janobonano
Posted : 12/6/2007 10:16:15 AM
I hope Dakota's appointment goes well tomorrow. Poor sweetie.
I had a horrible day yesterday. On Tuesday night I woke up at about 11pm with a burning pain in my chest. I've had heartburn before, but it's usually lower and a lot more mild. I thought maybe pregnancy heartburn is worse, so I took a Tums and propped myself up with more pillows. About 20 minutes later I still felt horrible, so I took another Tums. It didn't help one bit.
DH set up the humidifier for me, but that didn't help either. I was in pain all night. I hardly slept.
In the morning I called the doctor and set up a 9:45 appt. After sitting in the waiting room for a half hour past my appt time, I finally got to a room. The nurse was very friendly... but a little too friendly. She talked my ear off, telling me all about her daughter, her granddaughter, her niece who is in labor, blah blah blah. At one point, the doctor stepped in the room, saw that the nurse was still there, and said, "I'll come back." I wanted to yell wait! I need to get back to work! Come back! Finally the lady stopped yapping and left. When the doc came back, I told him all about what was happening. Since I wasn't coughing, sneezing, or congested, the doc said it could possibly be a blood clot in my lungs. Great. He ordered a "stat" CT. Joy.
Because my insurance requires a pre-authorization on such procedures, I had to sit in this stupid closet office for 45 minutes watching this lady huff and puff and whine and complain. She kept calling the phone number on the back of my card, and just kept getting press 1 for this press 2 for that... and could never get to a real person. She went on and on about how she doesn't usually do this and she doesn't know what she's doing, etc. She called another person at the office for help, and that lady told her to let me get the test and worry about insurance later.
So then she's like, are you ok? Do you need a wheelchair? Can you walk? I was like what the heck lady?! Am I just going to croak right here?! And now you're concerned after acting like a baby for 45 minutes in front of me? Thanks, way to freak me out even more.
So then I go to radiology, get a lead blanket wrapped around my belly, and get a chest CT, with and without contrast. Has anyone else ever had contrast injected? It's HORRIBLE! I felt like my body was burning from the inside out. My crotch got so warm I swear I had peed my pants. My face was completely flushed. It was the weirdest thing ever. Very uncomfortable.
Then I go back to internal medicine. The nurse shows me back to the room. She asked if I was ok. I nodded, knowing that if I spoke one word I would start bawling. She turned, grabbed a kleenix box and set it beside me. I started bawling. I sat there crying while the doc and radiologist reviewed my scans.
The doctor stepped back into the room, and said something like, "It's ok, everything's clear. We don't really know what is causing your pain, but it's not a blood clot, so most likely it's not serious. If it gets worse, come back." Just like that. I walked out, still bawling from being freaked out so bad. I cried all the way home. I didn't get home until just after noon.
I told DH all about it, ate lunch, and went back to work. It was the weirdest morning I've had in a long time. My face was flushed for most of the day.
Last night was much better. I feel ok today, but it still hurts when I go out in the cold (it was -15 F this morning), take a deep breath, or do something that gets my heart rate up and I'm breathing heavier.
Crazy, eh?