ER visit

On Wednesday I woke up with a sore neck that radiated down my back to the shoulder blade on my left side.  By evening it was hurting pretty bad, and I had a hard time getting comfortable so I could sleep.  Thursday it was all worse and hurt in my chest by the breast bone.  When I would swallow, it felt like something was twisted or blocking it in my chest.  Hurt like crazy!  I went to the chiropractor hoping an adjustment would do the trick--it didn't.  At 5 p.m. I finally called Bill sobbing hysterically because it hurt so much.  He called my neighbor and asked if he would take me to the hospital as it would take Bill too long to get home to pick me up due to the horrendous road construction and traffic.  Brother Johnson took me to Woods Cross where we met up with Bill, and then he made sure Alex got to his play practice.  He also put my name on the prayer temple roll.

Bill took me to the ER at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center.  The second I told them my chest was hurting, they put things in motion for an EKG.  That was normal, my blood pressure was a little high.  They took a couple of x-rays of my lungs and heart.  I get these waves of strong pain through my upper back and shoulders that goes around to the front of my neck.  They gave me a cocktail of Lidocaine and Maalox to see if it was a stomach acid problem, but all that did was make my lips and tongue tingle.

They decided I needed an IV.  Well, that proved to be a problem.  My veins were either hiding or flat.  I was poked 6 times before they got one to work.  My arms are covered with bruises.  The doc decided that we needed a CT scan, but the IV size was too small, so they needed to put in a bigger one.  They got it in, but only halfway.  It infiltrated, so they called someone in to try to find another vein.  That guy poked and prodded and shoved the needle around inside my arm.  It hurt terribly.  By this time I was sobbing.  You know what that means, right?  Yes, swollen eyes.  He finally gave up, and they went to the smaller line.  While running the dye through it came shooting out the other port.  They got enough ink in to take the picture.  Results:  nothing.  They gave me morphine for pain and prescribed three other things before sending me home.

The best thing about hospitals are their warm blankets.  I think I had about 6 of them on me by the time I left.  My eyes were so puffy, I could barely open them.  I left five hours later with a soft collar around my neck.

Bill stayed home on Friday to give me my medications and take care of me.  I did a lot of sleeping. 

Today Bill took me in for an endoscopy.  First thing they had to do was get in IV line in.  They did it the first time!  I had to lay on my left side and bite down on a block so I could not close my mouth.  I'm pretty sure I started drooling right away.  The room started to go a little dark as they told Bill to move around to the other side of the bed.  The next thing I knew I was awake and thinking, "Oh, no.  They haven't done it yet.  Did I wake up too soon?"  It seemed like just a few seconds had passed.

Bill told me later that I struggled with it, gagging and coughing and trying to pull the scope out.  I have no recollection of that.  As far as I'm concerned, I am the perfect patient.  Results:  nothing.  Next step:  MRI.

I've had MRIs before.  They are pretty boring.  Even though they put a wedge under my knees, my lower back was killing me.  Laying perfectly still is not too hard for me until something starts to itch.  It seemed to take forever.  They did a couple of pictures without the dye and then added the contrast.  Results:  nothing.

I'm home and in pain.  There is an underlying constant pain and then a swelling of pain that stops me in my tracks.  The swelling has mostly gone down in my eyes, but I'm really not pretty at all.  Next week the plan is to see someone else to look at the spine.  You know what?  This really is not fun.  I'm really tired of it all.  The highlight of my day was my hot shower this morning.  It still hurts to swallow, but not in my throat.  The pain is lower.  Burping hurts too.  Yes, I do burp.  I received a blessing last night to have the ability to handle the pain.  Good news:  I'm not crying as much.  I'm hoping to find some relief quick.