Well, my cold feels better. . .
Must have been the fluids and steroids at the ER today.
Let me start from the beginning. I had had a few leg cramps behind my knee--nowhere and nothing I'd had before, sharp and pinchy and powerful--and they moved. My heart was also racing. So I called my GP. She wasn't in. And when I said I thought I should see someone, they said tomorrow. So I thought some more (including thoughts about changing GPs, to someone with other doctors and real nurses and more hours--this was 1 pm on Tuesday and she wasn't in all day, with no coverage!)
And Googled it. Remembering my sister had mentioned DVT (deep vein thrombosis) as a side effect of being in bed too much, which I had been with my cold, and also knowing I was on relatively new pain meds, I wanted to see a doctor (but my pain guy is in NYC).
So Mama came home and we went to the hospital. And they were more worried than I was! It was like my own personal ER episode. They took my vitals and a man showed up with a chair and insisted I get in. Now. Then we were in cardiology with 3 people swarming around, attaching all sorts of wires and poking me with needles. Two nurses were even arguing about what order the stickies went on, slowing down the whole thing. Nurse Hathaway would have put an end to that! I learned that my heart was "tachy"--or racing (their words are always so much more dramatic and mysterious. And alarming.)--and that my blood pressure was low, apparently an odd or dangerous combo.
And it went away almost as soon as I was hooked up! Though, the leg cramps continued intermittently. But they monitored me for 4 hours, gave me fluids, and did a CT Scan (with steroids and benadryl in case I was allergic to the dye). No blood clots, which was my fear. The cardiologist wants me to wear a 24-hour heart monitor just to check, and have a follow-up leg ultrasound to recheck for clots; I'll be getting that sometime Wednesday, I think. And I'm supposed to see my GP. I wonder if I'll get in.
Anyway, I feel good actually. Except I've been up since 2 a.m. Not worried, not in pain, just awake. Because even with the ER, I didn't do much today. So now I've cleaned the kitchen, sent some email, and am finally blogging.. I should've just blogged this before bedtime, once I called my folks and my sister (gotta worry everyone, you know. After the fact.) I might be asleep if I had.
good grief! is there no end to your worries? i do believe you are experiencing an unfair number of challenges. i am sending you good energy and hope!
ReplyDeletexoxo
You did right. There are too many people underground who didn't want to bother the Doctor.
ReplyDeleteYour Christmas card arrived this morning, thank you. I could not find that fat lady you mention from time to time, have you been maligning yourself? Big medical problem here, many women with breast implants are finding the implants are faulty but some providers will not remove them. Now that is potentially very serious but it may help some women to be content with whatever nature provided. It was possible in New York in 1947 to buy devices called 'gay deceivers', are they still around?
Well, Karen & Lambeth have already said what I was thinking...except I hadn't been thinking of breast implants. At all.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts as I clicked on the "comment" button were, For crying out loud! Haven't you had enough!"
Reading Lambeth's comment reminded me of how wonderful I thought you looked in the Christmas card...which I might not have mentioned before.
Seriously, I am sending my most fervent wishes that you get better and stay that way for a long, long time! Apparently, the ride in the chair was not uncomfortable...which is good news.