instead, I lie away the day on a bed upstairs moaning and groaning with stomach cramps... it is time for Book Club and I tell Bob to go without me... and he does. What??? Anyway, as I lay there I realize these pains are coming quicker and that I am breaking out in a sweat after each one. NO, I am NOT in labor. Remember, I will be 50 in November.
I drive myself to the Urgent Care facility that is not far from home. I plop down a $50 co-pay (yikes!) and then I meet the sweetest nurse named Chris who examines me and thinks it might be my appendix and sends me over to the ER. (they refund my $50 copay!!)
Ok, at this point, I don't care if it is Book Club night or not. I call Bob, tell him I am on my way to the ER and without a beat he says, I'll meet you there. In fact, he beats me there. I park and waddle my way into the ER in the middle of a great cramp. He fills out all the paperwork for me while I do what little I remember of Lamaze (over 22 years ago, thank you) to help ease the pain. I go into the triage office and
WHAM! The triage nurse wraps this blood pressure cuff on me that hurts worse than the stomach cramps and I let her know it. Bob is a bit mortified but keeps in control. Dang, that thing made my blood pressure go up, I just know it.
So I get a room and a cute male nurse who has to stick me twice with a needle trying to find a vein. Eventually he goes into my hand which hurts like the dickens. He takes several viles of blood and then I get a antinausea medicine which helps and hooked up to a saline/water solution. Then I go upstairs and get 6 different xrays done. Then I go back to the room and wait, and wait, and wait. Finally the nurse comes back in and says some of the blood work is in and it all looks good. He opens up the faucet to the saline solution and lets it pour into my body.
We wait and wait. The doc comes in and says there isn't anything he can see from the xrays or blood work so he thinks it is a case of gastroenteritis (stomach flu). Take maalox and these pills for cramping and these pills for nausea. And, sends me home. (at which point I pay a $150 copay. Dang insurance company.)
Which, now I am. I am supposed to follow up with my regular doc today or tomorrow. I will be calling soon to make that appointment. For now, though, I am going to go back to bed and rest like I am supposed to be doing and taking in small amounts of fluid.
Oh, and I am feeling some better, but from time to time I have a little cramp to contend with. I will win in the end, though!
What a horribly awful day. I hope you are feeling so much better today. Enjoy your down time. It's gonna be a wild month as school winds up again!!
ReplyDeleteOh, Terri! I hope you are on the road to recovery! Feel better soon, sweetie.
ReplyDeleteYou did keep your sense of humor though. Loved that sweet little "jab" about Bob going to book club...poor man.
ReplyDeleteSo glad it didn't require surgery!
Feel better soon!
Becky K.
I work at a hospital and would do almost anything not to have to go to one. Glad you made it out ok.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that it wasn't you appendix, that can turn nasty. Hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteI've had that before. It's no fun at all.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that you had to experience it.
Just think, if it would have been a baby, you would have shelled out a lot more than $150;)
Well the good news is that it wasn't appendicitis! I'm sure there was nothing good about it at the time though! Hope you feel better soon:>)
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that but it was better to make sure it wasn't appendicitis! Back in the days when my oldest son was still living at home and going to university, he had come home with horrible cramps that had him bent over...we brought him to the ER and sure enough, it was appendicitis and within an hour he was on the operating table. The surgeon said after that it was almost ready to burst!! So, yes, it's a good thing to get it checked out. Hope you're feeling much better now! xoxo
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry you had to go through this. Oh how I hate those BP cuffs and ERS and how my BO goes up the moment I step into a Drs. office or hospital.
ReplyDeleteI will keep a good thought and say a little prayer that you are all better now...Fall is no time to feel poorly! : )
Love,
Sue
Oh, my, what an awful experience. Why is it that some nurses and techs can hit the vein without a problem and some just can't?
ReplyDelete