoWriMo wrap party, actually), when we discovered my intolerance to morphine. It felt like someone was squeezing the direct center of my chest really hard, and it was hard to breathe. And the longer I sat there, the worse it got. Eventually by the time I moved inside - just to be on the safe side in case I passed out or something - I was almost in tears.
I pretty much figured I was going to ask Ruby to take me back to the hospital after she got there, because I was in a lot of pain and everything was spinning around from just trying to breathe. I thought about calling 911 for an ambulance, but I sort of convinced myself it wasn't that bad. I've had a bad history with thinking something was wrong with me, only to find out later that it was nothing, so I tend to try and ignore when something's wrong.
This time however, the people in my doctor's office decided to make the decision for me. First they pulled me into the back to check on me and find out what was going on, then they did a test to make sure my heart was fine, which it was. But the pain wasn't going away, and I was planning to sit in their parking lot alone until after 5:00, so they finally called 911 for me. In the meantime, they found me an oxygen tank to use which seemed to help with the pain a little, bringing it down from 'OMG I'm Totally Going to Cry' to 'OMG OW This Really Fucking Hurts'.
So the paramedics show up, and the first thing they say is 'Hey, didn't we just do a run on you on Sunday?' 'Yup, that was me.' They said 'You have our equipment.' I said 'You have my shirt.'
Sadly, it turns out they didn't, and the Evil Hospital is the one who stole my *FAVORITE* shirt, which was blue with Grumpy Bear on it and said 'Always Grumpy'. -Sulks-
The other entertaining part was when they loaded me up in the ambulance so they could take me to the *good* hospital - I specifically requested it - and the paramedic in the back with me went to start an IV. Instead he saw the bruises literally covering *both* of my arms from my hospital visit, between the attempts at IVs and having blood drawn seven times, and said 'Oh, my gosh' with these really wide eyes. Of course now I have a swollen bump on the side of my right arm and a new needle hole on the inside of my forearm from him, but it was still nice to know that yeah, they weren't any happier to see how bad I looked than my doctor was.
Shortly after getting to the hospital I was finally able to call Ruby and let her know where I was - she'd literally just gotten home, guessing I'd found a ride from the doctor's office and had no idea where I actually was at that point. Then I proceeded to spend nine and a half hours waiting in the ER to find out what was wrong with me. Ruby showed up soon and eventually managed to find me, which meant a lot of sitting around while I tried to breathe and she babbled about Karone going to the hospital and Andros having issues while Zhane is Zhane.
I had a CT scan shortly after they stole blood from me, which was ... pleasant. First of all, idodine burns. Second, laying back with your arms above your head when it's already hard to breathe while they try and take scans of your chest is *loads* of fun. I actually started to gag after we were done, and they had to very hastily grab me a barf bag. Then they returned me to Ruby and found me another oxygen tank to try and help me breathe.
The end result of all this, around 2:30 in the morning, was me sleeping lots and feeling incredibly dizzy due to medication, on top of the fact that I've been dizzy since I was released from the Evil Hospital on Wednesday. Ruby, who is incredibly Awesome and deserves to be told so repeatedly, sat with me the whole time, watching TV and wearing a mask because she hates germs. Plus she dealt with the awkward questions like 'Do you feel safe at home?' while I stared blankly and thought about granite tile and lack of balance, and she had to explain that the doctor wanted to know if I was in an abusive relationship. ♥
What the doctor had to say was that first, I have Radioactive Acid Reflux From Hell, for which he prescribed an antacid, bless his soul. I also have a pulmonary nodule, which according to the paperwork they gave me means all sorts of Scary Things, but the doctor assured us it's probably nothing. In the meantime, I have referals to a cardiologist from my doctor and a lung doctor from the ER. So I'll be making a bunch of calls on Monday. Whoot.
In the meantime, I'm still really tired and dizzy. My head hurts too, and it's hard for me to read/write. Like, I keep adding in extra vowels when I type, and I mix up 'm's and 'n's and 'w's a lot. That's all been happening since Tuesday, which is why I have an appointment with my neurologist on March 2nd already. My chest pain has died down for now and it's easier to breathe again, thankfully. My arms are bruised and swollen and sore, and I keep finding sticky things attached to me everywhere. But on the whole, I'm here. Not great, but I'm still breathing.
I've decided that karma sucks. See, I used to get sick a lot when I was a kid. But no one ever believed me, because I was *constantly* getting sick. So I used to wish that I'd get really sick, so that everyone would finally have to believe me. And ... yeah. Karma *sucks*. >.X
I have a lovely frog balloon that says 'I love you!' that Ruby got for me while I was in the hospital. ♥ It's tied onto this adorable tiny little puppy holding a bone, that for some reason I thought was a teddy bear. (I did the same thing with the puppy I've had since I was eight, so apparently I can't tell the difference between teddy bears and puppy dogs.) It's totally given me a bunny about Rocky being in the hospital, and Adam and Aisha bringing him a frog balloon tied to a teddy bear as a get well present. It should probably be a threesome story, just because. Now if my brain would just allow me to write it. Which ... yeah. >.O
-Wanders off to try and read things more-
So I went out to sit in the courtyard outside the office and wait another three hours for purplestripe66 to get off work and be able to come pick me up. Made phone calls to my sister to apologize and update her on what had been going on, because last she knew she was getting calls warning her she may have to make some sort gof 'will to live' decision - seriously, no words for how much the hospital I was in sucked >.< - and my mom, mostly because I was bored and wanted someone to talk to. Talking seems to help me with remembering things, so.
Around 2:00, my chest started to hurt. It's not the first time this has happened; first time was in Idaho, second was here (during our NaNoWriMo wrap party, actually), when we discovered my intolerance to morphine. It felt like someone was squeezing the direct center of my chest really hard, and it was hard to breathe. And the longer I sat there, the worse it got. Eventually by the time I moved inside - just to be on the safe side in case I passed out or something - I was almost in tears.
I pretty much figured I was going to ask Ruby to take me back to the hospital after she got there, because I was in a lot of pain and everything was spinning around from just trying to breathe. I thought about calling 911 for an ambulance, but I sort of convinced myself it wasn't that bad. I've had a bad history with thinking something was wrong with me, only to find out later that it was nothing, so I tend to try and ignore when something's wrong.
This time however, the people in my doctor's office decided to make the decision for me. First they pulled me into the back to check on me and find out what was going on, then they did a test to make sure my heart was fine, which it was. But the pain wasn't going away, and I was planning to sit in their parking lot alone until after 5:00, so they finally called 911 for me. In the meantime, they found me an oxygen tank to use which seemed to help with the pain a little, bringing it down from 'OMG I'm Totally Going to Cry' to 'OMG OW This Really Fucking Hurts'.
So the paramedics show up, and the first thing they say is 'Hey, didn't we just do a run on you on Sunday?' 'Yup, that was me.' They said 'You have our equipment.' I said 'You have my shirt.'
Sadly, it turns out they didn't, and the Evil Hospital is the one who stole my *FAVORITE* shirt, which was blue with Grumpy Bear on it and said 'Always Grumpy'. -Sulks-
The other entertaining part was when they loaded me up in the ambulance so they could take me to the *good* hospital - I specifically requested it - and the paramedic in the back with me went to start an IV. Instead he saw the bruises literally covering *both* of my arms from my hospital visit, between the attempts at IVs and having blood drawn seven times, and said 'Oh, my gosh' with these really wide eyes. Of course now I have a swollen bump on the side of my right arm and a new needle hole on the inside of my forearm from him, but it was still nice to know that yeah, they weren't any happier to see how bad I looked than my doctor was.
Shortly after getting to the hospital I was finally able to call Ruby and let her know where I was - she'd literally just gotten home, guessing I'd found a ride from the doctor's office and had no idea where I actually was at that point. Then I proceeded to spend nine and a half hours waiting in the ER to find out what was wrong with me. Ruby showed up soon and eventually managed to find me, which meant a lot of sitting around while I tried to breathe and she babbled about Karone going to the hospital and Andros having issues while Zhane is Zhane.
I had a CT scan shortly after they stole blood from me, which was ... pleasant. First of all, idodine burns. Second, laying back with your arms above your head when it's already hard to breathe while they try and take scans of your chest is *loads* of fun. I actually started to gag after we were done, and they had to very hastily grab me a barf bag. Then they returned me to Ruby and found me another oxygen tank to try and help me breathe.
The end result of all this, around 2:30 in the morning, was me sleeping lots and feeling incredibly dizzy due to medication, on top of the fact that I've been dizzy since I was released from the Evil Hospital on Wednesday. Ruby, who is incredibly Awesome and deserves to be told so repeatedly, sat with me the whole time, watching TV and wearing a mask because she hates germs. Plus she dealt with the awkward questions like 'Do you feel safe at home?' while I stared blankly and thought about granite tile and lack of balance, and she had to explain that the doctor wanted to know if I was in an abusive relationship. ♥
What the doctor had to say was that first, I have Radioactive Acid Reflux From Hell, for which he prescribed an antacid, bless his soul. I also have a pulmonary nodule, which according to the paperwork they gave me means all sorts of Scary Things, but the doctor assured us it's probably nothing. In the meantime, I have referals to a cardiologist from my doctor and a lung doctor from the ER. So I'll be making a bunch of calls on Monday. Whoot.
In the meantime, I'm still really tired and dizzy. My head hurts too, and it's hard for me to read/write. Like, I keep adding in extra vowels when I type, and I mix up 'm's and 'n's and 'w's a lot. That's all been happening since Tuesday, which is why I have an appointment with my neurologist on March 2nd already. My chest pain has died down for now and it's easier to breathe again, thankfully. My arms are bruised and swollen and sore, and I keep finding sticky things attached to me everywhere. But on the whole, I'm here. Not great, but I'm still breathing.
I've decided that karma sucks. See, I used to get sick a lot when I was a kid. But no one ever believed me, because I was *constantly* getting sick. So I used to wish that I'd get really sick, so that everyone would finally have to believe me. And ... yeah. Karma *sucks*. >.X
I have a lovely frog balloon that says 'I love you!' that Ruby got for me while I was in the hospital. ♥ It's tied onto this adorable tiny little puppy holding a bone, that for some reason I thought was a teddy bear. (I did the same thing with the puppy I've had since I was eight, so apparently I can't tell the difference between teddy bears and puppy dogs.) It's totally given me a bunny about Rocky being in the hospital, and Adam and Aisha bringing him a frog balloon tied to a teddy bear as a get well present. It should probably be a threesome story, just because. Now if my brain would just allow me to write it. Which ... yeah. >.O
-Wanders off to try and read things more-