Saturday night we made a traditional Christmas dinner since we were invited to Eric and Lisa's last night. I made the mistake of eating 2 crescent rolls, yes 2. I am not sure how i did it but it was not easy. They tried to come back up but to no avail.
Sunday night I woke up in the early morning hours with severe stomach pain. I ran a hot bath and quickly fell asleep (I know, you are not supposed to sleep in the bathtub). I was awaken three hours later by Tristan and Tex while still in the tub. I was still in quite a bit of pain. I kind of figured that the pain may be from the rolls I had eaten and I had an appointment with my Lap Band Doctor today anyway so I was going to tell him and go from there. For those of you who know me the pain was about a 7/10, in other words... really bad! I tried to get it together because it was my day to cover the office. I rallied the troops and headed off to work. The day seemed to dragon and on and on. My appointment was at 230 and when I described it to the doctor he had no reason to believe the two issue's were related. So, I was headed back to work. I skipped spinning that night and headed home. I was a bit bummed because the holidays are over and I was ready to get back on track.
Tuesday I was supposed to work out with my trainer and run with Sheree but there was no way. I called Jaime and told her I wouldn't make it. I ran a few errands then went home and took down the Christmas tree before Tex and Tristan got home. I began taking some Ibuprofen by this time and the pain seemed to subside a bit.
Wednesday I was scheduled for a massage so I did that first thing in the morning. I had decided to skip training again as I was still feeling cruddy. After talking to my massage therapist I decided to go to the doctor. I had called my Doctor earlier in the morning to see if I could get in and I was waiting to hear from her. I heard from her shortly after my massage and she told me she thought it was out of her scope as she was an OB and it did not sound OB related. She advised me to monitor my pain, drink lots of fluids, & go to the ER if the pain worsened. I had a few things that I needed to do at the office but I happened to get in the wrong lane to go to the office. As the pain in my stomach began to worsen I headed to the urgent care on McMillan.
Fortunately, I was the first of about 6 people that entered the urgent care. At this point the pain was such that I was in tears just waiting to be seen. Once the nurse came in the took a urine sample as well as blood. I recall being a hard blood draw but I have not had trouble in many, many years. The nurse missed with the first needle and was successful on the second. After a few moments the nurse came in and informed me that I was not pregnant and that I had a high white blood count that pointed towards appendicitis. They told me I needed to have someone come get me and take me to the ER. I tried a few times to call my husband to no avail. I called Angee to see if she had seen him and she said no. Angee asked if I needed her to come get me, I had said no but the doctor leaned over into the phone and asked her to come get me, so Angee was on her way. I then heard from Tex and told him what was going on and he called Angee to tell her. Thanks Angee for being there for me: ) While I was waiting for Tex my brother called. I answered the phone because there is a hole list of items he is waiting for from me at work and I had not gotten them done. I was pretty much out of it when he called.
Tex finally got to the urgent care to pick me up. The ride to the ER seemed to take forever. Every bump that we hit in the truck I could feel throughout my entire body. Once we arrived at the ER it was packed and it was not just what seemed to be simple cases but lots of serious ones. We were third to get to the back. Now remember, I was stuck twice at urgent care in my right arm. The ER, I will just call her lady, immediately started an IV in my right arm. I remember asking her if she could use the other arm. She pretty much said no and just kept on. I could feel her fishing around for my vein. I was dying. Another person came in to draw blood from my left arm. This one was not bad really. When the lady started to give me the pain medicine in my IV, it was like the incoming liquid hit a wall. I could feel it almost at a stop. The lady did not trust the IV so she decided to move it to the other arm. So now I had 3 sticks in my right arm and 2 in my left. Goon news was this one worked and they got me some pain medicine : ) Now that I had gone to la la land, things were good. They finally came and got me for a CT scan and let me tell you. when you are on pain medicine and they inject the die medicine for the CT scan, well, I have never done drugs but that is what I imagine them to be like. When the CT scan came back they found it was not my appendix but my Fallopian tube was infected. So now, on top of everything else I have to have a "physical" in the ER. The lady takes me into what appeared to be a major trauma room to have this "physical" . While we are waiting for the Dr. two guys come in just to drop some stuff in the room. The lady is apologising to me profusely and puts a note on the door that the room was in use. I end up having to have this "physical on the gernie and a little makeshift rolling table with stirrups. I swear. It is a good thing I was on drugs because I would have had issues otherwise. Once the "physical"was done they take me back to the ER. We finally get word that I am going to be staying for a couple of nights so we are now waiting for a room.
They finally got me moved up to the room. From there they start pumping me full of antibiotics. I don't remember much of the rest of this day but I now they were giving me lots of meds. Thursday I woke up feeling darn good and ready to go but I new that I was there another night. They had me on a full liquid diet which is not terrible sine I have the lap band I just didn't know why I was on full liquid? My Nurse for the day checks in and all morning I was feeling pretty good. Tex came to see me and bought me some things to do. Tex and I decided to go for a walk before he left and the nurse kindly took off my IV so I wasn't strapped down. This is where this day took a turn for the worse. Tex and I came back and I patiently waited for them to come hook me back up to the IV. When no one showed up a few hours later I rang for the nurse. When he came in he asked me if I was going home? I told him no, as I was supposed to be hooked up to IV's for 48 hours. He looked at my info in the computer and hooked me back up to the IV. I asked him if I could have a couple of Tylenol as I had a head ache. He said yes and said he would be back in two minutes. While I was waiting for him to return my IV really started to hurt, but once again as I am not one to call I waited for it to finish. I then called because the machine was beeping ridiculously. A female came in and I explained to her the situation. The nurse came in shortly later and I told him he was on my shit list. The other lady helping me just laughed. When she said she would be right back with my Tylenol the nurse said, oh, i am soooo sorry. I get off in 1/2 hour and I don't come back until the New Year. Well you can only imagine that this set me off. I went off! I said be thankful you are not in the hospital, be thankful you were not supposed to be leaving tonight for Tamarack, and be thankful you are not missing New Years with your parent! The other gal then bought back my Tylenol and that was that.
The next nurse came on and he seemed pretty cool. He checked in with me and was going over everything. I understood everything now except why I was on a liquid diet. He explained to me that was standard procedure for those who had surgery, I said what? I did not have surgery. He said you didn't? I said no. He left for a bit and when he came back he explained to me that there was just a "communication error" WELL HELLO!!!! By now I am starting to get a bit nervous here.
Kari stopped by and my IV ran out. They came and shut the machine off. I seemed to be spending more time off the IV rather than on considering that is why I was here. Once they hung another bag my machine kept going off. Kari, Kimmie and I decided to go get some ice and on my way back I saw that there was some discoloration around my IV and there looked to be a not. The nurse said I "blew" my IV and he shut it off. A bit later he came in to try to restart it. Unfortunately, the nurse was not able to find a vein. Yep, you guessed it, in case you lost track I am now at 7 sticks. He was pretty cool. He said he was not going to dig around. He was going to get someone else. Some time later the next person got there. She too was unable to find a vein...8 sticks. Finally, they send Barb, this had to be a good sign. She was able to find a vein in my hand, but by now the damage was done. I was spent. They both leave and tell me they will let my nurse know that I am ready to go. Now remember all of this time I am not getting the IV in which is the reason I am here. Finally about 9pm after not seeing anyone I go out to the desk to see if they are going to hook me up soon. There is one gal there who comes in and looks at my records. She hooks me up to an IV but no antibiotics. She says she will tell my nurse. I ask her if I can have some Tylenol for a head ache. She looks at my chart and says, you just had some at 830. I lost it. I said are you kidding? I have not had anything since 230 this afternoon. She says, I'm sorry, i am new, that was yesterday. I am livid at his point. She then hands me a pill container and says what is your name and DOB, I am going to burn in hell but I gave her a fake name and DOB, she gives me a double take I then give her my correct on. I notice that the pill is not Tylenol, I said what is this? She said Percaset. I said I am not taking it, this is what I am trying to get off of, this is what keeps giving me head aches. She leaves. A short time later my nurse came in. I tell her the story of my day and she can not quit apologizing to me. Seriously. I thin she apologized 100 times. She was super cool, she caught me up on all mu meds over night.
Friday morning proved not to be too bad. I new I was headed home. The Dr came in early afternoon and caught me up on what had transpired and then she allowed me to check out. So, all in all, after lots of antibiotics, and sticks and miss communication I was headed home and very thankful!
Here are the few photos I took along the way, oh and thanks Sheree for letting me take the pictures and post then! I was really glad you came to see me though, Thank you!
My room with a view.
One of the nurses and Dr Horton.
My room.
I was not a happy camper!
Left elbow, blown vein : (
Bruise where tape was removed : (
Right elbow : (
It is now New Years Eve and I am home. I am so thankful for that!
Happy New Year!
