I haven’t written in 28 days, but I actually have a legitimate excuse this time! I’ve been really sick. So sick, that I ended up in the Emergency room one night. Here’s a timeline I created for the doctor to explain everything I was going through.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
- ate less than a quarter of dinner because I got full very quickly. (When I say less, I mean 4 bites of corn. And that’s it.)
Thursday, November 4
- woke up at 4:00 AM with horrible belly pain; rolled around and tried to fall asleep again
- alarm went off at 6:00 AM
- sat up, and burped up a small amount of vomit; very nauseous
- went into bathroom; no vomit; tried to have a bowel movement, but very little came out
- left for work (no breakfast)
- nauseous all day, with horrible belly pain
- got home at 6:00 PM; laid down on couch, no food – not hungry/nausea
- 9:00 PM nausea got worse; went into bathroom and vomited partially undigested dinner from 24 hours prior
- belly pain and nausea still persisted, but got slightly better after vomiting, but came back worse about an hour later
Friday, November 5
- woke up to bad belly pain
- not hungry, but tried to eat a banana; as soon as it hit my stomach, I got even worse pain
- had weird, deep growly burps all day
- tried to eat a bagel mid-afternoon, but had a repeat episode of pain as before
- laid on couch all day curled into a ball; getting up and walking made the pain worse
- 8:00 PM, ate a veggie burger and ~ 2 handfuls of fries; pain got worse when food got to stomach
- still not hungry; still burping and having random hiccups
Saturday, November 6
- went to work without eating – not hungry
- still very painful; seems to get worse as the day goes on
* even drinking water causes pain to get worse
* pain comes in waves; always there, but will be dull and then get really bad; feels like a burning, tearing, pressure pain
So, I got out of work at 1:00 PM, and as soon as I got home, we went to the hospital. We waited in the waiting room for a couple of hours.
Although, we did have some nice entertainment…
We were sitting at the back of the waiting room, right next to the phone. A little old man had been discharged, and came over to call someone for a ride home. The person he was talking to must have asked what was going on, because he replied, “Oh, I’m fine. I just have the what-cha-ma-call-its”. It was so adorable! I turned to B, and hard the hardest time not giggling.
After the older man had left, we saw a police car pull up to the entrance. He sat there for a few minutes, and then a nurse walked out with a patient, and a man who I’m assuming was the patient’s father. The patient was a younger male, I would guess to be older teens. They were going to put the kid in the back of the police car, and when they opened the door for him to get in, he ran away! Now, let me point out to you that the hospital we were at had a parking lot right outside of the front door. However, this parking lot was actually the top level of a parking garage. We jumped to our feet and watched as the kid ran to the corner of the lot, only to realize that he was 3 stories above the ground! The police officer had no hesitations, and actually jumped onto the kid, tackling him to the ground! After they had him securely handcuffed, the officer walked him back to the car, and he and another officer hog-tied the kid into the car.
We have no idea why the kid was being put into custody – a suicide attempt? A crime that he got hurt while doing? No clue. Either way, he’ll be charged now for resisting arrest.
So back to my part of the story. I got my blood drawn, and gave a urine sample. This (other than the horrendous pain I was in) was my first clue that something was wrong. My pee was the color of a penny, and so cloudy that you couldn’t see through it. The only was I can compare it to anything, is to say that it looked like a darker apple cider. Yeah… so not healthy.
I was put into an exam room, and the doctor came in almost immediately. She asked for a history of what had been going on. She pushed on my belly, and it hurt worse than the pain I was dealing with already! She said she wanted me to get some x-rays done of my stomach, to see what was going on in there. Then told me that she was going to have someone come in to start an IV, because I was obviously dehydrated.
The nurse came in to start my IV. As previously stated, I was extremely dehydrated. The nurse had a really hard time finding a good vein. So she used the only one that she could…
It hurt so badly to have that put in! I’ve had IVs put in before – numerous times – but never anything in this spot. Of course, my mind started freaking out, because I could swear that I could feel it in me. It hurt a little when I moved, so I tried to keep my arm as still as possible. This, of course, caused my Fibromyalgia to flare up, and the muscles around the catheter started to spasm. I tried my best to calm myself down so my muscles would relax, but it still took me about an hour or so to be comfortable with it.
I was rolled down to the radiology department to get x-rays taken of my belly. It only took 10 or so minutes, and I was back in the room.
The doctor came in shortly after that. She told me she was going to give me something for the pain, and was going to review the x-rays.
The nurse came back in, and gave me a really strong painkiller. However, it didn’t help the pain. It only made me slightly disoriented, and very exhausted.
The doctor came back in, and explained that I had an “extensive amount of feces throughout my intestines”, but that part of my x-ray was highlighted, and they were wondering if I had another obstruction.
Side note: I had my gallbladder removed in April 2007. The scar tissue from that surgery had slowly wrapped itself around my intestines (called an obstruction), and the blood flow and digestion were cut off. I was one sick puppy, and was on the verge of dying. So, the doctor was wondering if that’s what was going on again.
She said she was going to send me for a CAT scan, and that I had to drink a contrast that would highlight itself on the scan, showing if I was still able to digest/move food.
At this point, B and I were so tired (it was 8:30 PM now) that , when the doctor left the room, we joked about what she said. Of course, the typical “you’re full of shit!” was thrown around. Hey, at least we were able to make light of the situation.
The CAT scan technician came down with the contrast. It was barium. Yuck! (Barium is a very thick, chalky liquid that will show up on x-rays ad scans. Drinking it can be very gag inducing.) She told me to drink one of them now, and to wait an hour and drink the other, and we would do the scan at 10:30.
She left the room, and B and I inspected the bottles. I had to drink a liter of this stuff. And it was raspberry flavored. To which the jokes began again. “Raspberrium” was what we eventually called it.
(This is the exact kind I had!)
B was hungry and really worried, but I made him leave the hospital to go find something to eat. We knew we wouldn’t be getting out of there until at least midnight, if I wasn’t admitted first.
He left, and left me with a giant stack of magazines, although I couldn’t read them very good, because the painkiller had blurred my vision.
10:30 rolls around, and the CAT scan tech comes to bring me to the testing room. I wave goodbye to B, and get rolled down the hallway.
Around 11:30, the doctor came back into the room, and said that the CAT scan showed no obstruction, so my main problem was that I was obstipated (full of poop, even though I was still having my daily bowel movements). Essentially, because of my Fibromyalgia, my digestive system had just stopped. I had food just sitting in my stomach, food sitting in my intestines, and poop backed up to the beginning of my small inestine. She wanted me to pick up some magnesium citrate, and drink it at home. Otherwise, I was free to go.
And then I started crying. I couldn’t stop. All joking aside, I was literally in pain and vomiting because I was full of poop. His family knew I was going to the ER, my family knew I was going to the ER… how was I supposed to tell people that I was just constipated? I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t even look at B on the way home.
Yes, I realize that it was a much better outcome than needing emergency surgery for a life-threatening problem. But really? I was extremely sick because of poop? Honestly, I would rather have had it be the obstruction.
So anyway, we got home really late, and went to bed. The next day, I was still hurting, so we went to the pharmacy/grocery store to do our shopping and pick up the magnesium citrate.
Have any of you ever heard of this stuff? I’ve had to have it once before, and it is not fun. It’s SO sour. So incredibly sour. I gag just getting a teaspoon of it into my mouth. And she wanted me to drink a half-liter of it. Great. I was in for a fun filled day.
I didn’t have to go into work on Monday, so I decided to drink it then. (It can take 30 minutes to 6 hours for it to start working, and you will most likely be pooping for over 24 hours, so she wanted me to wait until I had a day where I could be home for more then 24 hours.)
I drank all of it (well, a small part of it was saved, just so B could take a sip and know what I was going through). And it took a couple of hours for it to work. But when it started to work… oh dear god. The only way I can describe what happened, is to say that it was literally raining out of my ass. No, pouring is more like it.
It was horrible.
So, now let’s jump forward to today.
I’m still having stomach pain. Not nearly as bad, but it’s still there. And I know, I really should go to the doctor, but I don’t have the time right now. I have a follow-up appointment with my general care doctor on the 30th, so I’ll bring it up then. But, as of right now, I can’t go until then.
And so here we are, November 22, 2010. Thanksgiving is 3 days away, and B and I have no plans. You see, we would have had plans had I been TOLD of the plans more than a week before Thanksgiving. I was told last Wednesday that we were invited to Tennessee to go to his uncle’s house. I had already asked for Friday and Saturday off (it’s my birthday weekend… I don’t want to work), but to drive the 17 hour drive, I would also need Wednesday off, as well. Unfortunately, I can’t get anyone to cover for me, so now we’re going to sit at home by ourselves.
I swear, men can be so fricken retarded!
Eh, at least we’ll be together, right? That's all that matters. ♥
I feel like there was something else I wanted to talk about, but I can’t remember what… I guess I’ve written enough for now (I’m up to 3 ½ pages on Microsoft Word – hah!).
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Or, on a not-so-comical note:
-Grizzly Girl
