A Day in the Life--in the ER

One of the reasons I haven't been posting on here is simply that I haven't had much of interest to say that anyone would be interested in reading. And part of the reason for that is that I have been experiencing some pretty bad pain that I was waiting to go away before I talked about it. But it wasn't going away! Not wanting to hear the lectures and admonitions to go to the doctor, I just kept quiet. (See? "No news" isn't always good news!) I am one of those (un)lucky people who sometimes simply wakes up in the morning with an ache or a pain that can be a killer for weeks. The latest one was a problem with my left knee. One morning, I got up and it was swollen and sore. No symptoms the night before...and no injury. In a few weeks, the problem was gone. Another time, years ago, I got up with a painful stiff neck that just got worse and worse until I ended up going to the doctor, only to be given pain medicine and told it would get better on its own. Yet another time, I had a sore throat that felt like there was something stuck in there. Had interesting "swallowing" x-rays taken, plus a fiber-optic camera stuck down my nose, only to determine that there was nothing there. The doctor said it was most likely a muscular contraction in the throat. In fact, the only time in recent years that anything catastrophic came of my symptoms was with the ruptured brain aneurysm (with which I was seriously, seriously sick), and the heart attack (with which I was only alarmed because my arms were feeling weird). Thus, you can understand why I am sometimes reluctant to rush to a doctor just because something hurts! Back in February, I was sitting at my daughter's apartment in California and noticed a little ache just left of center in my chest. Had no other symptoms, so assumed it was one of those overnight aches...probably from sleeping on my side on their couch. (Crunches the chest muscles together.) It wasn't bad, so I just considered it annoying. When I got back to Indiana, it seemed to go away...but then returned, only this time with an accompanying ache in the same place but straight through to my left shoulder blade. Again, no biggie. Sleeping on my side, plus propping my head up with my left arm in bed to watch TV--plus sitting for hours in front of the computer--probably just contribute to what felt to me like a muscular problem. I was taking Extra Strength Tylenol which helped in the beginning...but then I was having to OD on it just to get some relief. One day, I felt better. Yay! The next TWO days, however, were just awful. Last night, Thursday, I began to panic. I know the drill. The doctor would ask me, "Do you have chest pain?" Yes. "Shortness of breath?" No. "Pain in your arms?" Yes. Well...when one lives alone, it is easy to imagine the worst. I felt so bad that I gathered my pills together and some phone numbers, charged my cell phone, and determined that--if I didn't have to call the ambulance on myself that night--I would see a doctor today. That, in itself, presents a problem. We have an Immediate Care center just down the road from me, plus I have a cardiologist at IU West Hospital, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to get in to see the cardiologist, and the IC center would just send me to a hospital for an EKG. I decided to save myself the expense of a preliminary visit and just go straight to IU West Emergency this morning. Got there about 11:15 AM. Well! I guess all you have to do is present yourself with chest pain and you get right in! I was whisked to the ER in a wheelchair, hooked up to a heart/BP monitor, EKG leads, IV port in my hand--all within 15 minutes! They even waited until I was taken care of before asking to see my insurance card!! Blood was taken. Chest x-ray. Blah, blah. Lots of attention in the beginning...and then hurry up and wait. The results of the first round of tests came back, but my cardiologist (bless his toady little heart) wanted another round of blood work four hours after the first. (They are looking for an enzyme called Troponin that indicates heart damage and can ascertain, for certain, if a heart attack has taken place.) They finally moved me to a room with a TV to await the last round of blood tests, but guess what?? No cell phone service in the room!! I had promised my daughter that I would keep her posted, but I couldn't! Finally, finally, FINALLY, along about 4:30 in the afternoon, the attending nurse arrived with the good news that everything came back normal. I had been given and IV shot of something called Toridal, which helped the pain but supposedly wouldn't interfere with my other medications. (It helps that my cardiologist is out of that same hospital. Although I had taken my medications with me, no one needed to see them.) I left for home hungry and having a case of "teacher bladder" but feeling quite relieved that I, indeed, had NOT had a heart attack and didn't have lung cancer. The doctor thinks it is a muscular/skeletal problem, probably related to coughing in a bad way. Just what I thought in the first place!! To be honest, I'm not sorry I went. It was a huge relief to come home knowing that I had dodged a bullet. I have to deal with the pain, but I have new prescriptions for that...and I know that it WILL go away, eventually. I will miss the smart-ass male nurse with the graying goatee and long black ponytail. (He said he was going to kick the butt of the technician who didn't take enough blood because he didn't want to have to re-stick the "nice lady". I told him he didn't know I was a nice lady. He made some comment about how they would take me out and bring in some crabby old man who was bleeding from his butt.... Well, I will spare you the rest!) Apparently hospitals are now competing for patients because they were super-nice and quick to leave me with cards with their names on them. I spent all of today in an effort to make sure I'm okay...and I am. Hallelujah! We'll see how much of this experience my insurance will pay...just to tell me that there is no major problem--again!