Internal Explosions

So the time it is going to take to write the 12 hours of doctor, hospital, waiting room, lab test story is ridiculous. I'd like to at some point get it all out there. The short version. Excrutiating pain, trip to doctor, trip to emergency room, tests, IVs and a ruptured ovarian cyst. The good news, i'm going to live, I didn't have appendicitis as originally diagnosed and didn't need surgery. I also have a tiny kidney stone that they incidentally found while looking over my catscan of my abdomen. The pain started at 9:30a and I got home from the hospital at 10p. It was a tiring day. The one time I don't have my camera on me, I like to carry it around, I go to the hospital. I used my camera on my phone and wished I had an iPhone to keep me occupied with internet and music while I waited and waited. Here are some pictures from the hospital. I had to drink an apple juice & iodine cocktail so they could have the dye inside of my body for the scan. Then when they put the IV in blood squirted out of my arm like a fountain. It was on the sheet and on the floor. That IV was almost as painful as the rupture inside of me. I will try to write the story at some point b/c it is pretty interesting. I'm ok! Nobody worry, i'm fine!





Timely Run Down (for the ones that would like to know):
9:00a Arrive at work
9:30a Pain starts. Am thinking I have food poisoning or something from night before.
11:45a Have to go home from excrutiating pain
11:50-2p Roll around trying to be comfortable. Can't lay down, can't stand up. Fetal position is the most comfortable, but not better.
2:15p Call Tam to take me to the doctor
2:45p After hitting every red light between my house and the doctor I am seen by the nurse. He draws blood, I pee in a cup and the doctor tells me I have appendicitis and he will call the surgeons at the hospital that he "sends all his appendicitis patients to".
3:00p Ruth arrives at the Dr. to drive me to the ER
4:00p Arrive at ER, wait, wait, wait...grossness in the waiting room (more on that later)
6:30p Finally called into triage nurses station for admitting
7-9:45p I received a fancy gown. I drank apple juice with iodine in it so they could see contrast in my CAT scan. Waited an hour for that to work. Surgeon came in and started talking to me. The nurse comes in and tried to insert an IV into my right arm. (The nurse from the dr had drawn blood from my left arm hours earlier.) He couldn't "find the vein". He went to the left arm and the gushing blood proved he had found this one. There was blood dripping down my arm. IVs hurt. I think i've mentioned that, but it's necessary to say it again. I go to the CAT scan room. They hook some clear tube to my IV for more solution to be pumped through my veins. "This will make your body feel warm" she tells me. "ok" I responded not thinking much of it. I raise my arms, because that was the most painful thing to do with an IV being pulled by the clear tube connected to the CATscan machine. They announce that the solution is now being pumped into me and they weren't kidding about the warmth. I actually thought I had peed on myself. That's how warm it was! Fortunately, I hadn't...

I went back to the room and waited some more for the results. Really Nice Surgeon comes in and says "well, your appendix is fine," I wait for the "but". "But you had an ovarian cyst rupture and you have a small kidney stone that we incidentally found. It's not blocking anything, but you should see a urologist to figure out what to do about it. And you should drink more water." The surgeon instructs the nurse to take more blood for a pregnancy test. Even after repeatedly telling them I wasn't pregnant, they insisted. If it was positive I would have a room waiting for me upstairs. It took an hour for my blood work to come back. Before we heard the results (as anxious as I was to see if I had some miraculous conception, Jesus Jr I like to call him), a new nurse comes in and says "Ms. Robinson, I think we have a room for you upstairs." "Um, no, i'm certain you don't. We haven't even heard the results of the test and I would bet I don't have a room". At this point I hadn't realized it was the blood work for a pregnancy test we were waiting on. It would've been funnier. I thought, at the time, that it was to see if my white blood cell count was still high (signifying infection). The nurse comes in, tells me i'm free to go and rips out my IV. I gather my things, take off my gown and take my paperwork. "You may want to stop by the receptionist's desk on the way out for any payment," the nurse told us. The prospect of waiting in the hospital another 30 minutes seemed like a great idea, but we just walked right on by. They'll find me if I owe them something. That was at 9:45p.

Saturday I was a little sore. Sunday it was as if nothing ever happened, so I went to play golf for 5 hours.