Sunday, August 10, 2008

Not How I Wanted To Spend My Saturday.

Paul, if you're reading this... now you'll know why I wasn't home to take your phone call.

It started Friday night around midnight, and got progressively worse as the night went on. I'll spare you the gory details; just picture someone crawling up and down the hall all night long.

By 7:30 Saturday morning, when I had a long enough moment away from the porcelain fixtures, I was checking WebMD and it said that if I had these symptoms, I should call my doctor.

So I did, and he said go on up to the ER, and he'd meet me there in about 20 minutes. I got myself dressed, grabbed a handy piece of Tupperware (for emergencies) and got into the car. Fortunately, the hospital is less than 2 miles away.

Four hours, a large number of blood tests, a liter of IV fluids and a CT scan later, I had been ruled out for acute appendicitis and diagnosed with acute and severe viral gastroenteritis (that's the stomach flu, to you flatlanders). Sheer coincidence that the only part of my lower abdomen that actually hurt was the exact location of my appendix.

The ER doctor said appendicitis can sometimes fool you, and it was still possible I had very early appendicitis, so if I got worse instead of better, to come back in.

My own doctor, who is also my boss, concurred, and told me to call him late in the afternoon to let him know how I was doing.

The ER nurse who pulled my IV told me no driving. I didn't bother telling her I was going to disobey.

By now I was in the throes of a galloping caffeine-withdrawal headache, so on the way out, I drank a cup of the ER waiting room coffee. Might have been a mistake; but I didn't quite have to resort to the Tupperware on the way home. Once home, I sipped some tea, and went right to sleep. That was about noon. Around 4:30 I woke up long enough to call the boss and tell him I thought I was going to be okay, and the ER doctor had told me to come back and see him again Sunday morning, unless I was doing jumping-jacks. My boss said call me first.

After another long nap and some more tea, I knew I was going to be okay. I watched the Olympics and then went right back to sleep. This morning I feel like I've been run over by two trucks--but I don't feel sick. I called the boss and told him I'm better.

So I guess it wasn't the appendix after all. Thank heaven. Emergency surgery would have really ruined my weekend.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Egad! Glad you're ok...

Anonymous said...

Aww... poor thing. That sounds extremely unpleasant. I'm glad you are doing better!

Anonymous said...

this is why we (are married) have friends. Dang it, call a friend to help you. DANG IT.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, well, apparently some folks are married to people who are not completely useless. Find me a nice guy who is actually self-supporting and isn't totally useless and I will consider his resume.

Anonymous said...

acute and severe viral gastroenteritis
I did that a few years back. Spent hours on a gurney in the hall way of CHOMPS ER. Most wretched experience of my life, and that's saying something.
Glad you're on the mend!

 
Template by simplebits.com
Major modifications by CrankyBeach
All original content copyright 2004-2019 CrankyBeach. All other content is given proper credit where known.