Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Alrighty then....

I guess back-tracking isn't really going to work with this. if anyone happens to read this and has any questions, by all means, feel free to ask.
On Monday, the 19th of January, I had an upset stomach. I didn't think much of it, as I had a hot dog with many fixins' on it from a hot dog chain the night before and figured that my body just can't handle that sort of thing any more.
I went out of state with my boyfriend in the morning, and by the late evening, I was freezing and could not get warm. I was also shaking. I tried layering up, I tried having some juice and cheese, figuring it was my blood sugar, but I just kept shaking and no one else was cold.
My temperature was taken and it was 100.2 so I took some generic NyQuil type stuff which contained a fever-reducer. After about an hour to an hour and a half, my fever had risen to 102.
We figured that since I have Medicare and MassHealth, that I should be seen at a MA hospital instead of one out of state, so we went to a hospital in MA, but far away from any that I have ever been to.
Upon arrival, I was taken to the "fast track" section of the ER. This was about 10:30pm and I was given Tylenol and poked so many times with a needle it was insane... for them to try to get blood. They ignored the fact that I told them I am a hard stick and they needed to get a specialist. They ignored me when I said "STOP FISHING, IT HURTS TOO MUCH!" and instead left the needle in while they went to find someone else.... oh the bruises I had from that...
Anyway, finally they struck a nerve and I screamed in pain and I cried because I couldn't take it any more. They took it out and gave me some pain medicine and then sent someone over to tell me that I had to leave because they were closing... while I was in the bathroom...
The ER is closing? What?! Apparently this "fast track" thing closed at midnight or so, and so instead of having my stretcher and a curtain by myself, I got shoved (and I DO mean shoved, and slammed, multiple times) up against the wall, my IV line caught in heaven knows what... with 3 other people in the room in possibly very contagious condition. Forget the fact that we had no idea with my fever, and diarrhea, we had no idea if I was contagious or not. It was a bad scene. I saw doctors for a total of MAYBE five minutes between 10:30pm and 6:30am when they came in and informed me that they were going to admit me. They'd had me on a "folly bag" for a while (I was not expelling any urine so they were wanting to monitor it. It was unsuccessful so finally they took the damn thing out) but that is about it- aside from the contrast I had to drink for the CT scan on my chest, they gave me NOTHING to drink in that whole time I was there.
Admit me. They hadn't even talked to me and they had grounds to admit me?!
Right. Diabetes. Not connected to what was going on AT ALL, but that was their rationalization for keeping me.
So at around 2pm or so, I was finally brought up to my room.
I did not see any doctors that day, and even though I hadn't had any insulin since Monday morning and it was now Tuesday afternoon, they refused to give me any. They continued to refuse until Wednesday NIGHT. Insane. They didn't do anything except have me in quarantine. It was scary.
When the doctors finally came in, they said that they were not going to give me any antibiotics until the stool cultures were back, because they wanted to see whether or not it would be something that would respond to them. After a few days, they said that antibiotics would not work.
The first day or so, despite not being able to eat, and constant diarrhea, I swelled up to the tune of 15lbs or so. I had to take my rings off and my boyfriend had to take my necklace off because it was choking me. They decided to weigh me twice a day and give me Lasix by iV every 8 hours. It took the extra swelling off, but sadly it did nothing for the swelling that started this whole medical mystery and I have swelled up a LOT more since my discharge...
I was about to be discharged on Thursday when my oxygen level dropped unexpectedly and my lungs filled up with fluid. An echocardiogram was ordered "STAT" for Friday... and I got it on Monday afternoon.
All weekend I was absoulutely miserable. I couldn't breathe, I was in so much pain. I had breathing treatments every few hours and it didn't do much for me at all.
I was not allowed to shower, nor did anyone give me a sponge bath for the first 5 days I was there. I was finally allowed to shower on Thursday and I had a terrible, terrible rash under my breasts. Very, very painful. It remained until my discharge from the hospital and they nothing.
I brought it up with my primary care doc when I walked in after calling him for a week to get a follow-up to no avail. (I just walked in and refused to leave without being seen) He put me on Doxycycline and a cream, treating me for a possible staph infection. It still isn't completely gone, so he just put me on a bigger dose of Doxycycline and if it doesn't clear up then I am supposed to go see a dermatologist.
I got ZERO answers at that hospital I was at. I left feeling almost worse than when I went in.
I am still swollen and still in pain and still wondering what the heck caused that terrible little side trip and massive fever...
Obviously this doesn't account for everything, and I don't think I have even touched on the eye surgeries I had unexpectedly on new year's eve... and after.
So there will be more.

Update coming ASAP

I have been meaning to update for a while now.
I have been so run down after winding up on the hospital, trying to get things in some form of order... and I am still working on that.
I've had a partial post saved as a draft for some time now and I am going to try to get back to that very soon.