I feel the need to whine, and I am allergic to wine. Don't feel like you have to read this, I just need to "Talk."
I was so excited about 2015. I had 3 quilt tops ready to sandwich and quilt, 8 table runners to sandwich and quilt, and two pillowcases to finish and the week after Christmas off. My plan was to quilt New Year's Eve through Jan. 4 and go back to work on the 5th.
The day after Christmas my back right side was bothering ey under my shoulder blade, I thought I had slept funny. Saturday it was twinging but not so bad it kept me from cleaning around the house and preparing for my big quilt week. Sunday morning I woke myself up crying and moaning in pain, but it went away after some Advil. I had decided it was my couch causing bad posture. Monday I went shopping with a friend who kept mentioning she could tell I was hurting and I said it was my right back side. It worsened during the day, but was better. Tuesday, I worked on a quilting project, went shopping with my son and had a few twinges but really nothing too awful. We came home in the early evening and I sat down to work on preparing some of my quilting projects when the pain came back big time. By 10 p.m. I went and told my son I was very sorry but I needed him to take me to the ER. I had been told earlier in the day that the hospital ERs were full of flu patients so I decided to go to one of those stand alone ERs about 3 miles from my house. There is never anyone there so I knew I could get right in and I was really getting to the point I needed some pain relief. I was convinced I must be having a gallbladder attack just from what friends had told me about their attacks.
We get to the ER, no one is there and they rush me right in. The Dr. is in the room before I can even begin to fill out papers. I tell him where the pain is, even point to my back right side. He comes and pokes at it and I give a shout when he hits a sore point, but since I have fibromyalgia I have tender points any way. He asks me two questions, did my mother have any diseases. I answered "diabetes." He asked me if my dad had heart disease and I answered "Yes, but that is not what he died from." Immediately he tells me that he suspects a heart attack, gives me nitroglycerin (they don't tell you it burns), takes blood, gets an EKG and tells me I will be transferred to a hospital once they find one that has a bed but most of them are full and I will have to go pretty far south of where I live by ambulance. I asked if I could just drive myself because I knew I wasn't have a heart attack and he said "No, because of the oxygen, and then I was placed on oxygen." I am still in pain so they are going to give me morphine, which I am allergic to and told them when I went in I was allergic to but he says they will give me benadryl with it and I will be fine. He then leaves to find me a hospital bed and says I should plan on being in the hospital about 3 days. I tell my son not to worry it is not my heart and that he is to go home and not follow the ambulance to an unknown area. They find me a bed and I am whisked away in the ambulance. As I am leaving the ER Dr. did tell me my cardiac enzyme test came back normal but there were insignificant findings on my EKG so I still needed to go to the hospital.
In the ambulance, the driver asks me why I was given morphine when I was allergic to it. He also states he is not sure why I am being sent to the hospital. I get to the hospital and he informs me we traveled 21 miles and I am seeing $$$ signs in my head while the pain is now back and still severe.
I am admitted directly into the cardiac wing of the hospital. There are 3 nurses waiting to greet me. All very nice, but I know it is a waste of time. I convince everyone I can get off the gurney and into the bed by myself. They start getting all my vitals etc. with the head nurse telling me that she is not sure why I am there and that she almost called the hospital's admitting Dr. to tell him to not allow the transfer.
A few heart tests later, the cardiologist comes in and tells me he is almost 99% sure there is nothing wrong with my heart, but they are going to run another EKG, finish the 3 cardiac enzyme tests required over an a certain time period and run a chemical stress test since I was admitted complaining of chest pains. I told the Dr. that I never, ever said I had chest pains. I said I had severe pain in my back right side under my shoulder pain and that the pain was still severe. He ordered more morphine and benadryl since it seemed to be helping. I asked if it could be my gallbladder and he said we had to rule out the heart first, but he wasn't sure why I was in the cardiac wing. ARGGGHHHH. My night nurse was very nice and worked very hard to get me out of pain and to try to get me to sleep but I was in too much pain for sleep. The only relief I could get was by sitting up and bending over my right knee. She did come in at some point with some crackers and water and said "Quick eat some of these and drink away, they are about to make you NPO and you are probably starving." I though that was very sweet of her.
New Year's Eve bright and early a very nice lady comes to take my blood for a cardiac enzyme test. I ask her to tell me about the test and she said it is done with a series of three blood draws 6 hours apart. i about became unglued. I said surely they would count the one the night before as the first test. She didn't know.
Next comes the EKG tech. He looks over my chart and says "Why are you here." I told him I didn't know because no one seemed to really care about my symptoms. He said "Well, I can't justify this EKG." and I told him I was told I couldn't get out without it, so we better figure out a way. We discussed it and the "insignificant changes" which the cardiologist had told me were probably nothing, and this tech was saying were nothing. We decided he could call it a follow up to see if insignificant changes were still apparent. He then said again he was not sure why I was there and that the chemical stress test was very expensive.
Day nurse comes on. I can tell she is nothing like the night nurse. An orderly comes in to take me for a spinal xray. What??? Oh no, I don't think so. Dr. ordered it. No, I still don't think so. Oh great, here the come to take me for the chemical stress test. I think this test is more important. Bye bye spinal xray.
I go in for the chemical stress test. Both techs say I don't belong there. I should be having my gallbladder or kidneys scanned. Great. I take the chemical stress test. Back up to my room I go.
I have missed my morphine shot because I was being tested. I ring for the nurse the pain is getting so bad I want to walk across the ceiling. She finally comes in and says I can't have it because the morphine is ordered for every 2 hours, but the benadryl is ordered for every 6 hours. She must call the Dr. I am frustrated beyond belief. It is an hour before I finally get my shot.
Weekend Dr. comes in. He hasn't gotten the chemical stress test results, but he is pretty sure there is nothing wrong with my heart. REALLY!!!! What about my pain? He doesn't know. Could it be my gallbladder? Does pain get worse when I eat? Well it hasn't been, but then again I have only had 2 saltine squares in the last 17 hours so who knows. Dr. says "Oh you would have to eat something fatty to tell, but blood tests do not indicate gallbladder." He then says they still need to take the spinal xray. I asked why and he said to rule out damage to my spine. I said that unless they were going to do a CT Scan or some other scan that would also check my gallbladder, then I was refusing the spinal xray.
By this time I just want to go home.
During all of this they have been checking my blood sugar because I am diagnosed a diabetic, but I have only really had one high A!C reading. I watch my diet, take a couple of pills a day, and exercise. I am not required to test my blood sugar, but the hospital is doing beside glucose checks After about the 3rd test with "good" readings for someone who has had no food, the tech asks me what my blood sugar runs at home. I tell him I am not required to test my blood sugar. He says "Then why are we testing it here?" I said "For the same reason you are testing my heart."
I call my friend and tell her I should be released between 5 and 6 p.m. and will she come get me. She arrives at 4
0. Dr. calls about 4:30 says there is nothing wrong with my heart and he is sending me home with pain relievers and muscle relaxants because it could be a muscle spasm. Although that had been ruled out earlier. See my regular Dr. in 4-5 days if I am not better.
50 p.m. time for morphine. I want morphine and benadryl now! The pain is making me sick. Nurse comes in and says she is working on my discharge but if I get my shot I can't leave for an hour. I have to be observed? Observed? No one has come in since my last shot. All monitors have been removed. Who is observing me? Is there a hidden camera? I ask her how long it will take to do my discharge papers. About 40 minutes. I say "Give me my shot. I believe you can let me leave 15 minutes early."
I was out of there around 60 p.m. with two prescriptions and hungry. My friend had already looked up 24 hr pharmacies open on New Year's Eve. First pharmacy did not have the drug ordered. Second pharmacy had a partial fill. I just want to eat. Prescriptions partially filled, it was off for egg drop soup and egg rolls. Did the pain get worse, who knows I was already drugged up.
I don't remember New Year's Day. Called my dr. on Friday and they couldn't see me until Monday. That's fine. I call another friend and ask her to take me to the Dr. on Monday since I can't drive on the drugs. Then I go to sleep and pretty much keep myself drugged up enough that I mostly sleep through each day.
Sunday I notice a welt where the pain is on my back. I ask my son to look at it but he says he just sees a welt. Okay.
Monday as I am getting ready to shower to go to the Dr. I notice a rash on my right back along the top of my rib cage, and on my front right side along my upper rib cage but I don't think anything about it. I go ahead and get ready for my Dr. I have written out a timeline of my pain, and printed out the lab results from the hospital and my new prescriptions.
I get to my wonderful Dr. who listens to me very carefully and then asks if he may examine my right back side. I lift my shirt and he asks me about the rash. I told him it had just appeared overnight. He said "I am 99.9% sure you have Shingles, but if you want me to run a test I will." I said "You are really that sure, and he said yes it is a classic case. He said some people get the pain before the rash, but most of the time it is the rash and then the pain. He said if the rash crossed to the other side of my torso he would then test my gallbladder.
I said "I never said I had chest pains, but at least I am going into 2015 knowing my heart is in good shape."
Turns out Shingles is just as painful as everyone has told me in the past. Almost crippling at times.
I have not been able to quilt.
The good news is my boss has decided that the vacation days I took will be sick days and she will find a way to work in the time later in the year for me to have some extra days off. Maybe I will get to quilt on those days.
If you made it this far in my journey, bless your soul. Thanks for letting me whine. I am trying to stay upbeat, but all I can think about is how far behind I am going to be if I don't feel well enough to quilt soon. The drugs make my eyes off just enough I wouldn't be able to tell if I was sewing a straight line or not.
If you have made it to the end of this story, bless you. I am really trying to stay upbeat and positive through the pain, but I really did want to start off 2015 with the completion of some beautiful quilting projects to make room for more. My 2015 quilting fabric etc. budget will probably be depleted by all the bills I am going to received. I seldom go see the Dr. except for me free yearly exam, so I had not paid anything on my 2014 deductible. Sigh.
Do you think I can drink wine if I take some benadryl first? LOL
WARNING: If you are over 60, go get a shingles shot.
I was so excited about 2015. I had 3 quilt tops ready to sandwich and quilt, 8 table runners to sandwich and quilt, and two pillowcases to finish and the week after Christmas off. My plan was to quilt New Year's Eve through Jan. 4 and go back to work on the 5th.
The day after Christmas my back right side was bothering ey under my shoulder blade, I thought I had slept funny. Saturday it was twinging but not so bad it kept me from cleaning around the house and preparing for my big quilt week. Sunday morning I woke myself up crying and moaning in pain, but it went away after some Advil. I had decided it was my couch causing bad posture. Monday I went shopping with a friend who kept mentioning she could tell I was hurting and I said it was my right back side. It worsened during the day, but was better. Tuesday, I worked on a quilting project, went shopping with my son and had a few twinges but really nothing too awful. We came home in the early evening and I sat down to work on preparing some of my quilting projects when the pain came back big time. By 10 p.m. I went and told my son I was very sorry but I needed him to take me to the ER. I had been told earlier in the day that the hospital ERs were full of flu patients so I decided to go to one of those stand alone ERs about 3 miles from my house. There is never anyone there so I knew I could get right in and I was really getting to the point I needed some pain relief. I was convinced I must be having a gallbladder attack just from what friends had told me about their attacks.
We get to the ER, no one is there and they rush me right in. The Dr. is in the room before I can even begin to fill out papers. I tell him where the pain is, even point to my back right side. He comes and pokes at it and I give a shout when he hits a sore point, but since I have fibromyalgia I have tender points any way. He asks me two questions, did my mother have any diseases. I answered "diabetes." He asked me if my dad had heart disease and I answered "Yes, but that is not what he died from." Immediately he tells me that he suspects a heart attack, gives me nitroglycerin (they don't tell you it burns), takes blood, gets an EKG and tells me I will be transferred to a hospital once they find one that has a bed but most of them are full and I will have to go pretty far south of where I live by ambulance. I asked if I could just drive myself because I knew I wasn't have a heart attack and he said "No, because of the oxygen, and then I was placed on oxygen." I am still in pain so they are going to give me morphine, which I am allergic to and told them when I went in I was allergic to but he says they will give me benadryl with it and I will be fine. He then leaves to find me a hospital bed and says I should plan on being in the hospital about 3 days. I tell my son not to worry it is not my heart and that he is to go home and not follow the ambulance to an unknown area. They find me a bed and I am whisked away in the ambulance. As I am leaving the ER Dr. did tell me my cardiac enzyme test came back normal but there were insignificant findings on my EKG so I still needed to go to the hospital.
In the ambulance, the driver asks me why I was given morphine when I was allergic to it. He also states he is not sure why I am being sent to the hospital. I get to the hospital and he informs me we traveled 21 miles and I am seeing $$$ signs in my head while the pain is now back and still severe.
I am admitted directly into the cardiac wing of the hospital. There are 3 nurses waiting to greet me. All very nice, but I know it is a waste of time. I convince everyone I can get off the gurney and into the bed by myself. They start getting all my vitals etc. with the head nurse telling me that she is not sure why I am there and that she almost called the hospital's admitting Dr. to tell him to not allow the transfer.
A few heart tests later, the cardiologist comes in and tells me he is almost 99% sure there is nothing wrong with my heart, but they are going to run another EKG, finish the 3 cardiac enzyme tests required over an a certain time period and run a chemical stress test since I was admitted complaining of chest pains. I told the Dr. that I never, ever said I had chest pains. I said I had severe pain in my back right side under my shoulder pain and that the pain was still severe. He ordered more morphine and benadryl since it seemed to be helping. I asked if it could be my gallbladder and he said we had to rule out the heart first, but he wasn't sure why I was in the cardiac wing. ARGGGHHHH. My night nurse was very nice and worked very hard to get me out of pain and to try to get me to sleep but I was in too much pain for sleep. The only relief I could get was by sitting up and bending over my right knee. She did come in at some point with some crackers and water and said "Quick eat some of these and drink away, they are about to make you NPO and you are probably starving." I though that was very sweet of her.
New Year's Eve bright and early a very nice lady comes to take my blood for a cardiac enzyme test. I ask her to tell me about the test and she said it is done with a series of three blood draws 6 hours apart. i about became unglued. I said surely they would count the one the night before as the first test. She didn't know.
Next comes the EKG tech. He looks over my chart and says "Why are you here." I told him I didn't know because no one seemed to really care about my symptoms. He said "Well, I can't justify this EKG." and I told him I was told I couldn't get out without it, so we better figure out a way. We discussed it and the "insignificant changes" which the cardiologist had told me were probably nothing, and this tech was saying were nothing. We decided he could call it a follow up to see if insignificant changes were still apparent. He then said again he was not sure why I was there and that the chemical stress test was very expensive.
Day nurse comes on. I can tell she is nothing like the night nurse. An orderly comes in to take me for a spinal xray. What??? Oh no, I don't think so. Dr. ordered it. No, I still don't think so. Oh great, here the come to take me for the chemical stress test. I think this test is more important. Bye bye spinal xray.
I go in for the chemical stress test. Both techs say I don't belong there. I should be having my gallbladder or kidneys scanned. Great. I take the chemical stress test. Back up to my room I go.
I have missed my morphine shot because I was being tested. I ring for the nurse the pain is getting so bad I want to walk across the ceiling. She finally comes in and says I can't have it because the morphine is ordered for every 2 hours, but the benadryl is ordered for every 6 hours. She must call the Dr. I am frustrated beyond belief. It is an hour before I finally get my shot.
Weekend Dr. comes in. He hasn't gotten the chemical stress test results, but he is pretty sure there is nothing wrong with my heart. REALLY!!!! What about my pain? He doesn't know. Could it be my gallbladder? Does pain get worse when I eat? Well it hasn't been, but then again I have only had 2 saltine squares in the last 17 hours so who knows. Dr. says "Oh you would have to eat something fatty to tell, but blood tests do not indicate gallbladder." He then says they still need to take the spinal xray. I asked why and he said to rule out damage to my spine. I said that unless they were going to do a CT Scan or some other scan that would also check my gallbladder, then I was refusing the spinal xray.
By this time I just want to go home.
During all of this they have been checking my blood sugar because I am diagnosed a diabetic, but I have only really had one high A!C reading. I watch my diet, take a couple of pills a day, and exercise. I am not required to test my blood sugar, but the hospital is doing beside glucose checks After about the 3rd test with "good" readings for someone who has had no food, the tech asks me what my blood sugar runs at home. I tell him I am not required to test my blood sugar. He says "Then why are we testing it here?" I said "For the same reason you are testing my heart."
I call my friend and tell her I should be released between 5 and 6 p.m. and will she come get me. She arrives at 4
0. Dr. calls about 4:30 says there is nothing wrong with my heart and he is sending me home with pain relievers and muscle relaxants because it could be a muscle spasm. Although that had been ruled out earlier. See my regular Dr. in 4-5 days if I am not better.5
0 p.m. time for morphine. I want morphine and benadryl now! The pain is making me sick. Nurse comes in and says she is working on my discharge but if I get my shot I can't leave for an hour. I have to be observed? Observed? No one has come in since my last shot. All monitors have been removed. Who is observing me? Is there a hidden camera? I ask her how long it will take to do my discharge papers. About 40 minutes. I say "Give me my shot. I believe you can let me leave 15 minutes early." I was out of there around 6
0 p.m. with two prescriptions and hungry. My friend had already looked up 24 hr pharmacies open on New Year's Eve. First pharmacy did not have the drug ordered. Second pharmacy had a partial fill. I just want to eat. Prescriptions partially filled, it was off for egg drop soup and egg rolls. Did the pain get worse, who knows I was already drugged up. I don't remember New Year's Day. Called my dr. on Friday and they couldn't see me until Monday. That's fine. I call another friend and ask her to take me to the Dr. on Monday since I can't drive on the drugs. Then I go to sleep and pretty much keep myself drugged up enough that I mostly sleep through each day.
Sunday I notice a welt where the pain is on my back. I ask my son to look at it but he says he just sees a welt. Okay.
Monday as I am getting ready to shower to go to the Dr. I notice a rash on my right back along the top of my rib cage, and on my front right side along my upper rib cage but I don't think anything about it. I go ahead and get ready for my Dr. I have written out a timeline of my pain, and printed out the lab results from the hospital and my new prescriptions.
I get to my wonderful Dr. who listens to me very carefully and then asks if he may examine my right back side. I lift my shirt and he asks me about the rash. I told him it had just appeared overnight. He said "I am 99.9% sure you have Shingles, but if you want me to run a test I will." I said "You are really that sure, and he said yes it is a classic case. He said some people get the pain before the rash, but most of the time it is the rash and then the pain. He said if the rash crossed to the other side of my torso he would then test my gallbladder.
I said "I never said I had chest pains, but at least I am going into 2015 knowing my heart is in good shape."
Turns out Shingles is just as painful as everyone has told me in the past. Almost crippling at times.
I have not been able to quilt.
The good news is my boss has decided that the vacation days I took will be sick days and she will find a way to work in the time later in the year for me to have some extra days off. Maybe I will get to quilt on those days.
If you made it this far in my journey, bless your soul. Thanks for letting me whine. I am trying to stay upbeat, but all I can think about is how far behind I am going to be if I don't feel well enough to quilt soon. The drugs make my eyes off just enough I wouldn't be able to tell if I was sewing a straight line or not.
If you have made it to the end of this story, bless you. I am really trying to stay upbeat and positive through the pain, but I really did want to start off 2015 with the completion of some beautiful quilting projects to make room for more. My 2015 quilting fabric etc. budget will probably be depleted by all the bills I am going to received. I seldom go see the Dr. except for me free yearly exam, so I had not paid anything on my 2014 deductible. Sigh.
Do you think I can drink wine if I take some benadryl first? LOL
WARNING: If you are over 60, go get a shingles shot.
Comment