The Hospital Visit & The Indigestable Panic
► Ah, another stressful weekend.
Yesterday afternoon my vertigo and dizziness reached a point where I thought something had to be done. I asked Dean and she agreed to take me to the hospital (showering was a tad difficult though when you're constantly worried about tipping over when standing still). The plan was that she would drop me off outside of the ER, then run some errands, and when I was finished I was to call her on her cellphone to pick me up. She even gave me 5 loonies for phone calls, and wrote down the phone numbers for our apartment and her cellphone for me since I tend to forget them.
Things actually started pretty quickly when I got into the hospital (although the car ride was excruciating when your head keeps swimming). The admittance nurse said I had picked the right day to come in as it had been incredibly slow all day. I saw that for myself when I was directed to the large exam room area and there was no one else in the waiting section. I was seated for only a few moments before I was assigned to one of the exam beds.
I was in the exam area and saw the doctor several times over the course of an hour. No fevers, ears and sinuses seemed fine, pulse was high but attributed to my nerves and only having a sip of water that day, and I think my motor skills and coordination were okay. I was given a cardiogram which was actually a bit amusing, as the male technician said "I apologize in advance" before putting the sticky electrodes on my hairy chest. When that was finished he said I could remove them myself and left, and as I was doing that it was pulling at my hair and I was laughing and saying "ow" repeatedly. He stuck his head back inside from the other side of the curtain laughing.
The results of my cardiogram were normal and my heart was deemed fine. The doctor was able to get me squeezed in for a cat scan, but it was an hour wait so I was moved to another waiting area where I sat for 30 minutes. After the test I was brought back to that waiting area where I spent the next 2 and a half hours, alone, vaguely unsettled, worried, and bored (I had brought a word search magazine with me but was long bored of it). By this time the ER was filled with people so I'm sure that greatly slowed things down. I watched a lot of people who arrived long after me come in and get discharged while I sat.
Eventually the doctor came over and sat with me. He explained that my cat scan was normal and my brain was fine, with no signs of any tumors or abnormalities. With no sign of infections, fever, inner ear disorders and with clean bills of health for my heart and brain, there was just no explanation at the moment for my vertigo. He said that it could simply be something as mundane as dehydration, so I was advised to just take it easy and increase my fluid intake, and if the vertigo continued for another week or two to come back to the hospital or try to get in to see my doctor. With that I was discharged.
I had a pleasant surprise when I walked into the hall and found Deana sitting there waiting for me. Turns out she had just gotten there a few minutes before. Even though I didn't know what was wrong I felt a bit relieved that my heart and brain checked out all right, and the ride home was much smoother. I was actually able to spend the rest of the night on the computer with minimal dizziness.
► Woke up today feeling pretty good. Reassured and hopeful. Mostly stayed in bed and watched TV. Felt fine when I ate supper later (Dean suggested we order from the Greek restaurant up the street, the one we usually order from). I was feeling pretty damn good indeed, so a little after 8:00pm I turned on the computer and went to the washroom... where I immediately started feeling dizzy and had the lurching sensations.
The dizziness worsened while I was sitting at the computer, and eventually I started feeling a dull pain in the center of my sternum. It was followed by a flush feeling through my body and cold sweats. This triggered a panic attack as I suddenly started thinking "heart attack". Kept trying to settle down and assure myself that my heart just tested out fine yesterday, and that it was probably just indigestion from having just eaten a big hamburger with a lot of ketchup and mustard, along with most of a plate of french fries and some onion rings. Some forced belching, 3 antacid tablets, and a glass of water seemed to help that.
Feeling a lot better now, though I still do feel slightly disorientated and unsteady. I just have to keep drinking water and willing myself better.Matt: french fries AND onion rings
Matt: Hedonist
► Julius von Brunk - Domaster & Tetrawing - I have no idea what the title means, but it's a Nintendo Gameboy Transformer made out of Lego. That's just awesome.
► Aintitcool: The Trailer For Tim Burton's DARK SHADOWS Suggests A Different Movie Than The Fanbase May Want... - So Tim Burton takes the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows and turns it into a ridiculous and cartoony live action cartoon spoof. My first thought was "by god that's stupid"... but it actually looks incredibly funny and fun. Ridiculous for sure, but fun ridiculous, and not far removed from Burton's own Beetlejuice. But yeah, the Dark Shadows fans must be pissed.
► CBR: WC12: Marvel's Talk to the Hat - Previewing the new costume and looks for Ms. Marvel, now called Captain Marvel. This continues to be a weird period for me as a comic book fan as so many of my favourite characters have either been radically altered, look completely different, or are dead. I don't hate this costume, or dislike like it as much as the new Power Girl costume, but man it looks... awkward.
Quote of the Moment
[last lines]
CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer?
CIA Officer: I don't know, sir.
CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir.
CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say
CIA Superior: Jesus Fucking Christ.
- Burn After Reading (2008)
Drinking: water
Eating: antacid tablets
Reading: Essential Avengers Vol 2 (TPB)
Last Watched: Untold Stories of the E.R. (2004 - ; 4 episodes, coincidentally);
Yesterday afternoon my vertigo and dizziness reached a point where I thought something had to be done. I asked Dean and she agreed to take me to the hospital (showering was a tad difficult though when you're constantly worried about tipping over when standing still). The plan was that she would drop me off outside of the ER, then run some errands, and when I was finished I was to call her on her cellphone to pick me up. She even gave me 5 loonies for phone calls, and wrote down the phone numbers for our apartment and her cellphone for me since I tend to forget them.
Things actually started pretty quickly when I got into the hospital (although the car ride was excruciating when your head keeps swimming). The admittance nurse said I had picked the right day to come in as it had been incredibly slow all day. I saw that for myself when I was directed to the large exam room area and there was no one else in the waiting section. I was seated for only a few moments before I was assigned to one of the exam beds.
I was in the exam area and saw the doctor several times over the course of an hour. No fevers, ears and sinuses seemed fine, pulse was high but attributed to my nerves and only having a sip of water that day, and I think my motor skills and coordination were okay. I was given a cardiogram which was actually a bit amusing, as the male technician said "I apologize in advance" before putting the sticky electrodes on my hairy chest. When that was finished he said I could remove them myself and left, and as I was doing that it was pulling at my hair and I was laughing and saying "ow" repeatedly. He stuck his head back inside from the other side of the curtain laughing.
The results of my cardiogram were normal and my heart was deemed fine. The doctor was able to get me squeezed in for a cat scan, but it was an hour wait so I was moved to another waiting area where I sat for 30 minutes. After the test I was brought back to that waiting area where I spent the next 2 and a half hours, alone, vaguely unsettled, worried, and bored (I had brought a word search magazine with me but was long bored of it). By this time the ER was filled with people so I'm sure that greatly slowed things down. I watched a lot of people who arrived long after me come in and get discharged while I sat.
Eventually the doctor came over and sat with me. He explained that my cat scan was normal and my brain was fine, with no signs of any tumors or abnormalities. With no sign of infections, fever, inner ear disorders and with clean bills of health for my heart and brain, there was just no explanation at the moment for my vertigo. He said that it could simply be something as mundane as dehydration, so I was advised to just take it easy and increase my fluid intake, and if the vertigo continued for another week or two to come back to the hospital or try to get in to see my doctor. With that I was discharged.
I had a pleasant surprise when I walked into the hall and found Deana sitting there waiting for me. Turns out she had just gotten there a few minutes before. Even though I didn't know what was wrong I felt a bit relieved that my heart and brain checked out all right, and the ride home was much smoother. I was actually able to spend the rest of the night on the computer with minimal dizziness.
► Woke up today feeling pretty good. Reassured and hopeful. Mostly stayed in bed and watched TV. Felt fine when I ate supper later (Dean suggested we order from the Greek restaurant up the street, the one we usually order from). I was feeling pretty damn good indeed, so a little after 8:00pm I turned on the computer and went to the washroom... where I immediately started feeling dizzy and had the lurching sensations.
The dizziness worsened while I was sitting at the computer, and eventually I started feeling a dull pain in the center of my sternum. It was followed by a flush feeling through my body and cold sweats. This triggered a panic attack as I suddenly started thinking "heart attack". Kept trying to settle down and assure myself that my heart just tested out fine yesterday, and that it was probably just indigestion from having just eaten a big hamburger with a lot of ketchup and mustard, along with most of a plate of french fries and some onion rings. Some forced belching, 3 antacid tablets, and a glass of water seemed to help that.
Feeling a lot better now, though I still do feel slightly disorientated and unsteady. I just have to keep drinking water and willing myself better.Matt: french fries AND onion rings
Matt: Hedonist
► Julius von Brunk - Domaster & Tetrawing - I have no idea what the title means, but it's a Nintendo Gameboy Transformer made out of Lego. That's just awesome.
► Aintitcool: The Trailer For Tim Burton's DARK SHADOWS Suggests A Different Movie Than The Fanbase May Want... - So Tim Burton takes the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows and turns it into a ridiculous and cartoony live action cartoon spoof. My first thought was "by god that's stupid"... but it actually looks incredibly funny and fun. Ridiculous for sure, but fun ridiculous, and not far removed from Burton's own Beetlejuice. But yeah, the Dark Shadows fans must be pissed.
► CBR: WC12: Marvel's Talk to the Hat - Previewing the new costume and looks for Ms. Marvel, now called Captain Marvel. This continues to be a weird period for me as a comic book fan as so many of my favourite characters have either been radically altered, look completely different, or are dead. I don't hate this costume, or dislike like it as much as the new Power Girl costume, but man it looks... awkward.
Quote of the Moment
[last lines]
CIA Superior: What did we learn, Palmer?
CIA Officer: I don't know, sir.
CIA Superior: I don't fuckin' know either. I guess we learned not to do it again.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir.
CIA Superior: I'm fucked if I know what we did.
CIA Officer: Yes, sir, it's, uh, hard to say
CIA Superior: Jesus Fucking Christ.
- Burn After Reading (2008)
Drinking: water
Eating: antacid tablets
Reading: Essential Avengers Vol 2 (TPB)
Last Watched: Untold Stories of the E.R. (2004 - ; 4 episodes, coincidentally);