unforgettable weekend part 2

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 tnguyen308 1 Comments

Man o’ man. Where shall I begin. It was a beautiful weekend. The sun was out and no rain in sight, except the rain coming down my face from tears of pain. Sunday night/Monday morning I could not sleep at all. I kept waking up every 30 minutes from pain. I was sweating but had the chills. What was wrong with me? I've never had cramps this bad before. It was around 4:40 am when I woke Phi up to get me one of my medications for my ulcers, hoping that would ease the pain. It did until my alarm woke me up at 7:10. I tried to do my regular work morning routine, but I was in too much pain. I just went back to bed, holding my stomach. Phi asked me if I was ok, I responded, “No, I'm not.” He tried calling my Gastroenterologists, but no answer because he wasn't open yet. So, he decided to call my primary physician. He described my pain to him and the doc thought it might be an UTI (urinary tract infection). I was like, it doesn't hurt when I pee though. I got an appointment at 9 am for him to take a look at me.

9 o'clock rolls around and I'm at the doctors office having to pee in a cup to see if I have UTI. It's so gross for a lady to pee in a cup, come on, shouldn't there be an easier way. Anyways, I went into the patients room and waited for the doctor. By this time, the nurse told me I had a fever of 100.4 degrees and I know my pulse was racing. The doctor made it in and I knew he looked concerned. I showed him where the pain was and he didn't think it was a UTI. He thought my ulcers had gotten worst. WORST!!! How was that possible. I've been taking my meds and taking it easy on the foods I've eaten. What does worst mean? All I know it was painful, not as much as the first time around, but it still hurt. So, he made a call to my Gastroenterologists and he ordered a STAT Upper GI and he prescribed Vicodin for the pain. He told us, if the Gastroenterologist thinks it's bad, then I would have to be readmitted to the hospital. The one thing I did not want to happen.

So, we left. First, we went to get the prescription filled because we were waiting for the call from the hospital to tell us when the Upper GI was going to happen. While waiting in line, I got the call, so we decided to drop it off and head over to the hospital. But, first, stopping at home to pick up some essentials just in case I had to be admitted. We weren't prepared the first time, so we wanted to be this time. We headed to Christus St. Catherine's for the test. We were worried that we had to wait long because the waiting room was packed. But they knew I was coming and in a lot of pain, so they hurried the process along.

At first, I thought it would be a similar procedure as before, where they scoped my stomach and such with a camera. But, it was totally different. It was kinda like an x-ray, but I had to drink barium, pretty gross, thick, chalky stuff so they can see what's going on on the insides of me. It was the nastiest thing I've ever had to drink. Good thing it was only like 5 sips of it. If I had to drink the whole cup, I think I would've puked! I rolled around to get the barium to coat my insides, took the test and they sent me home. They told me I should get a call from my doctor with the results and if I don't hear back by 2:30 pm, to give them a call.

So, we went home but picked up my Vicodin first. I was in pain, I needed the pills. Little did I know, when I drink or eat, it causes extreme pain. After that first gulp of water, I was crying in pain for a good while. My poor hubby. It just hurts him to see me in pain because there's nothing that can be done to help me. The only thing he could do was hold my hand. He's such a great trooper. He has been great during this whole ordeal. I was finally knocked out, as was Phi, until around 3 pm when I realized I didn't get the call from the doctor yet. So, we called them and they said they haven't received the results yet and they would call when they did. We still did not receive a call by 5:30 pm, so I called them back and the offices were closed. I left a message for the on-call doctor. I finally got a call back from the on-call doc, who happens to be not my doctor, and he told me the Upper GI showed that my duodenum is inflamed but he can't tell me to change my meds or go to the hospital because he's not my doctor and doesn't know my history or have my charts. Nice, what do I do now? I took another Vicodin and crashed.

It's Tuesday morning and it still hurts, but not as much as the day before, thank goodness, but I still can't stand up straight when I walk. Time to call my doctor to see what the deal is. No answer, so I leave a message for the nurse and on the voice mail it says, "if you call before 12:30, you will receive a phone call before the end of business day." I called at 9 am. While I waited, I ate my breakfast and Phi stayed home and worked upstairs. I eventually conked out. I woke up right before lunch time and I still did not receive a call back. What is the deal with this office? They order a STAT Upper GI and it's been 24 hours and I still haven't heard from them yet. UGH! I called back and left another message, then ate lunch. It was around 4 pm and still haven't heard anything from them, so I called them back and finally asked to talk to a person about this situation. The nurse finally told me that she talked to my primary care physician and they suggested I change my ant-acid medication. It took them 2 days for them to tell me this. Oh my gosh! I called my primary care physician and he called in a prescription for me to pick up.

I finally went back to work on Wednesday. My goal was to be able to stay until noon, but I made it to 5 o'clock. Yay! I'm feeling much better now. I hope to be 100% very soon, it is my birthday next week. Come on now! Thank you all for the well wishes.

Thank you hubby, you are the best!