Shameless Whining About My Night in ER

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I’ve been having severe stomach pain and nausea for about a month now. This seemed to be an exacerbation of a chronic problem I’d already been having for years. I went to the doctor, she ordered an ultrasound which was scheduled for this Friday, and I was waiting anxiously. Slowly getting worse. Over the last week in addition to extreme pain I’ve been unable to eat anything without immediately getting sick. It was getting to the point where one or two bites would finish me. Last night after work the pain hit a peak on the commuter train home. I was already going on less than 3 hours of sleep the night before, so not feeling spectacular. But at this point the pain was so bad I was worried something was about to rupture inside me. So my poor husband took me straight to ER from the train station.

I was in excruciating pain (laying there quietly with tears streaming down my face) for about another two hours and then they hooked me up with an IV and some morphine, in which point I was immediately pleased to be alive. My husband was allowed to come back and sit with me. We decided not to wait on the ultrasound, and when the ultrasound came up negative we went for a CAT scan. This took 4 hours of prep time and involved drinking some weird stuff and then having dye injected intravenously. So at that point we’re pushing 48 hours with almost no sleep, no food since 2pm, we have only one book between my husband and I, and rather than having a room we were consigned to a gurney in the hallway. For 10 hours.

The CAT scan turned up nothing, which was both a relief and a frustration. At that point I was just lying there waiting for the doctor to come up and tell me I had 3-6 months to live due to inoperable stomach cancer. But no, nothing life threatening is happening–no stomach cancer, kidney disease, gall bladder infection, etc. Which also raises the question, ‘‘WTF? Why am I in excruciating pain and can’t eat and all this?’’ They said I would need to see a specialist because it’s clear something is happening, they just didn’t have the tools on hand to figure out what.

So we got home at 6am, and sorry to say I didn’t feel terribly much better than when I arrived. I at least came home bearing a doctor’s note through Saturday and a prescription for Vicodin. I am supposed to go on vacation next week–we are supposed to leave for Michigan on Saturday and visit all of our friends and family. Now I’m not sure what is going to happen.

I tried to eat when I got home this morning, but it was nearly impossible. Instead I slept, now I finally managed to choke down some food. I’m probably going to need another few rounds of this eat a little/sleep a little routine before I feel anything remotely close to normal again. Thank God my husband is a student on break and can wait on me hand and foot. :smiley:

On the one hand, being in the ER puts everything in perspective–I sat there listening to one guy puking his guts out, another guy arguing with his wife about whether or not he was dying (he had a tumor), and a lot of old people who were not having the time of their life and who had been there way longer than me. I also saw two newborn babies. I’m not normally into babies, but that was pretty cool to realize these two people had just been born.

Not only could I have been there for a more serious reason, I could also have been at a much more incompetent hospital (we have one back home that would stupify you with its level of incompetence and dangerous disregard for human life.) These people run a lovely, rather intimate little ER here in New Brunswick. ERs suck as a general rule, but I must say the staff was just sweet as can be. They did a good job distracting you with conversation and making sure everyone was comfortable. They even went around with a little drink/snack cart for the family members of patients. I’ve only been in the area for a few months but my impression is that New Jersey overall has an excellent health care system full of people who love their jobs.

Despite my gratitude in this regard, this is not my favorite day. Thanks for listening to my bitching. Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Christy

2

No ulcer, either?

{{{Olives}}}

3

That they don’t know. I’m going to have to have a scope to find out. They still couldn’t rule out chronic stuff like inflammatory bowel disease, Cron’s disease and that sort of thing. That’s a whole new level of testing. Wheee.

4

Hugs Olives,

I would put money on Crohn’s. I have a very good friend with it, and you sound like a classic sufferer.

Hugs and good luck.

5

That sucks. I’m glad you are getting decent medical care and I hope they figure out what is wrong sooner rather than later so that you can deal with it and be okay with life again. Once you feel better let me know and we will go to the AMNH, which will be fun and exciting and full of dinosaurs!

6

good luck Olive. Sounds awful, hospitals are exhausting. Have some jello or some chicken broth maybe.

7

I’m your neighbor a couple of towns over. Yes, I can tell you from personal experience that we are VERY lucky to live where there are excellent hospitals and docs with many specialties represented. People travel distances to take advantage of the benefit we have close by. My life was saved by great professionals at one hospital in New Brunswick and later again at one in Edison.

I hope you feel better and that the time you have to wait for additional testing passes quickly and you soon find out for sure what you are dealing with.:slight_smile:

8

Hugs to you.

I know that they already ruled this out, and that I’m stating the bloody obvious, yada yada yada, but have you considered taking a laxative?

I ask because of experience, that of my own and someone else’s. In the latter case, the hospital people threw up their arms and gave her a scrip for percosets, which just made the problem worse.

9

Well, not to get too graphic, but my problem is the exact opposite of what one would use a laxative for. Unless there is a non-poop-related benefit to laxatives I’m not aware of?

10

Yikes, sorry to hear about your night. I hope things get better soon.
I just wanted to totally agree with this observation. I’ve been out of NJ for over 10 years now, but when I lived there, I obviously had experience with the hospitals, etc. While I preferred St. Peter’s (both of my sons were born there) to RWJ, both are excellent, excellent hospitals.

11

Best wishes, olives.

12

Well bless your heart. Don’t be afraid to ask for painkillers. That’s what they’re for. I hope you’re feeling better soon. And don’t skimp on the laxatives either. Painkillers can stop your bowels from functioning if you’re not used to them.

Damn. I hope you feel better soon. I’ll say a prayer for you.

13

Maybe you’ll get to meet Dr. House.

Hope you feel better soon.

14

I’m a 22-year sufferer of Ulcerative Colitis, so I know the kind of pain you’re talking about, having been hospitalized about a dozen times for it. Abdominal pain is no joke, for sure, no matter what is causing it. It’s likely you’ll have a colonoscopy. I would imagine they’d want to take a little looky-see in there.

Hopefully, it’s nothing serious and it’s treatable. Good luck.

15

Best wishes to you, Olives. I’m also a close neighbor. Were you in St. Pete’s or RWJH? Just curious. I’ve had experiences in both.

16

Ah. Then nevermind.

I was once hospitalized for extreme diahrrea once too, as well as a high fever. It turned out to be campylobacter. But it didn’t last for a month. Had I left it untreated, it probably would have turned out much worse for me.

It does sound like some sort of bacterial thing to me. Keep in mind that my medical degree comes from a Cracker Jacks box, of course.

17

I went to Bazooka U., myself. :slight_smile:

18

St. Pete’s. Very nice little place not even a half mile from our apartment.

I had a scope about a year ago, following a sudden 50lb weight loss and symptoms not unlike the ones I went in for last night. The trouble is, at the time I saw the doctor back then, I had been symptom-free for three weeks. They weren’t even going to do any tests, but the blood work showed inflammation and they scheduled it immeidately, at a time I was not having symptoms.

Thus the scope results came out negative.

Whatever this is, it’s been a pervasive part of my life for years. It just decided to give me a kick in the ass to get moving I guess and figure out what’s going on.

19

I, too, know severe stomach pain. Thank goodness mine was just severe gastroenteritis and was easily cleared up with antibiotics and prescription Zantac.

Good luck, and I hope you feel better soon!

20

I went through a period of time with a gastro-intestinal problem, and even worse than the discomfort was simply not having a friggen’ clue what was wrong with me. I really and truly hope you get some solid answers soon, as well as much-deserved relief.

Best wishes for you and your health in 2009!