I hate hospital...

Once again I found myself in hospital over the weekend and through till Monday (not due to a fall this time thank goodness...)

I had awful tummy pain, felt very sick and was very unsteady on my feet. I didnt know what to do, so I rang Jo and she said to ring the healthline and see what they said, they said to go and get checked out. I then rang my Mum to see what she thought I should do (seen as it was Saturday evening). She said to follow the advice I had been given and to go to the ED, so my Uncle kindly took me.

I got a bed instantly which was nice because lying on my side curled up was the least uncomfortable position and I lay there for about 3 hours before being taken to be assessed by a dr. They were pretty busy dealing with drunks creating a scene and I lost count of the number of drunk students who had put their hands through windows! They said thank you to me for waiting so patiently lol.

It was possible I had appendicitis seen as I had most of the positive signs but it could have been several other things too. I got assessed by the surgical registrar and it was decided to admit me and just keep watch over how things progressed before anything drastic happened, (I was not keen on the ides of surgery one bit!). The ED dr did my IV and she was amazing, first time and in a place that wasnt too uncomfortable too!

Sunday I had an ultrasound which showed free fluid in my abdomen and I was told that fitted with my presentation so just to keep with the pain relief and antinausea and see how things went and I was then allowed to try and eat.

I couldn't eat much more than a spoonful of the soup I got but I had been kept hydrated with fluid and was drinking as much as possible. I had a ghastly night not being able to sleep due to hot sweats and my hands and feel swelling up so I couldnt make a fist. Due to the weekend, the hospital pharmacy wasnt open so they didnt have all my medications and due to not having brought them in with me, my med schedule was all messed up. I dont think that helped my pain levels or the side effects I was having.

Monday I was dealing with the pain better by then (you kinda get used to things you know) so I tollerated the surgeon touching my tummy better although it was still pretty painful and straight after I puked up the limited contents of my stomach. And they decided that seen as things hadn't progressed any further, no surgery was required just now (phew) and I could go home (double phew!).

When the house surgeon came to talk to me about discharge rx and I said I needed pretty good antinausea meds cos they had been giving me a double combo to try and control things he almost changed his mind and made me stay. Thank goodness I was able to talk him into letting me go home. I knew I had no chance of getting better in hospital, I couldnt even stay still due to the pain, no sleep, heat and med mess up. I'm just to go back in should the pain get really bad again I (fingers crossed it doesnt cos I didnt deal well with the added pain and nausea).

I've been given the week off classes to recover as they said I would need the week. Initially I thought I would bounce back but I'm finding out just how washed out I am and think I will need that week. Bad news is I had a terms test tonight worth 35% that I am missing and I dont want to think what a mess that is going to turn into but just now I dont care.

I do have to say though that despite the amount of pain meds I am currently on, they still gave me morphine for the pain and didn't treat me badly like I dreaded. I have heard horror stories of people with RSD going to hospital and being treated like drug seakers etc.
The surgical registrar on Monday did sound pretty surprised at how much pain I must be in when he saw what drugs I'm on but I think it was because he hadn't come across it before and he was still nice about it. The consultant wanted to know a bit about what was affected by RSD but he was also nice (we think he looked after a friend who also has RSD when she had trouble recently). So overall I had pretty reasonable treatment appart from the pharmacy thing.

The thing that was most difficult to deal with (appart from the heat the hospital always seems to be) was the number of visitors the girl next to me had! she would have 3 girls all come in at once and they made so much noise, I felt pretty lousy so that gave me such a headache cos I couldnt get away from it. And they kept coming, as soon as one lot left another lot arrived-I started to wonder just how sick that girl really was (was that bad of me?). Anyways I am home now, eating in small amounts to try and get my system used to food again and resting a lot. I am so wiped out and drained. Just walking to the bathroom and I am shaking which is pretty embarrassing! But I'm starting to feel better, which is good, just taking it slowly.

Thing is though, I never thought to ask how I got free fluid in my abdomen and what it would be...obviously it wasn't supposed to be there so I wonder how it got there and whether its something I should be conscious of and if it happens again does that mean anything?

Developments...

Its been a hectic week, ended up in ED twice, had assignments due and all sorts, I'm finally feeling like I have a handle on things again. I thought I would write about one of the trips seen as it relates to my last post.

I spoke to my Mum about my fall down the stairs last week and she told me to see a doctor and get it lodged with ACC in case I had trouble down the track-which was sound advice, if you don't lodge you can have a bit of trouble getting help later.

So I went to Student Health, explained to the receptionist and she put me in with a nurse right there and then and the nurse would decide where to go from there.
Explained to nurse, that I just wanted to get it lodged with ACC but she said I needed to get checked out by a doctor and she had a free space in 15min so I should stay because the next free one wasn't till the next week (Student Health are terrible as far as trying to see a doc quickly most of the time).
I waited as the doctor was running late and I worried about being late for my anatomy lab but that was the least of my worries!

I got in to see the doc and explained yet again, why I was there, that I'd had this fall, had these strange symptoms and just wanted to get it on ACC. This is when the fun started...

Neuro symptoms require Neuro examinations (dont you just love these? especially when you have rsd) so it was time to go through fine touch and pain sensation and reflexes. Surprise surprise I had positive results in all three tests ( and more than just your usual rsd altered results) so this made things tricky.
She then cancelled all her other patients who were after me (I felt rather bad actually) and tells me sit tight while she rings the Ortho registrar at the hospital...I'm thinking now how late I am going to be for my lab and will I have enough time to get it all done.

After her talk with the registrar she explains that they think I possibly have Cauda Equina syndrome (dangerous compression of the nerve endings at the base of the spinal cord) and that I need to have another test done and it will either have to be done by her or at the hospital by 'person unknown'. So I reluctantly take up her offer and let her do the couple of other tests (I wont go into it here, but I had some other symptoms too) which also picked up positive signs (boy was I mad about that).
After that she had to sit down and write everything in a letter for me to take to the ED and advised me to go straight there and take a taxi-its 2 blocks down the road from Student Health and I was supposed to be doing a lab!...she dryly stated that she didnt think I would be getting much work done that night!

I walked to the hospital (after a small detour across the road to the dissection room but dont tell her) and checked in and sat down to wait. It was so so busy I felt like going and doing my lab while I waited but by that time there wasn't enough time left so I thought it was best to leave it. After not much time my name was called-I was amazed how quick I was called as there were so many patients and I could see how serious some of them were.

Now a subjective and all the neuro tests start again, first by med students who were very surprised at my lack of ablility to tollerate them on my rsd side and my lack of feeling on my other lol. Next the doctor under the registrar comes in and we go over it all again but more through and with added tests and I confuse him in places but we sort it out in the end lol.

Then his boss the registrar comes in, he just listens to his younger doctor and I make sure it is correct. He then does yet another neuro exam (without the test the student health doc did) says he doesnt think it will be Cauda Equina Syndrome as some of my symptoms dont fit. Which was my thoughts exactly, thats why I never went to the doctor in the beginning-I couldn't make all the weird things fit together and I didnt want to waste their time.

He then explained that I wasn't wasting their time, that this was very serious and even if it turned out to be ok, we needed to check it out. He then went to ring and talk to his boss the consultant! He suspected that I would be allowed to just go home but had to make sure.
He comes back and says that I am not allowed home until I have the test the student health doc did again, apparently since I had positive findings picked up, they need to redo the test to make sure...I was so not wanting to go through that again. But I knew I had a moral obligation to myself to let them complete their tests and he did say I could go once it had been done so I agreed, among other findings, I have loss of sensation in the complete saddle area-the area I keep feeling wet in.

Next thing I here is "I owe my boss a coffee, he was right" and I dont know what to think, all I want to do is go home and get something to eat (its past 9pm by this stage and I havent had anything since lunch).
DR registrar says it was good to do them again as he got the same result as the Student Health doc and now needs to ring his boss again to see whether they want to to an MRI that night or wait till the morning (if they did it then, they would have to call someone in to perform it...), his consultant says he wants the MRI done now and not wait till morning so they call up a tech to come in. I feel so bad about taking up so much of their time because I am sure that I am fine and they are wasting time and money on me. Next thing that happens while we wait for the MRI to be ready, they start sticking IVs in me, to get bloods and ready just incase I need surgery! By this time I'm just starting to freak out slightly and wishing I never went to the doctors in the first place. After they had got the lines in, I'm shipped off to x-ray and then up to the MRI suite. It took less than half an hour from when the call was made to when they were ready for me, I have never had such fast service in the ED before! I kept being told how lucky I was to get an x-ray so quick as people were lining the corridors waiting for all sorts of things and here was I getting star treatment.
The MRI was clear for any compression, I felt so relieved about that (and even more bad that they had spent so much time with me) so no surgery needed and I was finally allowed to go home. Again the registrar assures me how important it is to investigate these things as you can be left with permanent damage and I was told not to be so appologetic. They are not sure what is causing all my mysterious symptoms so have given me a follow up appointment for next Friday and I can keep it if I want. I certainly found out just how big a 'red flag' the 'cord signs' are we are taught about are, but I'm not sure this is the way to learn things lol!

I'm not sure as yet if I will keep the appointment, I'm still having the symptoms just as bad but will wait and see a bit closer to next Friday before I decide.

Nothing like a bit of excitement though!