Tales from the ED

[sami]

So, on Saturday I spent most of the day at the Emergency Department, accompanied by my awesome buddy Dean.

Obviously, this sucked, especially since neither of us ate between breakfast and when we got home just before 5pm. Dean was a trooper, though, even braving the isolation room to hold my hand while I had a pelvic examination, despite the fact that - all other considerations aside - this cost her all blood flow to that hand for the duration.

Anyway, I'm just about okay now, although I still get lightheaded if I stand up too fast, too long, or exert myself; all consequences of some apparent issues with blood pressure drops, assumed to be connected to my having lost thoroughly disconcerting amounts of blood over the course of four or five days via womanly pathways.

So. Highlights of the trip:

1) Woman in next bed in the ED processing room explaining her troubles, using the phrase "volcano of the stomach". Dean and I were both sleep-deprived, low on blood sugar, and dehydrated by this point; suddenly we were twelve and trying hard not to snicker audibly.

2) Volcano Woman was replaced by... a guy with something stuck in his butt. SERIOUSLY I AM NOT KIDDING. I had just had someone poking my cervix and I still found this inappropriately funny.

3) Discharge time, I was desperate to go home. Dean and I had come straight from the GP who recommended I go to Emergency, and I was hungry, thirsty, and in dire need of ADHD medication and things to do.

The nice doctor came back to see me. "Do you need to go to the toilet before you leave?"

Me: "Not really..."

Her: "Do you want to try? I know you said you're not sexually active, but we have to do a pregnancy test before you go anyway."

Me: "..."

Her: "We only need a tiny amount..."


We went home, and I took my ADHD meds, and, to a degree that I had never before experienced, I could feel them kicking in. It was like the whole world decelerated sharply and came into focus, all at once. It was really, really odd.

Comments

[sqbr]

D: Ack!

Are you ok now? That does not sound like fun for anyone! *sends you positive womb healing vibes*

[sami]

*ahem* Only two weeks late replying.

It was all very not-fun, although there was an Amusing Interlude with a nurse I need to write up at some point.

Time since has been followed by secondary crises to do with my having had a breakdown due to new therapist with gift for asking questions that unbury childhood trauma I thought I'd forgotten, and then reaching the end of my supply of ADHD meds and my psychiatrist's office being closed until Monday...

But things are pretty much okay.

[sqbr]

Slow replies from other people make me feel better about the state of my own inbox, it's all good :)

Time since has been followed by secondary crises to do with my having had a breakdown due to new therapist with gift for asking questions that unbury childhood trauma I thought I'd forgotten, and then reaching the end of my supply of ADHD meds and my psychiatrist's office being closed until Monday...

Ack!

But things are pretty much okay.

Good! I hope they stay that way.

[rainbow]

oh my goodness, lots of healing vibes headed your way!

[sami]

Thank you! Apologies for extreme lateness of reply, it's been sort of unending with Things To Deal With around here lately. And I have a new therapist who kind of broke my brain for a bit. (Apparently I have more childhood trauma, and it becomes kind of stealth trauma, because Trauma A explains my emotional problems, so he doesn't expect Trauma B, but then after he's learned of both, he is then startled to discover C, D and E, because A and B alone would be enough for someone to be all messed up...)

[rainbow]

You're welcome! That sounds all sorts of non-fun, especially the stealth trauma. I know we had lots of difficulties when stuff starting tumbling out (and even know that it's just me, every so often I get blindsided by a new memory release :/ ).

I used Emerita Pro-Gest cream for several years in the 90s for hormonal issues; it made a huge difference. I hope the progesterone is helping you, to.

*hugs offered if you watn them*

[susanreads]

Ooh, scary. I hope you're feeling better now. *sends healing vibes*

[sami]

All that stuff is better now, but I'm about to run out of the progesterone I was prescribed and I'm mildly nervous about what's going to happen next. Eep.

Sorry for replying so belatedly, it's been a bit of an overwhelming few weeks.

[susanreads]

I hope you can get more of the thing that works for you! I am SO glad I don't bleed by that pathway any more. Temperature instability is inconvenient, but still preferable.

I often disappear from view for weeks myself, without such a good excuse. You don't owe me anything!