My Second Trip to the ER

Friday morning I woke up in a little pain but nothing major.  They had given me some pain medication the night before but the Dr. had encouraged me not to take any because pain is a warning signal and if I was in too much pain I needed to go back to the ER. 

I didn't eat much breakfast or lunch that day and I spent all morning trying to get in to see a GI doctor.  None of the GI doctors would see me for weeks and I was so frustrated because they told me at the ER I needed to see someone the next day. 

After lunch I we got Cason down for a nap and I went to lay down as well.  It wasn't five minutes before I jumped up and thought my whole chest was going to explode.  The pain was a million times worse than the day before.  I didn't know whether to call an ambulance or go to the ER- I wasn't sure what would be faster but I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it either way.  Mike drove pretty fast- all while I'm whispering for someone to please help me.  I kept wondering if I passed out would the ambulance make it in time?

When we got to the ER I sort of hobbled in and asked the lady at the front desk to please help me.  I told her I was here last night and I needed help.  She asks my name, social, all the usual info while I almost died on the counter.  Then she asked me to sit and wait until they could get to me.  WAIT?  I sat in the chair and moaned for someone to help me- looking in the door of the ER hoping someone would feel sorry for me.  I just kept asking for someone to help and the other 10 patients in the ER kept looking at me... probably hoping I would just stop talking... or pass out so they could see some real action.

They got me into a room and I began the long wait for pain meds.  Do they not understand that is a top priority?  We started on more bloodwork and another sonogram only to see the same thing they saw yesterday.  Gallstones. 

As a side note, one of our very good friends was also in the ER.  Ben Wertz had come in earlier that day and was probably a few rooms down but we didn't figure all that out until later.

The Dr. came in later and said that they wanted to keep me overnight and they would do another blood test in the morning to determine the function of my gallbladder.  From what they saw, I would probably need to have the gallbladder removed eventually but he was not sure when.  He said the surgeon would visit me in the morning to talk to me more.  I mentioned that tomorrow was Saturday... that doctors don't work on Saturday and therefore I didn't want someone who would rather be playing golf stopping by to tell me about my health.  The doctor looked at me strangely and assured me that the surgeon who would see me would actually be okay with working on a Saturday. 

We began to wait until they could transfer me upstairs.  That took at least an hour.

While I was waiting a nurse came in to take more vitals or something.  She began to tell me not to let them just assign me a surgeon.  To do some research and make sure my surgeon was a good one.  She told me not to just let them do surgery if I didn't really need it.  She said to take ALL my valuables home and not to leave anything in the room. 

I told her thanks... I guess.  I said all I knew about the hospital I learned on Grays Anatomy and so far, this was nothing like that.  She looked at me like I was a little strange.  It wouldn't be the last time during my stay at the hospital. 

This began my experience with interesting nurses. 

We finally headed to my room on the 5th floor (which was very nice by the way) and got hooked up to an IV and an O2 monitor and settled in for the night. 

Michelle came and played Uno with me and Mike went around the corner to visit Ben... who was also on the 5th floor.  It was actually such a blessing to have Ben in the hospital at the same time.  We spent a lot of time visiting and I think it helped calm the nerves of both of us and our families in the unfamiliar hospital experience. 

Tune in tomorrow for my list of reasons never to have surgery.