Fast foward to a little later that morning and I was calling my dad in tears. He picked me up and took me to my doctor's office. You see, I thought that if I went to the doctor, he would magically fix me and nix the need for a trip to the emergency room. WRONG! He did an exam & ran a few tests and immediately sent me to the emergency room for a CT scan. I was scared and had no clue what on earth was going on- there was mention of a few possibilities: kidney stones, ruptured ovarian cysts, appendicitis...all guess, no answers. For once however, it was not my heart. (I had actually felt very good for several days leading up to yesterday...my heart was improving, I was able to breathe better, and my chest pain was easing up- overall I felt a lot better. I was able to go on longer and longer walks each day with my dogs and feel good- not crappy. Fast foward to yesterday morning however and BAM! Horrible pain!) I would almost say that the pain I felt yesterday was equal to if not worse than the pain after my heart surgery- that's saying a lot!
After a very painful ride to the emergency room, my dad finally got me in to be looked at. (every bump in the road, every breath, every movement, every cough...everything made me hurt!) They ran a ton of tests on me- blood work, urine, physicals...you name it. The last test that they did was a CT scan. I've had CT scans in the past, but they never hurt before. This one however was excruciating because you have to take deep breaths in and hold them during the scans (keep in mind this was excruciating even after several IV doses of dilaudid!). I couldn't even breathe shallow without writhing in agony, let alone take deep breaths. I think the actual scan only took 15-20 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Once they finally got the results and came in to give me an update, I was a little bit shocked with the diagnosis (but soo, soo thrilled I didn't have to have surgery!).
The doctor said that I had a few different issues going on. She wasn't sure what caused it (multiple things can) and there is no way to prevent it in the future...so I'm just praying it doesn't happen again. I've already been doing a food journal/working on loosing a little weight- so I'm hoping that will help keep this at bay. The diagnosis was three different issues: Epiploic Appendagitis (I had never heard of that condition before yesterday. That was the main thing causing me the horrible, stabbing pains. The doctor said it should go away in 7-10 days with antibiotics though, so that's good news. It's a pretty rare condition) I was also told by the doctor that I had an enlarged right hemidiaphragm- not sure how that relates to the GI issues, but I'm hoping my doctor can give me some answers tomorrow. She also said that I had Diverticulitis. I go tomorrow morning to pay my GI doctor a visit, so hopefully I'll get some more precise answers then. I'm frusterated. I know God has a plan for everything and I'm greatful that I didn't have to have an emergency surgery for a kidney or reproductive issue like they were origionally thinking. However, after dealing with heart surgery and now this, I'm not sure how much more stress I can handle! One thing is for sure though, I am sick of my body "attacking" itself, I am sick of bedrest, and I am sick of hospitals! (ok, rant over!)
Just pray that all of this clears up soon so that I can heal up in time for the next session of school & clinicals! In the mean time, I'm back on bedrest and medicine to help clear everything up.
I leave you with my "aweseome photography skills"...apparently this is what happens after 4 very strong IV doses of dilaudid & my camera phone being left out on my bed.
They finally released me from the ER late last night after I spent all day there. I was soo happy to be home and back in my own bed again. I was also happy to have two of the best "nurses" in the entire world looking after me: Macy & Ranger
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