On to the E.R. So I do try to wait it out another hour, thinking it's nothing or a gas bubble, but it's difficult to stand up straight, sit down or lie down now, and it's Saturday night in Encinitas during the Holiday Parade. I figure if I got to go to the ER, best get in there early before the weekend rush. Julia takes me in, and I get put into a little exam room within 5 minutes. The place is dead! I get a nurse trainee who rolls in my room like he knows what he's doing, tells me he's going to take an EKG and starts to pull out the sticky things for my body. He places them in the wrong spots, rips them back up (ouch!) and places them in a new spot, but now they won't stick. I'm looking at him, and can tell he doesn't know what he's doing. The wires are all tangled - he's pulling sticky tabs off and trying to stick the one that is now full of my arm hair back on me. What the heck? Finally his training nurse pokes her head in and sees the carnage, and calls him out on it. The guy's pride is hurt, but I'm not a training exercise, bro.
The first ER nurse isn't very comfortable with accessing my new port catheter, so the attending guy does it - thank god! I didn't want another person practicing on me. The attending RN tapped into my port, but without the typical sedative or numbing spray. That's when everything went downhill for me. I could feel the connection, and visualized what was going on which immediately turned me queasy. They have me sitting straight up, which adds to the stomach pain and difficulty breathing normally. RN needs to draw blood from the port before he can put in the pain meds, but my blood pressure drops and my color leaves me. The RN's assistant hands him the wrong collection container. I break into a clammy sweat and start hyperventilating my breathing. Julia is staring at me, "breathe". I beg the RN to hurry, but they need several panels to test, and I'm fading fast. After 5 minutes, I am white as a ghost, sweating, and dizzy. They get to the morphine, and that hits my system fast. Everything slows down.
An hour later, I am rolled into the CT room for a scan with contrast of my abdomin. Then back to the ER room waiting for results. Doctor returns later and explains I have Pancreatitis. I'm thinking, okay, give me the meds and I'm out of here. No. Apparently, pancreatitis is extremely painful and heals very slowly. They admit me, roll me into a private room due to being on chemo watch, and put me on i.v. fluids only. No water, nothing to eat or drink by the mouth. Check my vitals every few hours throughout the first night, so I was in a haze.
So that's how I spent Saturday eve, Sunday and Monday. Just i.v. fluids in my little hospital room.
Around 10 a.m, my radiologist contacted the hospital and helped get me discharged in time for a late radiation treatment. If I had to miss today's treatment, I would be delayed a whole week, which sucks. Still have to be on a liquid diet for the next 3 days, so I'm trying to figure out some things that are nutritious and won't inflame the pancreas again. Don't mess with the pancreas!
Too bad you didn't call me and ask what was happening, Stewart. Reading your blog I diagnosed you correctly very early on. Had that; did that!!! I was fortunate in that my attack began as I was entering Noelle's house with Tina. She went directly to see Jake who was a baby then, and as I followed her slowly the pain got worse and worse very quickly. I immediately told everyone I was experiencing pain I had never felt before, and it was really bad!! At first everyone thought...you had 9 kids, what pain could be worse? You just recently had a bout with multiple blood clots in both lungs, wasn't that painful? You recently had 2 hip replacements...worse than all that? What about your gall bladder attack that didn't allow them to do emergency surgery to take it out because of your blood clots? Uh, yeah!! OK, to the ER NOW. I had never heard of pancreatitis but was diagnosed immediately as the ER staff HAD!! 3 days in hospital, on my back, fluids dripping and no food. On 2nd day I mentioned to Julie on the phone that I had just told a nurse I was at risk of getting a blood clot and I probably should have somethings on my legs that keep pressure on them to stimulate blood movement. RN told me not to worry I had NO signs of a blood clot. I told her I didn't have any signs of blood clots when I couldn't breathe anymore one day & was sent to the ER to find I not only had multiple clots in BOTH lungs but even had a very large, rare one!! When Julie heard all this she immediately called the head RN and told her everything I had told my RN. I immediately was taken to have a CT, and sure enough, there was one in my right lung!! Thanks to Julie's call I may have died right there on my hospital bed in front of all the RNs who figured I couldn't have a blood clot. Home the end of the 3rd day with Oxygen, and my best friend, Warfarin, which I enjoy every night, for the rest of my life. Now see, had I written a blog back then, between 2009 and 2012, you might have realized what you were experiencing and would have gotten to the ER NOW!! Luckily I didn't experience any of the terrible treatment you received. A trainee should never do anything to you without the trainer watching! That's how the trainee is suppose to learn the correct way first. Hospitals get sued all the time for a lot less!! Well, I'll turn 83 in a month and am still kicking....so hang in there, TuTu. Love you.... and keep writing your blog!!! Auntie Gin. P.S.: I choose Anonymous as a profile as I don't know the other choices but I don't think they fit.
ReplyDeleteHey Stew,
ReplyDeleteKeep fighting and thanks for blogging. Now I don't have to keep bugging you on the phone. You are tougher than all this shit so keep pushing and get these treatments over with. Looking forward to your recovery and some healthy living!