Well that sucked
I just spent the past two days in the hospital. I'm not normally the type of person who is given to hypochondria, but given my family history (my father died of heart disease at a relatively young age) I didn't want to take chances with what happened to me Wednesday afternoon.
I was walking through Hoboken, heading towards my car, when I was suddenly struck by chest pains that made it difficult to walk. I slowed my pace, although I had not been walking particularly fast. I made it home okay, but after more than an hour the pain still didn't go away, so I went to the ER.
Over the next 24 hours, I suffered every indignity imaginable, as the sizeable medical staff conjured up novel and innovative things to stick up, down, through and into me. After a while the pain got better, and my initial EKG looked pretty good, but then a CAT scan turned up what may (or may not) have been a blood clot in my left lung. They decided to keep me overnight until they could run some more tests, and in the meantime to begin treating the blood clot prophylactically (heh.)
By the way, has anyone else ever noticed the fascination doctors seem to have with sticking their fingers up your butt, no matter what's wrong with you? They started me on an IV to thin my blood. You'd think that's pretty innocuous, right? But no, before they can even do that, BANG!, on goes the rubber glove.
Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night, hooked to an IV and one of those boop-boop machines and an automated pressure cuff that nearly squeezed my forearm off every 15 minutes. Any rest I did get was typically interrupted by someone taking more blood from me or hooking me up to another EKG.
In my fitful dreams, I revisited other unpleasant medical experiences from my past. I remembered inadvertently pissing off the school nurse when I was five years old. She'd handed me a specimen bottle and pointed me to the men's room, instructing me to "fill it up with water." Well what do you think I did? I filled it up with water from the tap. She didn't like that. I didn't understand why. If she'd wanted me to piss in it, maybe she should have said, "Here, piss in this." Just a thought. Perhaps it was this overly literal sensibility of mine that led me into a study of science.
I began the next day by undergoing a battery of new and more specific tests. I got to inhale radioactive xenon gas and get injected with some substance that made me feel for all the world like I'd just peed in my pants (I hadn't) and then topped it off by having a masochistic cardiologist run me on a treadmill that started going as fast as that one on "The Jetsons" closing credits and got my heart rate up until about a jillion whaddaycallits per thingie.
Anyway, I can't complain, because at the end of the day they decided I had not had a heart attack, and that indeed, my heart appeared in pretty good shape. The blood clot also seems to have been a false alarm.
In short, I'm much relieved, and even thankful to have a bit of a "brush-back pitch" to remind me I need to watch my dietary and exercise habits. I still have no idea what causes the chest pain, but I'm not so worried about it, having ruled out the biggies.
In the meantime, however, I'm exhausted, weak, and feel just generally... weird. I'm glad to be home, but it might be a day or two before I'm truly hitting on all cylinders.
See y'all soon.
Comments
First, I'm glad that you're OK. Second, I understand how frustrating it is dealing with hospitals having spent much time with my father in the year he spent (roughly six months) in the hospital taking tests and more tests between operation after operation. However, unlike his father who died young suddenly of a heart attack, my dad is still with us. So while going in can be tedious, it can be a lifesaver. The best of doctors don't know half the time so it isn't for nothing that they call them "patients" because patience is exactly what is required much of the time.
Posted by: PE | January 6, 2006 11:30 AM
Thank God you're OK!
Posted by: Bob | January 6, 2006 12:29 PM
My brother Chris went something very similar last year...a horrible ordeal.
False alarms are just as scary, until you know what's up...and I guess they are an effective warning, too.
I'm glad your back.
Posted by: JMK | January 6, 2006 01:07 PM
best wishes for a speedy recovery...and stay away from doctors' probing fingers. Nasty.
Posted by: fred | January 6, 2006 04:38 PM
Barry,
Sorry for that. So the pain lasted 24 hours or it resolved earlier? Good to hear that you are ok at the end.
Posted by: Blue Wind | January 6, 2006 10:06 PM
Good that all is well.
And I know what you mean about the glove thing. I think that the medical profession is probably made up of children who grew up and found their ambitions of ventriloquism dissolussioned.
Posted by: Adam | January 6, 2006 11:03 PM
I had a similar incident three years ago but they never admitted me. All my cardiac enzymes came back negative. Same for the chest scan. It did end up costing me a pretty penny though. In the end they diagnosed it as a "chest strain". No one could tell me what the hell that meant. It took about three days for the pain to completely subside.
Did they do a CK panel? Sometimes the CK-MM fraction will be up if there was muscle damage. I think mine was elevated which is why they thought it was probably a muscle strain.
Posted by: Brian | January 7, 2006 12:05 AM
Thank goodness you're okay! {hugs} What a yeuchy experience. Did they tell you what they thought it was?
Re: the stupid school nurse, what in the world did she think a five-year-old would do if told to fill a jar with water? Stupid woman.
Posted by: K | January 7, 2006 08:36 AM
I just dealt with the same situation. An ordeal like that really brings you into reality. Check out my blog at www.donttrusthillary.com.
Posted by: John | January 7, 2006 12:28 PM
Gee Barry, didn't know about clot. Mama Mia. I was thinking how stress and this time of the year causes indigestion. Sometimes one gets acid influx, or hiatal hernia. The symptoms of a heart attack are similar. I suppose rectal exams show things patients can't imagine they migt have. It's like looking in someone's mouth and getting an idea of what's going on elsewhere.
Either that or you just have a nice rear end! ;)
Gee, mouths and rectums. Stay well and good luck.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 7, 2006 10:18 PM
Gee Barry, didn't know about clot. Mama Mia. I was thinking how stress and this time of the year causes indigestion. Sometimes one gets acid influx, or hiatal hernia. The symptoms of a heart attack are similar. I suppose rectal exams show things patients can't imagine they migt have. It's like looking in someone's mouth and getting an idea of what's going on elsewhere.
Either that or you just have a nice rear end! ;)
Gee, mouths and rectums. Stay well and good luck.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 7, 2006 10:18 PM
So much for that New Year's resolution to increase your drinking and exercise less, eh, Barry?
All kidding aside, I'm glad it was nothing serious.
As for the glove, maybe they only do it to homophobic straight guys. ;)
Posted by: Jill | January 8, 2006 06:16 PM
The silver lining is that your brush with mortality might make you realize that people are not commodities like JMK and the Neocons seem to think. Finally you can drop your support of an evil man like dumb Dubya.
Posted by: Big Lib | January 8, 2006 07:24 PM
Wow great way to express your gratitude that Barry's OK while smacking him at the same time. Way to go Big Lib - you epitomize the stereotypical liberal. Bravo in providing fuel for the fire.
Barry glad you're ok. It must have been that bloody steak you had the other week. We all have to take better care of ourselves. I'm taking your scare as a warning to myself as well. Hell if we lived closer we could start going to the gym together. Maybe even convince Roger.
On a side note - JMK and the Neocons sounds like a great name for a band.
Posted by: Godzilla | January 9, 2006 12:41 AM
Godzilla, funny you shoulda said that. I couldn't see the guy who was lying next to me in the ER but I could hear him. From the sound of things, it seemed he was around my age and there for pretty much the same reasons as me. Moreover, his voice sounded exactly like yours!
Posted by: Barry | January 9, 2006 09:14 AM
Glad you're okay.
By the way, doctors don't want to put their fingers up my butt. Maybe you just have an especially nice butt. Or maybe they read your blog and decided to give you some payback.
Posted by: DBK | January 9, 2006 03:45 PM
It's was actually Dubya raping him. I tried to warn him over and over, but he wouldn't take me seriously. Now he is going to give ass-birth to another Neocon.
Posted by: Big Lib | January 11, 2006 10:02 AM
Good to hear that your ok. I went thru a similar "gloved" incident a few years ago during my military retirement medical screening.
The Warrant Officer [Doctors Aid] did his business and it went mildly and without incident.
The "Doc" came in; Her predaliction was a paranoia for male prostate cancer and as such she requested that she do the examination a second time.
Prior to this day, I did not really know where my prostate was located; she entered in the same fashion as the Warrent Officer had, to my relief.
Suddenly and quite involuntarily, my hands, arms, feet and legs clenched the examination table ! A massive grimace screwed across my face as I vainly attempted to indicate no reaction the "Doc".
She had unexpectedly inserted her two fingers a further 3-4 inches, with felt like 10 or 12.
Needless to say, I now know exactly where the two lobes of my prostrate are.
regards...'Ole
Posted by: Todd | January 11, 2006 09:08 PM