My Latest Adventure in Medicine

Well, Heather says that it's time to document the last week. I guess she's right. It was a bit out of the ordinary.

It all started a couple of months ago. I began to have spells of aching in my upper chest. Felt familiar. I've had a lot of that sort of pain over the years (pleural). It would come and go. Sometimes worse than others but it always passed once I rested. I would go a few days to almost a week with no problem. It did get gradually worse.

A couple of weekends ago, every time I tried to get up for a few minutes it would hurt pretty bad. The pain spread from my upper chest up my neck and radiated out from there. At the worst, I would feel a little dizzy and my left arm would get a little numb. After that weekend, I didn't have a problem for a few days. I had another spell on that Thursday and off and on after that until Sunday when the pain was worse and more frequent. By Sunday night it was terrible. Russ and I decided to sedate me with a Xanax and some as Tylenol. I stayed on the couch until it finally subsided and went to bed. We decided that if I still had a problem in the morning, I would call the doctor.

I did okay on Monday morning. There was a dull ache but nothing much. All I did was sit on the couch to put make up on and then get dressed. No stress there. However, after Russ dropped me off I started walking to my desk. I had only gone about a quarter of the way when the pain started. By the time I reached my desk, I was in terrible pain and out of breath. It was too early to call the doctor so I went to lie down until time to call. I was sure that this was Pericarditis. I'd had it before. If not that, some other inflamation in that area. I have Lupus you know so I'm used to inflamation problems popping up all over the place.

Doctor Altz-Smith said go to the ER. Dissappointed, I did. Someone asked me what meds I take, what health issues I had had, what surgeries I'd had and that I describe what the problem was. I kept telling them that it was Pericarditis. They didn't seem convinced but neither did they seem worried. I had been here before and gone through the routine and everything was fine. It had been established (1-2 years ago) that there is nothing wrong with my heart other than some occasional flutters. I spent that day being stuck with needles and waiting for test results. One highlight was the young woman from UAB who was working there for the day (a requirement for her education). She very painfully stuck the needle in my left wrist and pushed it into the vein. Then she was finished and I was grateful it was over. But no, it wasn't over. Brookwood has stupid IV needles. They aren't at all what she is used to. Theirs you have to (do some weird maneuver I don't remember) but at UAB you just have to push a button. Our lovely young lady assured us that she was very upset. She has a 100% record for IVs and now she has had two that were not successful. She told us how upset she was for several minutes before going to get someone from Brookwood who was familiar with this crazy equipment. The young lady from Brookwood had no problem getting the IV in my left inner elbow.

Never allow anyone to insert an IV in your inner elbow. Although it may be obvious to some, I feel that I must remind my readers that the elbow bends. To have your elbow bend with an IV in it with all it's paraphernalia is a discomfort that does not improve with time.

The ER doctor came in and asked me what meds I take, what health issues I had had, what surgeries I'd had and that I describe what the problem. Two more people came in to take blood out of my arms. They did not take it out of the convenient IV planted in my inner elbow. They found new places to put holes in me.

The ER doctor finally said that he was turning me over to my cardiologist, Percy Colon. A couple of hours later a woman came into the room. Her name was Dr Rao. She was one of the doctors in my doctor's group. It seems that I had chosen Spring Break to visit them and while they normally maintain a minimum staffing amount, someone forgot that and almost every doctor in the group was on vacation. They had, I think, three doctors to handle everything.

Dr Rao is very pleasant and easy, though she pulls no punches. Kind of hard-nosed, actually. Dr Rao asked me what meds I take, what health issues I had had, what surgeries I'd had and that I describe what the problem was I informed Dr Rao that I was suffering from Pericarditis. She informed me that I was to be admitted and that she wanted to run a few tests.

We waited for a while, a long while, until finally someone arrived with a double wide wheelchair to take me to ER Admit. This is a nice little private hospital room equipped with all you could need for your hospital stay. It is a temporary room where yet one more person wanted to ask me what meds I take, what health issues I had had, what surgeries I'd had and that I describe what the problem was. Russ ran home to grab a few things.

After a while, I was brought a tray that was left over from dinner time. I was so relieved having missed lunch while being probed and punctured. I couldn't wait to take the top off of the plate. When I did, I was devastated. There on the plate was a congealed ice cream scoop of mac n cheese, a pale chicken breast with tasteless crumbs on it and horror of horrors, a large pile of carrots. (In the event you are not aware of it, I will tell you that I do not like carrots. I only eat them to be a good example to my grandchildren.) This entire meal was prepared without the addition of any spice, for, I discovered, I was on a No Salt Added diet. This apparently meant to the dietitian that I was allowed no flavor. I ate the inside out of my pile of mac n cheese and the two peach slices I had for dessert. I was given Iced tea to drink. It was 6:30 at night. I don't usually drink iced tea and I certainly wasn't starting this late at night. I wandered down the hall to ask for something to drink. After a while someone noticed me and pointed vaguely in the direction of the pantry. There I discovered apple juice and cranberry juice. They sustained me until Russ returned bearing Sonic Chicken Poppers. (Please don't tell Dr Rao).
I was then taken to room 322, Bed 1. Thankfully Bed 2 was empty and remained that way throughout my stay. There begins my hospital stay.

To be continued.....